Abstract

This paper examines the complex interplay between interdisciplinary research (IDR) and the materiality of an academic building designed to support it. Framed as a five-act play, this study portrays the embodied experiences of four migrant-women-researchers while conducting an affective ethnography in an ID building. Focusing on the affective intensities and resonances that emerge within the relationships between humans and nonhuman bodies, this research foregrounds the non-linear, iterative nature of knowledge production. Drawing on feminist decolonial epistemologies, it reveals how architectural configurations shape inhabitants' emotions, illuminating subtle power dynamics within academic spaces. The findings - written as monologues - call for reimagining institutional spaces through affective responsiveness, a central practice for understanding organizational dynamics in contemporary academia. Ultimately, the article argues that the design of interdisciplinary buildings not only reproduces disciplinary boundaries but also holds the potential to foster new forms of inclusive academic work and life.