News + updates


10-1-2025
I will be moderating a panel with the incredible Lucy Suchman and Terry Winograd at Stanford HAI on October 10th. 
Link coming soon


09-17-2025
Excited to be speaking today on a panel around "AI Image Generation: Shaping Perception and Visual Influence" co-hosted by Harvard and Stanford IT Communities along with Dr. Douglas Guilbeault and Madeleine Woods. 
Link


09-05-2025
It was my pleasure to organize a gathering at 4S in Seattle around “Hope, Ontological Breakdown, and a World of Many Worlds,” with my wonderful co-organizers Mohammad Rashidujjaman Rifat, Jingyi Li, Alex Taylor, and Daniela Rosner.
Link


08-26-2025
I will be giving a talk at the IT University Human-Computer Interaction and Design.


08-13-2025
I will be giving a talk at Copenhagen University Human-Centred Computing (HCC).


08-18-2025
I will be attending Aarhus 2025.
Link


08-04-2025
I will be speaking as part of the NLP colloquium at The University of Bonn.
Link


07-09-2025
I will be spending time with the brilliant scholars at the Pioneer Center for AI (P1) in Copenhagen through the end of August. If you are in the area, I would love to connect with you!
Link


06-24-2025
I will be giving a talk at UCL Interaction Center seminar.
Link
06-15-2025
I will be attending HCIC 2025.
Link


05-12-2025
Last week, I presented our paper on “Ontologies in Design: How Imagining a Tree Reveals Possibilities and Assumptions in Large Language Models” at CHI 2025 in Yokohama.
Link 











Nava Haghighi



About me
Publications, Teaching, Mentorship
LinkedIn
Email





Select projects 


Purple Zone
Ontologies in Design
Stranj(ers)
Disobedient Agents
Installations, Materials, and Fabrication








© Nava Haghighi.  All rights reserved.




Stranj(ers)

Bachelor of Architecture Thesis
College of Architecture and Environmental Design
California Polytechnic State University, 
San Luis Obispo
2014-2015

Stranj(ers) are a series of investigations examining what it means to have queer objects and spaces. When we go beyond the familiar, or intentionally reverse all that is familiar, what opportunities are presented to us? What does it mean for an object, or a space to be queer? How might we design spaces for kinship?

Stanj(ers)

global network of ever-expanding urban interventions
:: seems alien while being familiar through its personification
:: grows into its context and adapts while remaining partially ambiguous
:: does not identify with a familiar typology thus allowing the user to re-appropriate it based on their needs
:: is formally non-contextual and is meant to constantly change over time and blend with its environment
:: plans for the changes and celebrates the traditionally non-acceptable environmental and social impacts of its context
__bird poop. smog. noise. decay.
:: does not meet traditional expectations of space based on a given program and improves the quality of life rather than satisfying immediate needs
__ad hoc.
:: is adaptable and changable on a contextual and user basis
__material. responsive. movable.
:: is temporarily and permanently occupiable
__temporality influenced by context. permanence by the network.
:: is democraticly owned with a non-site-based value through the entire network, making exchange of spaces easier
:: introduces complexity to spaces and layers through rapid cultural exchange
:: slows down movement
:: increases environmental, social, and personal awareness by amplifying simple gestures of every day life


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