ISSN 2309-0103

Latest Issues

Issue 9-1 | July 2021

Issue 8-2 | February 2021

Issue 8-1 | July 2020

Contributors

Aagaard, Anders Kruse
Abondano, David
Andjelkovic, Vladimir
Akinwolemiwa, Oluwafeyikemi
Alexandrou, Kristis
Araújo Aguiar, Carlos Henrique
Arnaiz, Beatriz
Ascher, Barbara Elisabeth
Ashok, Ganapathy Iyer
Avellaneda, Omar F.
Babbetto, Roberto
Bannova, Olga
Baseta, Efilena
Bier, Henriette
Chang, Jia-Rey (Gary)
Charalambous, Efrosini
Chatzitsakyris, Panagiotis
Chatzivasileiadi, Aikaterini
Chiang, Yu-Chou
Couling, Nancy
Crawford, Christina E.
Deng, Xi
Dobre, Catalina Codruta
Erdine, Elif
Fernández-Mora, Víctor
Fernández-Vigil Iglesias, María
Figliola, Angelo
Garramone, Valentina
Gazeas, Stefanos
Goodbun, Jon
Gourdoukis, Dimitris
Griffith, Kenfield
Gün, Onur Yüce
Jäger, Nils
Jensen, Mads Brath
Kamath, Ayodh Vasant
Knight, Terry
Klemmt, Christoph
Komninos, Nicos
Lénárd, Ilona
Liu Cheng, Alexander
Matheou, Maria
Movila, Andreea
Nielsen, Stig Anton
Oosterhuis, Kas
Otti, Luisa
Öz, Irem
Papamanolis, Antonis
Papantoniou, Andreana
Paterakis, Manolis
Payola Lahoz, Jordi
Peña, Ana Laura Rocha
Perna, Valerio
Phocas, Marios C.
Psaltoglou, Artemis
Sass, Larry
Sáiz, Rodrigo Martín
Saraptzian, Katerina
Scherer, Annie Locke
Soriano, Enrique
Spiridonidis, Constantin
Symeonidou, Ioanna
Tanaka, Adam
Tomer, Sharóne L.
Torres, Natalia
Tryfonos, George
Vardouli, Theodora
Verykiou, Anthie
Voyatzaki, Maria
Waghorn, Mark
Wibranek, Bastian
Zavraka, Despoina

Anders Kruse Aagaard (Issue 2-2) is an architect and PhD Fellow at Aarhus School of Architecture, Denmark. Anders graduated as an architect in 2012. In between his architectural studies he worked at architectural offices and also combined his master in architecture with graduate studies in philosophy and epistemology. Both as a student and as an architect Anders’s work has been focusing on materials and material processing. Both as aesthetic and formal expressions in design proposals and through investigative experiments during the design process. He has an interest in material qualities and material behaviours as well as the current and historic craftsmanship and knowledge connected to the materials. Before Anders started his PhD studies he was involved in the implementation of digital machinery at Aarhus School of Architecture and establishing of the material lab. He joined the teaching staff in Aarhus and coordinated seminars concerning materials and new technology. The introduction to digital production tools added a new dimension the material interest and eventually formed the topic for his PhD research.

David Abondano (Issue 2-2) graduated in architecture at School of Architecture ESARQ (2005). Afterwards he worked (2005-2010) in Carlos Ferrater studio (Office of Architecture in Barcelona) collaborating on the development of architectural projects and competitions, as well as co-authoring the chapter Ideographic Resources of the book Synchronizing Geometry (ACTAR, 2007). His independent architectural practice has been displayed in exhibitions such as the Lisbon Architecture Triennale (2007) and, Colombian Emerging Architecture (2009). ARC Group member since 2012, and with the grant of the FI-DRG 2012 from de Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, he currently carries out his Ph.D. thesis, “Transition Towards a Digital Architecture”, within the program “Representation, Knowledge, Architecture”, by School of Architecture La Salle. The doctoral research bridges the material, productive, and conceptual changes fostered by the industrial and informational technologies in architectural practice and theory. His intention is to provide a historical and sociocultural background that enables the understanding, and critical assessment, about the integration and employment of digital design and fabrication tools in architectural production. The results of his research have been published in scientific journals and conefrence proceedings.

Vladimir Andjelkovic (Issue 4-1) is an architect from Pancevo, Serbia. During 2000-2006, he studied at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Architecture (FoA). In the period from 2005 - 2008 he worked as a teaching assistant in the Studio Project 1 at the same university. In 2008, he entered his PhD studies at the FoA to research transformable architectural structures. Since 2006, he has been working as a leading architect-designer in the office “Bekament LLC” in Belgrade. From 2008 to 2010, he became a member of the Association of Architects of Belgrade and a member of the Association of Applied Arts Artists and Designers of Serbia. He has created a research corner called “a2arhitektura” together with architect Dijana Adzemovic Andjelkovic. He is the author of several award-winning project designs, and winner of numerous awards and recognitions for architecture, industrial design and graphic design. Moreover, he has actively participated in the development of architectural and design competitions.

Oluwafeyikemi Akinwolemiwa (Issue 3-2) is an architect with interest in integrating plants within buildings for passive cooling and sustainable farming in the tropics. other interests include building simulation and generating achievable policies for practicing sustainable architecture. Other experiences include practice in Landscape architecture and Lecturing.

Kristis Alexandrou (Issue 5-1) is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Architecture of the University of Cyprus, where he is an adjunct faculty member and research associate in the area of Architectural Technology. He holds a B.A. in Architecture and Design from the University of Brighton, 2011, and a Diploma of Architect-Engineer from the University of Cyprus, 2013. His diploma thesis has been awarded with mention at the international student competition ‘’Transformables’’ at the University of Seville, 2013. In the current academic year, 2016-17, his doctoral research has been funded with a scholarship from the Postgraduate School, University of Cyprus. His research interests focus in the area of structural and architecture design, lightweight adaptive structures, computational design and digital tools.

Carlos Aguiar (Issue 4-1) is PhD Student in Human Behavior and Design at Cornell University. He has worked in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as designer and architect for several years before he joined the MSc. in Design Computing at the University of Washington, Seattle. In his research though design MSc. thesis, Carlos designed and tested an intelligent and networked suit of robotic furniture, which aimed to work as an assistive technology to support aging in place. In 2015, Carlos joined the PDBE PhD program at Clemson University, SC, and in 2016 Carlos transferred to Cornell University to continue his research in Architectural Robotics. Under the supervision of Dr. Keith E. Green, Carlos research examines how a responsive, cyber-physical architecture can augment social interaction in public and semipublic spaces within the city. Carlos has been awarded a full time Teaching Assistantship at both Clemson University and Cornell University.

Beatriz Arnaiz (Issue 5-1) is an Architect from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), with the qualification equivalent to a Master’s degree according to the European Higher Education Area (Madrid, February 2014). During her studies, she was granted from the Polytechnic University of Madrid to study in PUCPR (2009-2010, Brasil) and in Universidade de Évora (2012, Portugal). Currently she is a Ph.D. student in Architecture Technology at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia-Barcelona Tech (UPC), researching on lightweight structures with tensile membranes, in low-tech context, opening the path of textile materials reuse. She has participated as assistant professor on Structural Morphology in Architecture in ITESM (Nuevo Leon, Mexico. June-July 2015), as collaborator in workshops in ETSAV (November 2015, 2016) and as workshop professor in UAH (Madrid, March 2016). She has worked at the Architects Building Department of the international company TYPSA (TÉCNICA Y PROYECTOS, S.A.), as Project Management assistant (June 2014-January 2015). Currently she belongs to LHRC Architecture Collective, working on projects that understand architecture as human tool in building the society, and creating singular temporary spaces to accommodate the activities of dynamic societies.

