Director – Dr. Theodore Spyropoulos
Dr. Theodore Spyropoulos is the Director of the Architectural Association’s Design Research Lab (AADRL) in London and resident artist at Somerset House. Theodore has previously chaired the AA Graduate School, was Professor of Architecture at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt and a visiting Research Fellow at M.I.T.’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies. He co-founded the experimental art, architecture and design practice Minimaforms. The work of Minimaforms has been acquired by international art and architecture collections that include the FRAC Centre, the Signum Foundation and the Archigram Archive. He has been exhibited at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Barbican Centre, Onassis Cultural Centre, MoCA Taipei, Somerset House, Detroit Institute of Arts, Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Leonardo Da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology and the ICA. Theodore has previously worked for the offices of Peter Eisenman and Zaha Hadid Architects. He received his Bachelor of Architecture with honours from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, his Master of Architecture and Urbanism from the Architectural Association and his PhD from University College of London, Bartlett School of Architecture. In 2013 the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture awarded him the ACADIA award of excellence for his educational work directing the AADRL. He has been published internationally including authoring Adaptive Ecologies: Correlated Systems of Living (2013), Enabling (2010) and forthcoming Behaviors (2023).
Founder – Dr. Patrik Schumacher
Dr. Patrik Schumacher is principal of Zaha Hadid Architects and is leading the firm since Zaha Hadid’s passing in March 2016. He joined Zaha Hadid in 1988 and was seminal in developing Zaha Hadid Architects to become a 400 strong global architecture and design brand. Patrik Schumacher studied philosophy, mathematics and architecture in Bonn, Stuttgart and London. He received his Diploma in architecture in 1990. He has been a partner since 2003 and a co-author on all projects. In 2010 Patrik Schumacher won the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Stirling Prize for excellence in architecture together with Zaha Hadid, for MAXXI, the National Italian Museum for Art and Architecture of the 21st century in Rome. He is an academician of the Berlin Academy of Arts. In 1996 he founded the Design Research Laboratory at the Architectural Association in London where he continues to teach. In 1999 he completed his PHD at theInstitute for Cultural Science, Klagenfurt University. Patrik Schumacher is lecturing worldwide and is currently a guest professor at Harvard’s GSD. Over the last 20 years he has contributed over 100 articles to architectural journals and anthologies. In 2008 he coined the phrase Parametricism and has since published a series of manifestos promoting Parametricism as the new epochal style for the 21st century. In 2010/2012 he published his two-volume theoretical opus magnum “The Autopoiesis of Architecture”. Patrik Schumacher is widely recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders within the fields of architecture, urbanism and design.
Program Coordinator – Dr. Alexandra Vougia
Dr. Alexandra Vougia graduated in 2007 from the School of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She holds an MS in Advanced Architectural Design from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation – GSAPP, Columbia University (2008). In June 2016, she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the Architectural Association – School of Architecture, London. Alexandra has been teaching at the Architectural Association since 2012. She is currently a studio master in the First Year Studio of the AA Experimental Programme and a Programme Coordinator and Course tutor in the Master of Architecture and Urbanism (MArch) – DRL. Since 2009, together with Platon Issaias and Theodossis Issaias, Alexandra works at Fatura Collaborative, an architecture and research collective.
Course Master – Nassia Iglessis
Nassia Inglessis is the founder of Studio INI. A practice based in London & Athens that couples scientific research and design-engineering experimentation with public engagement through human-actuated | element-actuated installations and kinetic architectural modules. In her research, that stems from a technical foundation in Engineering Science (MEng honours - Oxford University) and research in the MIT Media Lab, she seeks to develop new platforms of material and structural logic. In her process she co-opts automation across material-driven processes to generate models of fabrication and structure crafted to be an interface to the ecosystem they inhabit. In parallel, with a human centric approach, she explores matter in the context of cognition to provoke new perceptions, experiences and prototypes of behaviour. Her work and that of her practice Studio INI, manifests in publications, patents, architectural proposals and large-scale installations, as she retains a platform of live experimentation and direct provocation, as a dynamic feedback loop to her practice’s research.
Course Master – Dr. Shajay Bhooshan
Shajay is an Associate at Zaha Hadid Architects where he heads the research activities of the Computation and Design (CoDe) group. He also works as a studio master at the AA DRL Master’s program in London. He pursues his research in structure and fabrication aware architectural geometry as a PhD Candidate at the Block Research Group, ETH Zurich. Previously, he has worked at Populous, London and completed his M.Phil from the university of Bath and M. Arch from the AA School of Architecture, London.
Course Master – Dr. Nerma Cridge
Dr. Nerma Cridge received her PhD from the AA in 2012 and MSc and Diploma in Architecture from the Bartlett UCL. She has experience in academia and practice for over 20 years. Her research publications include monograph based on her PhD thesis on the Soviet avant-garde Drawing the Unbuildable (2015), "Restless: Drawn by Zaha Hadid" in Routledge Companion on Women in Architecture (2021) and most recently "Extreme Interiority" in Remote Practices: Architecture at a Distance (2022).
