Austin Lightle
Austin Lightle is a digital artist and architectural designer. Austin holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The Ohio State University and a Master of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture.
Austin’s research is centered around the technological impact on the built environment, specifically on the interfaces we use to produce. Initial research examined the way architecture was standardized through the use of interfaces and language. Forming preconceived notions of architecture centered around program, scale, and function.
His research has further expanded to examine the excess digital waste created by architects and the ecological impact it has. Data has led to a world of architecture without architects, leading to the construction of tens of thousands of data centers across the world, one of the most constructed building typologies in the world being built with very little architectural intervention.
In a world of architecture without architects, his work seeks to explore up-cycling architecture, both physically and digitally. The building and the archive are often the “end”, but his work explores them as a new starting point. Addressing the in-flux nature by taking an attitude of “again” and not “end”. Working to discover new potentials for up-cycled architectural pieces while using digital waste as a way to spread awareness to non-architects. Through animation, Austin rewrites the defaults to study new imaginaries of digital waste. Animation serves as a narrative tool to reflect upon society and tell a story of architecture to the non-architect.