Barbara Elisabeth Ascher (Issue 1-1) was born in Germany and trained as an architect and urban planner at Bauhaus University in Weimar and the Oslo School of Architecture with a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation. She has worked as an architect in award-winning offices in Egypt, Austria and Germany, before she moved to Norway after her graduation in 2006. Her professional experience includes working on exhibition projects and publications such as the “Atlas of Shrinking Cities”, housing schemes, cultural centers and experimental public spaces such as “Geoparken” in Stavanger, as well as large scale urban regeneration projects for the public sector. She joined the Oslo School of Architecture and Design as a PhD research fellow in 2012. Her research is part of the HERA-funded project on “Scarcity and Creativity in the Built Environment” and focuses on the design and process of social housing provisions in the Norwegian welfare state.

Ashok Ganapathy Iyer (Issue 3-1) is currently pursuing his PhD Studies at Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University; UK since 2011 and is the Chairperson of School of Design & Architecture (SoDA), Manipal University; Dubai (2004 till date). His research is looking at the impact of architectural design coursework delivered in the first year on students’ approaches to learning through the five years of the architecture program. An architect by profession, he studied architecture at Sir JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai; India (Master in Architecture, 2004) and at Pillais’ College of Architecture, Navi Mumbai; India (Bachelor of Architecture, 1997). He has worked at Sir JJ College (2002-04) & Rizvi College of Architecture (1999-2002), Mumbai; India before establishing the interior design & architecture programs at SoDA. His other research interests include urban studies & historic architectural developments from the construct of Pattern Language, issues of sustainability in contemporary architecture; fine arts & architecture heritage. His hobbies include Philately & Numismatics; fountain pens & sketching. http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/archi/ahtg/ashok-iyer
https://www.manipaldubai.com/soda/faculty/faculty-list/ashok-ganapathy.html

Omar F. Avellaneda (Issue 4-2) is an Architect and holds a Masters in Construction from the National University of Colombia. He is a PhD candidate from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona Tech. His PhD focused on the Technology of Architecture, Building and Planning Program. He researches deployable and transformable structures, and approximations of habitability. He is also researching on structural morphologies applied to architecture and lightweight construction buildings. He has teaching experience in the area of innovation and technology in architecture and has been a speaker at various international conferences on unconventional structures in architecture. As an Architect he has six years of professional experience in the field of civil construction, project management, interior design and corporate architecture. He also has kills in parametric design and digital manufacturing.

Roberto Babbetto (Issue 2-1) is an architect and researcher. Graduated in Architecture at the University of Genoa with a thesis concerning the documentation and conservation of the pre-Palladian villas in Veneto (Italy), he collaborates with the MARSC (Metodiche Analitiche per il Restauro e la Storia del Costuito) Laboratory at the Polytechnic School of Genoa in many research activities mainly directed to inquiry architectural rigorous surveys methods, non-destructive analytic and diagnostic techniques and methods, and architectural heritage conservation/restoration processes. He is currently conducting a Ph.D. research at DASTU (Architecture and Urban Studies Department) at the Politecnico di Milano (coordinator prof. C. Di Biase; tutors prof. S.F. Musso and porf. G. Franco), about the use of the BIM (Building Information Modelling) for the preservation and planned conservation of architectural heritage. He is also taking part – with the Research Unity of Genoa (Scint. resp. Prof. Arch. S. F. Musso) – in a Research Program of National Interest (PRIN): “Built Heritage Information Modelling/Management–BHIMM” (National coordinator prof. Stefano Della Torre).

Olga Bannova (Issue 4-1) is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Houston where she is directing the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture (SICSA). Olga conducts research and design studies that address planning analyses for a broad range of space and extreme environment projects including inflatable structures, special design influences and requirements, and habitat concepts for different conditions in space, and extreme environments on Earth. Olga’s doctoral studies at the Architectural department at Chalmers university focus on research and design facilities for severe climate conditions including Polar Regions or those that are exposed to extreme temperature swings. She pays particular attention to emerging technologies and materials and optimization of proven techniques in order to find more economical and practical design solutions while providing functional comfort for habitability. Author of more than 30 publications and a book “Space Architecture Education for Engineers and Architects”, Springer, 2016.

Efilena Baseta (Issue 6-2) is an architect engineer, studied in the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), with a Master degree in Advanced Architecture from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC). Her interest lies in exploring material behaviours, physically and digitally, in order to create efficient structures. In 2014 she won the most “Innovative Structure” award from IAAC for her master thesis project ‘Translated Geometries’ which gained great publicity. Since 2014 Efilena is a partner of Noumena, a multidisciplinary practice which merges computational strategies with advanced manufacturing techniques in order to accomplish technology-oriented solutions in various fields; from wearables to robotics. She has been part of the design and coordination of exhibitions related with Advanced Construction, such as the “Pavilion of Innovation” in Construmat 2015 and the InnoChain 1st Colloquium in Angewandte Innovation Lab. In 2015-16 she collaborated with IAAC as the coordinator of the Visiting Programs. Having led several courses internationally, during 2016-18 Efilena was a Marie-Curie researcher. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna on the topic ‘Bending-active system with controllable curvature-stiffness relation’. The latter research has been awarded by ACADIA ‘18 and Autodesk as the best ”Emerging Research” in the paper category.

Henriette Bier (Issue 2-1) After graduating in architecture (1998) from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany, Henriette Bier has worked with Morphosis(1999-2001) on internationally relevant projects in the US and Europe. She has taught computer-based architectural design (2002-2003) at universities in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. Her research focuses not only on analysis and critical assessment of digital technologies in architecture, but also reflects evaluation and classification of digitally-driven architectures through procedural and object-oriented studies. It defines methodologies of digital design, which incorporate (Intelligent)Computer Based Systems proposing development of prototypical tools to support the design process. Results of her research have been published in books, journals and conference proceedings. She regularly leads workshops at universities in Germany, Italy and Belgium, and teaches at design studios within Hyperbody and SpaceLab at TU Delft. Currently, she is project coordinator of the workshop and lecture series on Digital Design and Fabrication within DSD (Delft School for Design).

Jia-Rey Chang (Gary) (Issue 2-1) was born in Taiwan. After he got his M.Arch degree in Architecture and Urban Design Department, UCLA, under the direction of Neil Denari in 2009, he came back to his Alma mater, architecture department in TamKang University, Taiwan, doing research on interactive and parametric architecture. In 2010, he established “P&A LAB”(Programming AND Architecture LAB) exploring the new relationship between the programming and architecture. As the director of P&A LAB , he also worked in the Architecture Department of National Taipei University of Technology as a part-time lecturer. In 2011, He joined in Hyperbody LAB to further develop his preliminary study on “HyperCell”, which is a bio-inspired architectural component with intelligence, kinetic energy, self-assemble and self-adaptive capacities based on evolutionary development biology and swarm behavior principles. Cooperating with choreographers, visual artists and programmer, he is now currently involved in a 5-year EU project, MetaBody, to explore the pro-activeness and inter-action relationship between body movement and spatial quality. Meanwhile, he also holds several workshops for years on the topic of basic to advance coding techniques, interactive design and motion tracking technology.

Efrosini Charalambous (Issue 3-1) holds a diploma on Architecture Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece (NTUA) and a Master’s Degree in Advanced Architecture from the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Cataluña (IAAC-UPC) in Barcelona. She has lived and worked in Greece, Switzerland, Spain and Cyprus as a freelance architect as well as in collaboration with several architectural studios. Over the years, she has developed a particular interest regarding the embodied spatial experience and perception, issues that she has also explored through Contact Improvisation Dance, body movement awareness and meditation techniques. Becoming familiar with these new first-person perspectives on spatial interaction and perception, she has developed an interest towards the cognitive sciences and environmental psychology. She rejoined the academic community in 2013 with the desire to combine her architectural background with the knowledge offered by cognitive neuroscience. She has been awarded a scholarship from the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY) and she is currently a PhD candidate at the Bartlett School of Architecture: Space Syntax Lab, University College of London. She is interested in how humans perceive, experience and cognize space. The main objective of her research is the use of neuroscientific methods, such electroencephalography (EEG), in real-world scenarios in order to assess the underlying cognitive processes of mental ‘events’ that may emerge through spatial interaction.

