Startup Architecture - Big Ideas for the Physical World

The built environment is the world’s largest asset class — the physical infrastructure of everyday life — and one of the least transformed industries of the past century. At the same time, robotics is maturing, AI is moving into physical systems, and advances in materials science are accelerating. A new generation of founders, engineers, and thinkers is turning its attention to one of the most consequential challenges in the physical world: how we build. This symposium brings together theorists, founders, investors, architects, engineers, roboticists, sociologists, and historians to examine the questions automation poses for the built environment — not simply what is technically possible, but what is structurally necessary, culturally meaningful, and ultimately worth building.