Aref Dashti (IR) is a spatial practitioner and educator based in the Netherlands, originally from Iran. With an academic trajectory spanning Architectural Design at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) and a BA in Interior Architecture & Furniture Design from the Royal Academy of Art (KABK, The Hague), his interdisciplinary approach bridges architectural thinking, material experimentation, and critical pedagogy.
Dashti’s work investigates the limits and affordances of human-centered design through an archaeological lens; unearthing the latent narratives embedded in spatial systems and material cultures. His immersive installations often address themes of perception, performativity, and the accessibility of information, inviting collective engagement with constructed environments.
At KABK, Aref teaches in both the Interactive/Media/Design and Interior Architecture & Furniture Design departments. His courses, including Interactive Spatial Design, Morphology and Materialization, Urban Morphology, Spatial Design & Analysis and Design Habits, support students in articulating spatial intelligence through analytical, narrative, and embodied strategies. His pedagogy reflects a balance between speculative inquiry and practical development, often culminating in projects that explore simulation, resistance, and adaptive environments.
In his ongoing research into Simulated Ignorance, Dashti examines how designed spaces, and coded infrastructures mediate social performance and institutional power. Through collaborations with platforms such as Maakhaven Studio, he continues to prototype critical spatial narratives that foreground ambiguity, friction, and multi-authored meaning.