Panagiotis Chatzitsakyris (Issue 3-1) (born Thessaloniki, 1978) graduated from the School of Architecture of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2002) and he holds a Master of Science in Architectural Design degree (Design and Computation) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2005). Panagiotis worked for Rafael Vinoly Architects (NY) and Proentasi Design and Construction (Thessaloniki) prior to founding .27 architects. Currently he is a PhD Candidate at AUTH at the School of Architecture where he also co-teaches a design studio.

Aikaterini Chatzivasileiadi (Issue 3-1) is qualified as an Architect (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 2009) and holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Design of Buildings from the Welsh School of Architecture (WSA), Cardiff University, UK. She has practiced architecture in Greece and has worked on both national and international projects. During 2009-2010 she gained valuable working experience at A.. Tombazis and Associates Architects. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Architectural Science at WSA and her research revolves around electrical energy storage technologies and their integration in buildings. During her PhD, she worked in the Solcer project on the analysis of monitoring data from retrofitted dwellings with PV and integrated battery storage technologies in Wales. In summer 2014 she was a visiting researcher at PennState University, US, where she investigated a demand response use case for the Li-ion battery in the zero net-energy research home of the GridStar centre. In addition, she was recently invited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) to contribute to a proposal for guidance on electrical energy storage integration in buildings. As for her teaching responsibilities, she gives lectures to BSc and MSc students in Architectural Technology II and Low Carbon Footprint modules respectively. She is also an MSc tutor being involved in the tutorials and the student assessment in the Environmental Design Practice module. In addition, she is a member of the WSA School Research Committee, the WSA Ethics Committee and the Cardiff Women in Science Committee and has been an invited member of the WSA School Advisory Panel. She has also served as PhD student representative and has organized a number of conferences

Yu-Chou Chiang (Issue 6-2) is PhD candidate at the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Hydraulic Engineering from National Taiwan University. After a few years working as a research and education assistant at the university and as an engineer or a designer in few consultants and design firms, he began his PhD research at the Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft, investigating the interrelation between membrane shells, digital fabrication, and reconfigurable mechanisms.

Nancy Couling (Issue 1-2) is currently carrying out doctoral research at laba after gaining architectural experience and teaching as assistant to Prof. K. Zillich at the TU Berlin (2000-5 & 2008-9). She gained her B. Arch with honours at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and became a registered architect there. After winning a scholarship for study at the I.U.A.V. (Venice) she worked in renowned architectural practices in Italy & Germany before establishing her own inter-disciplinary partnership cet-0 & cet-01 in Berlin (1995-2010). Her current research is focused on the urbanization of the sea. At laba she coordinated the Barents Sea project (2011/12) and co-edited “Barents Lessons- Teaching & Research in Architecture”, Zürich: Park Books 2012, which has won awards in both Switzerland and Germany. Nancy is laba’s coordinator for Urban Lab +, an international network of urban laboratories in Europe and the global south, funded by the Erasmus Mundus programme.

Christina E. Crawford (Issue 1-2) is a PhD Candidate in Architectural History and Theory at Harvard University whose work focuses on architectural and urban design strategies particular to periods of intensive transition. Her dissertation will explore early Soviet planning, specifically the theoretical foundations of socialist urban theory in 1920s Moscow, and three sites where theory “hit the ground” in the First Five-Year Plan (1928-32) : Baku, Kharkiv and Magnitogorsk. Christina has presented her recent work at conferences in the US, the UK, and Ukraine, and is assisting adviser, Eve Blau, on a forthcoming book entitled Baku: Oil and Urbanism. She served as Vice Consul in the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia, and received a Fulbright Fellowship to Ukraine, where she researched post-Soviet Ukrainian architecture and urbanism. She also worked for several years as a registered architect and urban designer in Boston and taught architectural history and theory at Northeastern University. Christina received her B.A. in Architecture and East European Studies from Yale University, and her M.Arch from the Harvard Graduate School of Design; all degrees were conferred with Distinction.

Xi Deng (Issue 3-2) is a structural engineer with a B.Eng in Civil Engineering from Chongqing University, China (2010), and an architectural engineer with a MSc in Architectural Engineering from Politecnico Di Milano, Italy (2012). His current PhD in Architecture is supported by a Cardiff University International Scholarship. During his Civil Engineering studies he focused on engineering with aspects of architectural design. He was awarded the honour of being selected as one of the ‘Ten Most Outstanding Youths of Chongqing University’, appearing in an official interview by Chongqing University Monthly. After graduating from Chongqing University he was admitted to the MSc of Architectural Engineering at Politecnico Di Milano with a full scholarship in 2010. The experience of project designs, design workshops and design competitions in Europe improved his architectural design skills and deepened his understanding of the relationship between architecture and engineering through the whole building process. He has a general research interest in Low Carbon & Sustainable Design and is trying to build an effective bridge for academic communications between UK and China, and to increase the development of Low Carbon & Sustainable City in China.

Catalina Codruta Dobre (Issue 1-1) is a Romanian architect that started her architecture studies in Bucharest and later on, chose to continue her master degree at the Universite Libre Brussels. In July 2012, she graduated with high honors. Currently she is a PhD candidate and joined the urban design and planning research centre LoUIsE, inside the Universite Libre Brussels. Based on her experience in research and urban design in cities from different cultures -Brussels (BE), Ishinomaki (JP), Bucharest (RO) and Astana (KZ)- she begun to research urban water management practices, one of the critical points in urban development worldwide. Her PhD thesis is based on Brussels, as a city with a high potential in integrating new concepts like the water sensitive approach in water management. Besides this, Catalina Dobre is a founding member of Risk and Architecture Workshop, a non-profit association that aims to bring together architecture students worldwide under the topic of How to live with risk?

Elif Erdine (Issue 1-1) is an architect and researcher. Currently, she is a PhD in Architectural Design Candidate at the Architectural Association (AA), researching on “Generative Processes in Tower Design: Algorithms for the Integration of Tower Subsystems”, under the advisory of George Jeronimidis, Michael Weinstock, and Patrik Schumacher. She is the Programme Director of AA DLAB Visiting School and AA Istanbul Visiting School. She has been working at Zaha Hadid Architects since 2006. She received her B.Arch. degree from Istanbul Technical University in 2003 (High Honors), and M.Arch. degree from the AA Design Research Lab (AA DRL) in 2006 (Project Distinction). Her projects have been printed widely in international and national architecture publications. She is a registered architect in Turkey.

Víctor Fernández-Mora (Issue 5-2) develops his doctoral studies in the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyers de Camins, Canals i Ports (ETSICCP) at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), researching the integration of the structural project into BIM by using optimization algorithms. He graduated in Architecture at UPV and studied the Master in Reinforced Concrete, where he began developing the research topic in the master thesis applied to concrete structures optimization in BIM. His main interests are building structures and new software tools for architecture, these are the two focus of his research.

María Fernández-Vigil Iglesias (Issue 5-2) is a PhD student from the University of Navarre. She studies the Fire Risk in Dwellings occupied by Elderly people in Spain. In her paper she argues that Fire risk is a key element in architecture, because it involves three factors: those related to the building, those related to the people using the building and those related to fire itself. Architects have no control over those factors once the fire has started, so prevention is the best tool we have. The paper “Building Fire Risk Assessment Methods: A Hierarchical Classification” is an important part of the development of her dissertation, while FRA Methods are one of the most effectives measures to prevent fire accidents. This research tries to be a useful review of the main Risk Assessment Methods, ranking them according to their complexity, which will allow the architect or engineer to select the best technique depending on the specific building needs.

Angelo Figliola (Issue 4-2) is currently completing his PhD research at the Department of Planning, Design and Technology, PDTA, of the University “La Sapienza”, Rome; during the PhD he has been a visiting researcher at IAAC, University for Advanced Architecture of Catalunya, working on Robotic fabrication applied to wood structures. He holds a BSc in the Science of Architecture, 2009, and a Masters Degree in Architecture, 2012, both degrees from the University of Camerino, UNICAM SAD, School of Architecture and Design. In 2013 he was awarded a post-graduate II level Masters in Housing from the University of Roma 3. His research interests lie in the field of architectural technology in the post-digital age: the relationship between computational design, materials and innovative fabrication techniques as a new design paradigm for the investigation of performative architecture.

Valentina Garramone (Issue 1-1) is an architect, an assistant professor since March 2010 and the winner of a grant for PhD studies in Interior Architecture at the “Sapienza” University of Rome in November 2010. Her research is titled “Study of Empathy in Architecture: Analysis, Methods, Experiments.” The members of her thesis committee are Prof. A. Saggio and Prof. D. Scatena. She curated the exhibition “NEW ITEMS: Show, equip, furnish,” held at the “Sapienza” Faculty of Architecture in May 2011. She is currently working on the publication of the exhibition catalogue. Regarding her academic activities as a PhD candidate, she collaborated for the organization of a series of lectures titled “Introspection - Meeting of Architecture”. Moreover, she is working on a book spin-off of the publication “Architettura e Modernità. Dal Bauhaus alla Rivoluzione Informatica” by prof. A. Saggio. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the web portal ArchiDiAP at the Department of Architecture DiAP of “Sapienza”. She has presented her research work in several national and international workshops and conferences, the last one in November 2012 in Paris. Furthermore, she participated in several international design competitions, aimed at designing an emotionally connected to nature and history proposal, collaborating with the group of Prof. Arch. D. Scatena. She is co-founder of the Archethic Studio.

Stefanos Gazeas (Issue 3-2) was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. Even as a teenager, he got involved in his father’s business, who was a civil engineer and run his own practice in Kastoria. He studied Architecture at the University of Nottingham, UK (B.Arch 1996 and Dip.Arch 1998 with honors). The following year, he was granted a Master’s Degree in Bioclimatic Architecture in Office Buildings (MA 1999). In that same year he started work in Thessaloniki for a renowned local architect and constructor. During 1999-2003, he also collaborated with several engineers for housing projects, sports centers, landscaping and energy efficiency in the building industry. In 2003, he moved into the public sector, being employed as an architect for the Technical Department, at the Municipality of Veria. Currently, he is the Head of the Planning Dept. and also a PhD candidate at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki(AUTH), researching the performance of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPVs). During 2004-2011 he served as an assistant lecturer for several modules, in the Architectural Dept. of AUTH. Stefanos is also active in the publishing world, having written a few articles related to his studies on photovoltaic technology. In his spare time, he is an amateur car designer, model car collector and restorer of “young-timer” historic vehicles, taking part in classic rallies.

Jon Goodbun (Issue 1-2) is founding partner of WaG architecture based in London and a senior lecturer at the University of Westminster, UK. In 2011 he finished his PhD thesis at the University of Westminster, titled: “ The architecture of the extended mind: towards a critical urban ecology” and has been part of the HERA-funded project “Scarcity and Creativity in the Built Environment” at the same institution. He has been a visiting critic/lecturer at several institutions including Architectural Association (AA), Bartlett UCL, Bauhaus Weimar (Germany), Cambridge, UCA Canterbury, De Montford, Greenwich, Oxford Brookes, Princeton (USA), and TU Berlin (Germany) and has published widely. His latest publication, together with Jeremy Till and Deljana Iossifova, includes a special issue of AD on “Scarcity: architecture in the age of depleting resources.”

Dimitris Gourdoukis (Issue 2-2) is a PhD Candidate at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he is teaching classes on digital media and design. He studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis (Master in Architecture, 2007) and at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Diploma in Architecture, 2004). In spring 2014 he was a visiting Assistant Professor at the Sam Fox School of Design at Washington University in St. Louis where he tough a graduate design studio and a seminar on digital fabrication. He was a Lecturer at Washington University from 2007 to 2008, where he taught core digital media, advanced digital media and digital fabrication classes. In 2006 he founded object-e architecture (http://object-e.net), as a research platform on issues of architecture, computation and experimental design. He has won prizes in numerous international competitions. His work has received several awards and has been published, exhibited and presented at conferences internationally.

Kenfield Griffith (Issue 1-1) is CEO and Founder of mSurvey, a data and insights company, offering a customizable mobile survey platform for research, data collection, and product tracking. Prior to this, he developed technologies in collaboration with the University of the West Indies collecting data from fishing communities distributed throughout the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. During 2010-2012 he worked as an Inter-American Development Bank Data Consultant in Washington D.C. and as a data researcher under the auspices of the MIT Committee on the Use of Humans as Experimental Subjects (COUHES). Kenfield’s work has been presented at the international CAD, SIGRADI, CAADRIA and ConnectED conferences. Kenfield developed and contributed to design workshops in emerging markets, including the Caribbean, Africa, Chile, and Peru. He received a PhD in Design and Computation from MIT studying and developing Information and Communication Technologies for improve design, data collection, and insights in remote regions. Kenfield also holds a SMArchS degree from MIT and a Bachelor degree in Computer science from the University at Buffalo.

Onur Yüce Gün (Issue 2-1) is a design and computation specialist. He is a PhD candidate in the Computation Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Presidential Fellow. Onur holds a SMArchS Computation Degree from MIT (2006-merit recognition in admission) and a B.Arch. from METU (2004-top of the class). Onur initiated and directed the KPF NY Computational Geometry Group (2006-2009) and took role in initiation of the Pratt Institute Digital Futures Group. He instituted and coordinated the first year undergraduate education at the Istanbul Bilgi University, School of Architecture (2009-2011). Onur’s work is internationally recognized. He won awards in CAADRIA and eCAADe. His work was exhibited at Universitat Adolfo Ibanez in Santiago (2012), at Center for Architecture: AIA New York Chapter (2009), at SIGGRAPH 2008 in Los Angeles, and at Tokyo Gallery A4 (2006). He acted as Senior Tutor for Smart Geometry Group (2005-2009) around the world and has been an invited design critic at Harvard, Columbia University, UPenn, RISD, and UIC. Onur currently focuses on potentials and limitations of computing in design. He talks about the potentials in his book chapter in Elements of Parametric Design and is the editor of Dosya 29: Computational Design that recapitulates the limitations.

Nils Jäger (Issue 4-1) studied Architecture at Technische Universität Berlin (BA) and Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA (M.Arch.). He recently completed his PhD in Computer Science at the University of Nottingham (2015, thesis title: Enacted Embodiment in Adaptive Architecture: Physiological Interactions between Inhabitants and Biofeedback Architecture). Prior to his doctoral studies, Nils gained professional experience in Dallas, TX, USA, working in an office specializing in corporate interior architecture. He has supervised M.Sc. students (Computer Science), was a teaching assistant in Architectural Humanities, and taught architectural design studios. Nils is currently a Research Fellow at the Mixed Reality Laboratory, University of Nottingham, where he investigates the inhabitation of adaptive architecture. Through experimental and “in the wild” research he examines embodiment, actual and perceived control, as well as agency within adaptive environments. He also studies the emerging interactions with architecture made possible by the Internet of Things and the smart home/smart cities paradigm.

Mads Brath Jensen (Issue 6-2) is a PhD fellow at the Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology at Aalborg University in Denmark (2017-2020). In his PhD study, he investigates design methods and procedures for establishing a direct relation between creative design processes in the field architecture and interactive robotic fabrication, with emphasis on how the cognitive design processes are influenced by interactive real-time human-material-robot processes. Mads received his MSc.Eng. in Digital Design from Aalborg University in 2008 and has been teaching in the field of computational architecture, parametric design and rapid prototyping technologies on both BSc and MSc level (2008-2017). This research-based teaching has resulted in a series of research pavilions showcasing the interconnection between computational form-finding, material behaviour, thermal- and acoustic simulation, and fabrication techniques.

Ayodh Vasant Kamath (Issue 1-1) is a Partner at Kamath Design Studio, New Delhi. Here he is involved in critical architectural projects dealing with the application of digital design technologies in non-industrial settings. He has been a visiting faculty member at the University College of Architecture and Planning, Delhi (August 2012-May2013), and Sushant School of Art & Architecture, Gurgaon (August 2011-June 2012) where he has taught design studios and electives, and conducted workshops. He has lectured at Lawrence Technological University, Michigan (2013); the Architectural Association Visiting School, Bangalore (2011); the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (2011); and the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad (2010). Ayodh has a post-professional degree in architecture with a specialization in Design Computation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and a B.Arch degree from the Sushant School of Art and Architecture, Gurgaon. He has also studied photography and worked on installation art projects. His abiding interest is to explore the interplay between the computational and physical aspects of design.

Terry Knight (Issue 1-1) joined the MIT Department of Architecture in 1996, after teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles beginning in 1988. She conducts research and teaches in the area of computational design, with an emphasis on the theory and application of shape grammars. Her book, Transformations in Design, is a well-known introduction to the field of shape grammars. Her recent research includes work on visual-physical grammars: rule-based, customizable building assembly systems that support cultural sustainability through the incorporation of vernacular patterns and local resources. She is also exploring the incorporation of sensory aspects of design, beyond the visual, into grammars. She has served on the editorial boards of Languages of Design and Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, and has published extensively in these and other design research journals. She holds a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and an MA and PhD in Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Christoph Klemmt (Issue 6-2) graduated from the Architectural Association in London in 2004 and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. He has worked amongst others for Zaha Hadid Architects, where his responsibilities were focused on the company’s projects in China. He is Assistant Professor at the Department of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning at the University of Cincinnati, where he received a grant to set up the Architectural Robotics Lab. In 2008 he co-founded Orproject, an architect’s office specialising in advanced geometries with an ecologic agenda. Orproject has exhibited at the Palais De Tokyo in Paris, the China National Museum in Beijing and the Biennale in Venice. The work of Orproject has been featured world-wide in magazines and books such as Domus, Frame, and Spacecraft, and the practice has won several international Awards.

Nicos Komninos (Issue 6-1) is a researcher and author of many publications on the intelligent (smart) city paradigm, including the trilogy “Intelligent Cities: Innovation, knowledge systems and digital spaces” (Routledge 2002); “Intelligent Cities and Globalisation of Innovation Networks” (Routledge 2008); “The Age of Intelligent Cities: Smart environments and innovation-for-all strategies” (Routledge 2014), and guest editor of five special issues on smart cities. He is a professor of Urban Development and Innovation Policy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and director of URENIO Research. He has coordinated more than one hundred projects under the European research and territorial cooperation programmes, and has been honoured with the Excellence and Innovation Award of Aristotle University for achievements in competitive research. Alongside to research he took part in the development of smart cities, technology parks, and innovation strategies in EU countries; in UNIDO innovation for developing countries; in the group of experts for the OECD Innovation Strategy; in evaluation of research in EU, Nordic countries, Asia and New Zealand; and currently in research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3) and digital growth strategies across many regions of Europe. He is associate editor or member of the editorial board in twelve academic journals. More at www.komninos.eu

Ilona Lénárd (Issue 4-1) is trained as a professional actress in the Academy for Theatrical Arts in Budapest. After that finished her second studies at the Willem de Kooning Academy for Visual Arts in Rotterdam as a sculptor. Since 1983 Ilona Lénárd has worked closely together with architect Kas Oosterhuis. They worked / lived in 1988-1989 in the former studio of Theo van Doesburg in Paris. After her studies Ilona Lénárd has received many grants to support her professional activities as a sculptor. Ilona Lénárd has been co-founder of the Attila Foundation [1993-1998] realizing the Sculpture City project in 1994 and the ParaSite project in 1996. Ilona Lénárd has been invited to lecture at universities and conferences in The Netherlands and abroad, focusing on her specific topics Artificial Intuition and Powerlines. She has been a visiting lecturer at Hyperbody at the TU Delft. Ilona Lénárd has realized a number of art projects in public space [Swinging Light Velp, Musicsculpture Oldemarkt, TT Monument Assen], she has exhibited and published internationally. Over all these years Ilona Lénárd has built up a strong portfolio of autonomous paintings, recent series of paintings are the Tangle, Twig, Flow, Polynuclear, Loop, Up and robotic painting [Machining Emotion] series.

Alexander Liu Cheng (Issue 4-1, 6-1) is a PhD candidate at Robotic Building, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft (Delft, The Netherlands); and Adjunct Professor / Researcher at Facultad de Arquitectura e Ingenierías, Universidad Internacional SEK (Quito, Ecuador). He designs, develops, and implements Cyber-Physical Systems within the Intelligent Built Environment discourse. Alex obtained a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the New York Institute of Technology (New York, USA); a 1st professional Master of Architecture from The University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada); and a Master of Science in Advanced Construction and Building Technology—Automation, Robotics, Services from Technische Universität München (Munich, Germany). In addition to his academic pursuits, Alex has previously worked as Architectural Designer / Architekt at GRAFT Architects (Berlin, Germany / Beijing, China).

Maria Matheou (Issue 1-1) is currently conducting her Ph.D. research at the Department of Architecture of the University of Cyprus, where she is an adjunct faculty member in the area of architectural technology. She holds a B.Sc. in Architecture, 2009, and a Diploma of Architect–Engineer, 2010, both degrees from the University of Cyprus. Her Diploma thesis on kinetic and interactive architecture was awarded the Prize for Excellence in Architectural Design 2010. Her research interests are in the areas of structural and architectural design, kinetic architecture, automation systems, design methods and digital tools.

Andreea Movila (Issue 6-1) is a PhD Student at Ion Mincu University of Architecture Bucharest. She is interested in the theoretical discourse of architecture. In 2015 she intiated an essay contest for young architects from Romania entitled Arhitectura Celuilalt (Architecture of Alteriry) in the fourth edition this year (www.arhitecturaceluilalt.ro). She was the winner of 2015 Travel Fellowship - Berkeley University, SUA with the research “Architects Confront Poverty” and finalist of East Centric Triennale in 2016 (president of the jury : Prof. Alberto Pérez-Gómez) and in 2013 (president of the jury : Juhanni Pallasmaa). In 2016 she was the 3rd Prize Winner of the International Stage of ISOVER Multi-Comfort Students Contest Housing develpment in Brest, Belarus and in 2015 won the 1st Place – at the ISUCCES Contest Croatia. She is a publisher for www.share-architects.com since 2017.

Stig Anton Nielsen (Issue 2-2) is PhD student and researcher within the field of Architecture, Computer Science and Robotics. His project attempts to combine notions from philosophy, architecture, artificial intelligence, material and non-material computation, as well as robotics, in order to manage and modify the build environment. In 2008 he graduated as Master of Architecture from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen with the project, ‘Metro Mechanics’. The project was presented at conferences nationally and internationally. In the years 2008-2012 he worked both at the at the successful and progressive architecture office COBE, as well as the internationally renowned research Center for IT and Architecture (CITA). At CITA he explored computation, large scale CNC fabrication, rapid prototyping and robotic assembly. During these years, he was involved in teaching at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and invited to host international workshops on his topic in both Warsaw, and Manchester. In 2012 he started his own project at Chalmers Technical University, Dept. of Architecture, and collaborated with researchers from Computer Science, in both teaching experi mentation, publication. Today Stig is conducting scientific consultancy for a robotics development firm, as well as guest researching at the chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) at ITA, ETH.

Kas Oosterhuis (Issue 4-1) studied architecture at the Delft University of Technology. In 1987-1988 he taught as unit master at the AA in London and worked/lived one year in the former studio of Theo van Doesburg in Paris together with visual artist Ilona Lénárd. Their design studio is in 2004 renamed into ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd]. As from 2007 Oosterhuis is a registered architect in Hungary, executing as General Designer the CET project. Since 2000, Oosterhuis has been appointed professor of digital design methods at the Delft University of Technology and he is currently leading a staff of twenty researchers at Hyperbody, the knowledge centre for Non-Standard and Interactive Architecture. Oosterhuis is Director of the ProtoSpace Laboratory in the iWEB pavilion, located in front of the Faculty of Architecture. He is member of the Dutch Building Information Council and has been a Member of the Board of Witte de With Center of Contemporary Art in Rotterdam and of the VCA (Computerusers Architectural Offices) until 1989. He has been the co-founder of the Attila Foundation, responsible for the groundbreaking Sculpture City event in 1994 and the ParaSite weblounge in 1996. He has lectured worldwide at numerous universities, academies and international conferences since 1990. Oosterhuis has initiated two GameSetandMatch (GSM) conferences at the Delft University of Technology on the subjects’ multiplayer game design, file to factory design and build methods and open source communication in the evolutionary development of the 3D reference model. Award winning building designs include the Saltwaterpavilion at Neeltje Jans (Gold Award 1997 for innovative recreational projects, Zeeuwse Architectuurprijs 1998, nomination Mies van der Rohe Award 1998), the Garbagetransferstation Elhorst/Vloedbelt in Zenderen (Business Week/Architectural Record Award 1998, OCE-BNA Award for Industrial Architecture 1996, Aluminium Design Award 1997) and the Hessing Cockpit in Acoustic Barrier in Utrecht (National Steel Award 2006, Glass Award 2006, Dutch Design Award for Public Space 2006, nomination Mies van der Rohe Award 2008, nomination Golden Pyramid 2006).

Luisa Otti (Issue 1-2) graduated in Architecture in 2002 at Roma Tre Faculty of Architecture; from the beginning she joined research activities with professional experiences as an independent architect. Since 2003 she is assistant professor at the third year Architectural Design Atelier, and since 2011 she is PhD student at the Architectural Design Department, developing research with particular reference to housing topics. She regularly contributes writing articles and taking part in several international conferences. As an independent architect, she started her career collaborating with several practices in Rome and then in Vienna with Berger+Parkkinen Architekten GmbH and Studio Amati Architetti s.r.l. in Rome with design and coordination responsibilities on numerous public and private projects. At the moment, she runs her own practice, combining architectural theory, research, innovation, and experimentation.

Irem Öz (Issue 5-2) is a Ph.D Student at the Pennsylvania State University, in her paper “The Tale of the Miracle of Duisburg: A Miracle or an Illusion” presents the story of the DITIB (Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs in Germany) commissioned Maxloher Merkez Mosque in Duisburg, Germany. While investigating three factors that contribute to the successful reception of the mosque by the public: (1) the architecture and urban design process of the mosque (2) local context and (3) the politics of visibility; this research also argues that although the Marxloher Merkez Mosque project is perceived as a successful project that managed to overcome the risks associated with social conflict, this “Miracle” of Duisburg only provides social cohesion on the surface and leads to “self-orientalism” and further alienation.

Antonis Papamanolis (Issue 5-2) was born in Wales, Great Britain in 1983 and holds a Diploma in Architectural Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece. He is a Doctoral Candidate of the Department of Architecture of the University of Patras. The title of his thesis is “Digital Design Media and Architectural Pedagogy – towards a Hermeneutic Approach of Introducing Computational Design in Architectural Education”. Has worked in various architectural offices as well as being the CAM Lab Supervisor at the Architectural Department of the University of Patras. Currently is an Adjunct Professor at the Italian Marconi University, as well as working as a freelance architect in Athens, Greece. Has published five papers on issues regarding Design Education, Architectural Pedagogy and CAAD.

Andreana Papantoniou (Issue 5-1) is a PhD candidate at Architecture Department, University of Patras (Greece). Her doctoral research is in the field of Architectural Technology, focusing on the development of Tensegrity Structures on curved surfaces, using geometric analysis and parametric algorithms. Her research project is supported by the “IKY Fellowships of Excellence for Postgraduate Studies in Greece - Siemens Program”. She was awarded a Diploma Degree from the same Department (2009) and a Master in Advanced Architecture (MAA) from the Institute for advanced architecture of Catalonia (IaaC) in Barcelona (2011), following the research line of Self-sufficient Buildings. She has been a former assistant at the fabrication lab of the Architecture Department in Patras and a teaching assistant at the Department’s undergraduate level on digital design tools and new technologies. She has presented her research results in various international Conferences of the field, such as IASS, eCAADe and AAG. In addition to her academic career, she has worked in various environmental and urban design projects, as well as at the Computer Technology Institute (CTI) in Greece, and participated in digital design projects for the Greek Ministry of Education.

Manolis Paterakis (Issue 2-2) graduated from the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens in 2005, and in 2012 he received a MSc in Design-Space-Culture from the same institution, where he also worked as a teaching assistant from 2007 until 2009. Since 2011, he is an undergrad student in the Dept. of Informatics and Telecommunications of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, while pursuing a PhD research in the department of Architectural Technology at the NTUA Architecture School, in an attempt to find a common space between Architecture and Computer Science. His interests also include systems programming, UX design and front-end development for web platforms. He has worked both as a freelance architect in Athens having received distinctions in architectural competitions, as a web-developer and a programmer. From September 2013, he is working with the Integrated Systems Lab of the Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications at the N.C.S.R. “Demokritos” in projects concerning crowd-behavior simulation as well as web-based applications.

Jordi Payola Lahoz (Issue 5-2) is a structural consultant and associate lecturer since 2009 at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). He graduated in Architecture at UPC in 2007 and pursued studies in the Master of Architecture Technology at the same university from 2007 to 2009 as well as a Post grade in Structural Restoration in the Catalonian Chamber of Architects (COAC) in 2010. Since 2011 he has been developing his PhD on structural restoration. Being member of the Association of Structural Consultants (ACE), since 2015 he is the Academic Coordinator of the Master’s Degree on Structural Engineering at UPC School of Professional & Executive Development. Regarding professional practice, in 2004 he started working in BOMA, where he became an expert on structural engineering specialising on heritage and architectural restoration. In 2014 he set up his own office working on projects of architecture and research on architectural structures and restoration. He’s been involved in projects such as the restoration of Santa Maria del Mar Church in Barcelona and the Cathedral of Tarragona.

Ana Laura Rocha Peña (Issue 5-1) is an Architect from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and holds a Masters in Architecture Technology, Construction and Urbanism (MUTA) with specialization in Design and Structural Analysis from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). Currently she is a Ph.D. candidate at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia-Barcelona Tech. Her research activities lie in the field of paper as building material: analyzing different types of structures by using paper as material. As an Architect, she has four years of professional experience in the field of structures and rehabilitation and has been working in various firms in the Dominican Republic and Barcelona.

Valerio Perna (Issue 6-1) is an architect and PhD candidate in Architecture - Theories and Design at “Sapienza” - University of Rome and a visiting scholar at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in the ‘Play and Civic Media’ lectorate.He teaches in the Design Lab IV class and in Information Technology in Architecture. Theory Experiments Applications (Computer Supported Design in Architecture) class held by professor Antonino Saggio. He has published several projects and articles and is currently a member of nITro (New Information Technology Research Office) with whom he has participated in the design of multiple prototypes and installations. He has an active research agenda in the field of “Architecture and Information Technology” and “Games Studies,” and he is currently exploring the role of playfulness and ludic processes in contemporary architectural practice using both analog and digital tools. His contribution to the practical research fields of Architecture and Game Design will deal with the development of a multiscale design methodology, based on a strong RtD (Research Through Design) approach, affecting creativity, education and complex urban challenges

Marios C. Phocas (Issue 3-1) is Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture of the University of Cyprus, and co-principal of the Archimedes Research Center for Structural and Construction Technology. From 2006 until 2013 he served as Interim Head of the Department of Architecture. Prior to his appointment at the University of Cyprus in 2004, he held several academic positions in teaching and research at the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design of the University of Stuttgart, from 1996, where he had also received his Diploma in Architecture and Doctorate in 1995 and 1999 respectively. He was responsible among other for the development and implementation of the programs of undergraduate and graduate studies in Architecture at the University of Cyprus and served as member of the Advisory Committee of the European Network of Heads of Schools of Architecture. Since 2007 he serves as representative specialist of the Scientific Technical Chamber of Cyprus in the European Committee on Education and Training in the Field of Architecture. He is a member of the Editorial Board and Scientific Committee of the archiDOCT e-journal, as well as the author of several books and scientific publications in the areas of integrated architectural design, structural and construction design, earthquake resistant structural building design and kinetic structures. He received several architectural awards for project designs, in Germany and Cyprus.

Artemis Psaltoglou (Issue 6-1) is an Architect Engineer and researcher focusing on urban planning, spatial development and participatory processes. She is a PhD candidate at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (AUTH) exploring the role and contribution of social innovation in cities. Her research interests include the concept of urban intelligence, the use of digital technologies in tackling urban challenges, as well as the social dimensions of smart cities. She is a graduate of the Department of Architecture of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) and holds a master degree on Smart Cities from the University of Girona (Spain). Since May 2016, she is working as a PhD researcher at URENIO Research (http://www.urenio.org/), participating in the implementation of European research projects and the preparation of projects proposals.

Larry Sass (Issue 1-1) is an architectural designer and researcher exploring digital design and fabrication across scales. As an associate professor in the Department of Architecture at MIT, Larry has taught courses specifically in digital fabrication and design computing since 2002. He earned his PhD ‘00 and SMArchS ’94 at MIT, and has a BArch from Pratt Institute in NYC. Larry has published widely, and has exhibited his work at the Modern Museum of Art in New York City. Larry’s research builds on his belief that hand crafted, hand operated construction will soon be a thing of the past, and that in the future, buildings will be printed with machines run by computers. He proposes that the practice of architecture must incorporate new and emerging means of machine operation within fields of design and construction, and that these changes require the development of a new knowledge base for design where designers will plan a larger role in the delivery process. The challenge for architecture schools and the profession will be the development of new research and teaching agendas related to creative digital design and fabrication across scales - from furniture to skyscrapers. Larry will share findings from current research projects, including large-scale prototyping of design artifacts from CAD data, and digitally fabricated houses.

Rodrigo Martín Sáiz (Issue 2-1) graduated in Architecture in 2001 at the ETS Arquitectura del Vallès of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). Afterwards he studied in the Doctoral Program at the Department of Construction Technology of the ETS Arquitectura de Barcelona and currently he is developing his PhD research about radial tensile structures design. He works as a structural consultant at BAC Engineering Consultancy Group (before called Brufau, Obiol, Moya & Ass.) since 2001, collaborating on the developing of many architectural projects. He combines this job with that of the assistant professor at the ETS Arquitectura de Reus of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV). He has also participated in several seminars and courses related to the calculus and structural design. He has collaborated on the redaction of the book “Proyecto de edificios altos”, published by the Asociación Científico- Técnica del Hormigón Estructural (ACHE) in 2013, about structural design of high-rise buildings.

Katerina Saraptzian (Issue 4-2) holds a diploma in Architecture from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) with honours and a postgraduate Masters of Science in Adaptive Architecture and Computation(AAC) from the Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, UCL. She has been a registered architect in Greece as a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece since 2009. Since then she has been working in various architectural firms in Greece. She has participated in international conferences, as well as workshops and competitions. Currently, she is a PhD Candidate and an tutor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with main interests in evolutionary & algorithmic design, computation and self-organization systems, genetic algorithms and structural optimisation.

Annie Locke Scherer (Issue 5-1) is currently Doctoral Researcher on the integration of smocking patterns and fabric formwork for concrete at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. She graduated from University of Michigan with a Masters in Architecture with a special focus on robotics and digital fabrication, and recently completed a one year M.Sc. post-professional degree at the University of Stuttgart Integrative Technologies (ITECH) program. With an interest in geometry and patterns, her thesis looked into programmable kirigami and how to create parametric surfaces from flat sheet material. She additionally was part of the 2014-2015 ITECH Pavilion team, which integrated real time sensor feedback with robotic fabrication of a carbon fiber pavilion. In her spare time, she works on full-scale, interactive installations for participatory festivals such as Burning Man and The Borderland.

Enrique Soriano (Issue 4-2) is an Architect. PhD candidate at BarcelonaTech with a grant from FPI-UPC. He is founder of CODA, a research team within LiTA BarcelonaTech and a spin-off design agency, focused on lightweight structures and computational design. He is the academic coordinator and teacher of the Master in Parametric Design at UPC school. He has taught full courses, workshops and classes on the use of wood and computational design at the universities of Barcelona, Madrid, Norway, Austria and Hungary. He is a member of the Structural Skin COST European program. His most relevant awards are EME3 architecture festival in 2012, ILEK lighweight student prize in 2013, Andreuworld timber furniture awards in 2014, best timber teaching and best timber project from timber guild in Barcelona in 2015 and more recently awarded with the Sabadell Innovation Grant in 2015. As associate partner at CODA he has led several built projects including thin lightweight gridhsells and timber houses.

Constantin Spiridonidis (Issue 6-2) is Architect (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) Urban Planner (Univ. Paris VIII), Dr. in Architecture and Urban Design (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki). He is actually Professor in School of Architecture of the Canadian University of Dubai and a Tenured Professor in School of Architecture of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. His research interests are cantered on design theory, architecture and urban design, architectural education and design pedagogy. He has a long experience in the management of academic educational programs investigating different educational environments as to their priorities, values and principles and the ways all these are expressed and represented in educational strategies, pedagogical approaches and teaching methodologies. He has an extended participation in and contribution to inter¬national organizations in Europe and USA, decision-making institutions, policymaking bodies and capacity building mechanisms to enhance the quality of architectural education and assure learning outcomes corresponding to the contemporary profile of an architect in a fast-changing world. He is a distinguished scholar with a broad record of publications aiming to disseminate innovative views on architectural education, to encourage and support changes in curricula structures and contents, to reconsider educational objectives, pedagogical methods and teaching strategies, to inspire new logics, new conceptions and new practices in design education respecting local identities and attitudes without losing touch with the international trends and dynamics.

Ioanna Symeonidou (Issue 6-2) is an architect engineer specializing in digital media for design and manufacturing. She is Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture of the University of Thessaly, in the thematic area of “Architectural Design with Digital Media”. She has graduated from the Architecture Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with Honours, and she has completed her postgraduate studies at the Architectural Association in London in the thematic area of Emergent Technologies and Design. Her doctoral dissertation at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki focuses on digital design and construction methods. Dr. Symeonidou is scientific assistant and visiting professor at the International Hellenic University of Greece, and has previously taught as Adjunct Lecturer at the Department of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the Architecture School of Graz University of Technology in Austria. She is the author of more than 35 papers, published in scientific journals, books and conference proceedings, and has participated in research projects in Greece and abroad.

Adam Tanaka (Issue 2-1) is a second year PhD student in urban planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is broadly interested in regulatory frameworks for urban development in contemporary American cities, drawing from the literatures of political economy and critical urban theory to illuminate structural conditions for local processes of change. For his undergraduate thesis at Princeton University, Adam investigated the urban development of Bucharest, Romania in the post-communist period. This project entailed numerous site visits and interviews with local architects, planners and academics. He has also worked at the New York City Department of City Planning and at the landscape architecture/urban planning firm Asakura Robinson, based in Houston, Texas.

Sharóne L. Tomer (Issue 1-2) is a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley. She is completing her doctoral degree in the Department of Architecture with a Designated Emphasis in Global Metropolitan Studies. She has taught architectural history, theory and design at the University of Cape Town and University of Oregon. Her research interests include architecture and struggle; articulations of race, class and gender in space; modernity and modernism; and urbanism in the Global South. Her doctoral dissertation examines histories of architectural engagements with political struggle and urban transformation in Cape Town, South Africa during the transition from apartheid to democracy.

Natalia Torres (Issue 4-2) is a PhD student in Architecture Technology, Construction and Urbanism at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia-Barcelona Tech where she is developing her PhD Thesis entitled “Geometric method from regular polygons for the design of deployable domes”. She holds a Masters in Construction from the National University of Colombia since 2009. She is an Architect and Researcher, with an emphasis on the area of technology and implementation of nonconventional structures, tensile-structures, tensegrity, deployable and reciprocal frame structures. She is the Co-founder of the investigation group SMIA, Structural Morphology in Architecture (www.smia-experimental.com). She is a member of the investigation group LITA, Architecture Technology Laboratory. She is a coordinator for Colombia and contributor in Spain for the TensoRed, network of tensile structures in Latin-America (http://www.latensored.org/). Her more recent contributions were to IASS, TensiNet, TensoRed, ICSA, Cimne and Transformables 2013.

George Tryfonos (Issue 6-1) is currently conducting his PhD research at the University of Cyprus. He is an adjunct faculty member in the area of digital communications and fabrication at the Department of architecture at the University of Cyprus. He has over 4 years of teaching experience, including teaching architecture design media with 3D parametric fabrication with Rhino-Grasshopper, CAD with AutoCAD and Building information modeling (BIM) with Revit programs at the University of Cyprus. He holds a B.Sc. in Architecture, 2011, and a Diploma of Architect – Engineer, 2012, both degrees from the University of Cyprus. During his studies, he received several scholarships, prizes, and distinctions including honorable mentions “Excellent Architecture Design 2011-2012” for his Diploma thesis on Adaptive and Interactive Architecture and Embedded systems, the Academic Scholarships “Graduate school, University of Cyprus 2013-14” and “Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation for doctoral studies in Cyprus and abroad: for the year 2013. His PhD research focus on industrial robotics and fabrication with tensile – high elastic materials in architecture. Using advance design tools for BIM, parametric design, automation systems, real time robot control and optimization has conducted collaborations, tutorials and research on design and construction tools. He has participated in several design competitions and received architectural awards for project designs in Cyprus.

Theodora Vardouli (Issue 1-2) is an architect and researcher, currently pursuing a PhD at the MIT Design and Computation Group (DCG). She holds a SMArchS in Design and Computation from MIT, a MSc in Design-Space-Culture, and an MArch from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). In her doctoral research Theodora traces past and present relationships between design, democratization rhetoric, and computation. Her publications include articles on open source culture in architecture, technical mediation and agency in participatory design, and the construction of the empowered user. She has co-organized “Futures Past: Design and the Machine,” a two and a half day conference on the institutional and intellectual history of design and the machine at the MIT Media Lab, co-curated the exhibition “Things to Think with” for the MIT´s 150th anniversary, and designed “Geometries || Algebras,” the DCG participation in the Advances in Architectural Geometry 2012 Video Panorama at the Pompidou Center in Paris. She has taught and assisted classes at the MIT Department of Architecture, the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the Boston Architectural College, and the NTUA. Theodora also initiated and co-moderates ReaDCG, a reading seminar at MIT inquiring into the epistemological implications of computation for design, and vice versa.

Anthie Verykiou (Issue 3-2) was born, lives and works in Athens. She is a PhD candidate at the School of Architecture, NTUA. Her doctoral research is supported by the program: IKY Fellowships of Excellence for Postgraduate Studies in Greece - Siemens Program. Her studies are including a Diploma Degree in Civil Engineering at DUTH and Architect Engineering at NTUA and a Master of Philosophy Degree from the Inter-departmental Postgraduate Program “Design-Space-Culture” of the School of Architecture of the NTUA. She has worked as Teaching Assistant for the Design Studios of the School of Architecture of the NTUA and specifically on Urban Design and Public Spaces Design Studios. She has participated as a tutor at workshops with various subjects emphasizing on Landscape approaches in Urban Design. She has presented her research in Conferences in Greece and abroad.

Maria Voyatzaki (Issue 2-2) is associate professor of architectural design and building technology at the School of Architecture of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) since 2001. Her PhD at the University of Bath, School of Architecture (1996) supervised by Chris Williams and Edmund Happold investigated the design process of non-standard architecture entitled “An Insight into the Design Process of Unconventional Structures”. Her research and respective published work focuses on the integration of an idea and its materiality aiming at enhancing the quality of architecture through this integration. She has taught for over 11 years in the United Kingdom and for a semester in Denmark (Aarhus School of Architecture). She has organised and participated in a great number of international student workshops and international conferences for architecture educators. She has been the editor of over 25 volumes of international conference proceedings. Her work is published in international journals and conference proceedings. She is the Coordinator of the European Network of Construction Teachers since 2001. She is a free-lance architect with experience in practices like Buro Happold. She is also the coordinator of a number of European funded programmes on architectural education, with the most recent one being the two-year funded Lifelong Learning Multilateral Project, continuum: from the school lab to the factory workshop that investigates new pedagogic protocols for teaching students on a file-to-factory logic. She is the Editor-in-Chief of e-archidoct (http://www.enhsa.net/archidoct/). She has been a Council Member of the European Association for Architectural Education (2000-2007). She lectures abroad and sits at design juries around the world. She is a chartered architect and member of the Royal Institute of British Architects and ARB. www.nomad-rnd.net and www.enhsa.net

Mark Waghorn (Issue 3-2)is an architect with over fifteen years post-qualification experience, and has been a successful practice director for over ten years. He studied architecture at Cambridge University and the University of North London. He worked for seven years at DGA Architects, becoming Associate in 2003. During this time he gained experience in private, commercial and public sectors, with projects ranging in scale from residential refurbishments to urban design. In 2003, Mark was appointed Project Architect for Christ Church Primary School in Chelsea. On completion in 2005, this refurbishment and extension to a historic Victorian school received the Environment Award from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea as an outstanding contribution to the urban environment. From 2006 to 2010 Mark co-directed Waghorn Gwynne Architects. Here, Mark continued developing his passion for sustainable design, producing ground-breaking designs for a number of carbon-neutral houses around the country. In 2010, Mark founded Mark Waghorn Architects in order to further develop his design philosophy based on the responsible use of materials and resources to create comfortable and inspiring spaces that actively enhance the quality of the environment. He moved to Wales in 2012, inspired by the country’s goal to become a One Planet nation within a generation. As a Director of the Calon Cymru Network he is contributing to radical proposals for sustainable economic regeneration in rural Wales, based on One Planet and low impact principles. He is also currently undertaking a PhD research project on the process of making do in ad hoc self-builds in rural Wales.

Bastian Wibranek (Issue 6-2) joined the Digital Design Unit at the Faculty of Architecture at TU Darmstadt in 2015, where he is currently a PhD candidate and a research assistant, teaching in the area of computational design and robotic fabrication. He holds a Diploma in Architecture from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund and a Master in Advanced Architectural Design from the Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main. Bastian’s research focuses on how we will share our future buildings with intelligent machines. He proposes that the practise of architecture must define modes of co-existence and man-machine collaborations for design and production. This requires architects to bridge research fields such as machine learning, machine perception and task-shaping for architectural purposes. His latest passion is a collaboration with computer scientists to implement machine learning and sensing for robots in architectural production. His professional experience includes working on architectural projects for 2BXL, OSD and Schneider + Schumacher. He has collaborated on exhibition design and large-scale sculptures with internationally renowned artists Tobias Rehberger and Thomas Bayrle. He taught computer-based architectural design and robotic fabrication techniques at the ITE at TU Braunschweig (2012-2015) and tutored digital tooling at the Städelschule Architecture Class.

Despoina Zavraka (Issue 3-1) is an architect (Dip. Arch. Mackintosh, GSA) and landscape architect (MLA AUTh). She has been adjunct lecturer, at the department of planning and regional development (UTh). Since 2011, she is a lecturer at the department of landscape architecture (EMTIT) and adjunct lecturer at the school of architecture (AUTh) teaching urban landscape design.In her doctoral thesis, she has investigated emerging trans-cultural aspects of urban environments and contemporary cultural landscapes of Switzerland. Her scientific interest lie on a delegated field, between ‘nature’ and ‘urbanism’ at various design scales. She has extended experience on architectural and urban landscape projects, as well as a resume of many successful and award-winning design schemes. She is co-founder of ‘ttdz studio’, a young practice researching and working on issues covering a wide range of contemporary creative fields, such as architecture, urban design, landscape, image and art.