Course Master – Dr. Pierandrea Angius
Dr. Pierandrea Angius is an Architect and an Educator, specialised in the application of procedural and form-finding techniques at all stages of the design process with an established expertise in complex and large-scale buildings, and automotive design. He holds a PhD in Building Technology and he received his MArch in Architecture and Urbanism from the AA School. He joined Ferrari S.p.A. in 2021 after working for 11 years as Associate at Zaha Hadid Architects.
Technical Master – Albert Williamson-Taylor
Albert is one of the co-founders of the leading engineering office AKT II. He is a member of the Newham Design Review Panel as well as previously sitting on the Southwark Design Review Panel from 2006-2012. In 2008, Albert was made a fellow of the Institute of Structural Engineers and granted an Honorary Fellowship to the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2009. He has been lead technical tutor within the program since 2011.
Course Tutor – Evangelia Magnisali
Eva Magnisali is the founder of DataForm Lab. The office's hybrid practice is a fusion between design, computer programming, automation, robotic fabrication and construction. DataForm Lab's mission is to accelerate the integration of industrial robotics in the construction industry through the development of design-to-fabrication workflows, through the use of robotic prototyping, and finally, through automation consultancy at a business level, aiming to de-risk technology innovation in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry. Eva is also working as Head of Robotics at Bryden Wood, where she is responsible for creating and implementing the company’s Digital Manufacture and Robotics strategy. Previously, Eva coordinated the Architectural Robotics Lab of the University of Westminster, leading research projects that explored emerging techniques around digital manufacturing and robotics. As an architect, she has been involved in large-scale infrastructure projects at Foster+Partners, using advanced computational tools to deliver complex facades, always focusing on bridging the gap between design and its materialization. Eva is also actively involved in academia, teaching at the Design Research Laboratory of the Architectural Association and the University of Westminster, and she has lectured and presented her work internationally.
Course Tutor – Ariadna Lopez
Ariadna is a designer at Heatherwick Studio where she is involved in a wide range of project typologies. She is a course tutor at the AA DRL, where she focuses on developing solutions for contemporary living in high-productive cities through design research and fabrication technologies. Prior to moving to London, she worked at the multidisciplinary firm Architecture at Large in New York City. Furthermore, she was a researcher in residence at the AutoDesk BUILDspace in Boston. Ariadna obtained her M.Arch from the Design Research Lab at the Architectural Association in London and B.Arch from Pratt Institute in New York.
Course Tutor – Apostolos Despotidis
Apostolos Despotidis is a registered architect in UK and in Greece. He is working as an Associate Partner at Foster and Partners where he is involved in a wide range of projects worldwide. He is a tutor at the Architectural Association since 2013 focusing on the development of the prototypes at the DRL while running various design workshops in the UK (Architectural Association, Royal College of Art, École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris). He holds an MArch degree from the DRL in the Architectural Association and an Architect/Engineer degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Course Tutor – Leo Bieling
Leo Bieling is a Director of Bieling Architects and a registered architect in the UK, Germany and Austria. He is a course tutor at the Architectural Association (AA) in the master program Design Research Lab (DRL) focusing on digital fabrication techniques and architectural geometry. His previously work experience includes Zaha Hadid Architects (Computation and Design Research Group - ZHCODE), Coop Himmelb(l)au in Vienna and Plus Architecture in Melbourne. Leo is co-author of the research paper “Spatial Developable Meshes”, which was published in the proceedings of the Design Modelling Symposium 2019 in Berlin. He has taught several international workshops including CAARDIA in Beijing, RobArch hosted at ETH Zurich and has been a tutor for the Introductory Workshops at the B-Pro Bartlett in London.
Course Tutor – Tina Tsagkaratou
Tina is a Director at ASPA KST, an architectural practice with offices in Athens and London. She established the London branch in 2020, having previously worked in international offices, such as Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster & Partners. She has been involved in a great variety of projects located in Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East. She received her Diploma in Architecture from the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki (AUTh) with distinction and her Master in Architecture and Urbanism from the Architectural Association (AADRL). She started teaching as a Consultant at the DRL in 2018 and became a Course Tutor in 2022.
Course Tutor – Angel Tenorio Castillo
Angel is a Senior Associate and Project Leader at Heatherwick Studio. Since joining the studio in 2014, he has played a pivotal role in key, award-winning, projects like Coal Drops Yard, which he oversaw from concept to completion. Angel was also the Project Leader for Maggie’s Yorkshire, the studio's first healthcare and timber building. Previously, Angel worked for Zaha Hadid Architects in London, where he took part in world-class competitions such as the winning entry for the Beijing Airport in 2013. Prior to this, he worked in Seoul, South Korea, for renowned architect Byoung Soo Cho, where he was in charge of a variety of residential, cultural and hospitality projects. In Lima, Peru, he led a wide range of projects from stage design to medium-scale residential projects while working for Longhi Architects. Angel holds a MArch degree from the AADRL, where he graduated in 2014, and a BArch from Ricardo Palma University in Lima-Peru.
Course Tutor – Jose Pareja Gomez
Jose Pareja Gomez. Born in Mexico City. MArch in Architecture and Urbanism by the Architectural Association in London UK. He has been a lecturer on diverse technology and architectural forums in Latin America and Europe. He is an Associate at Zaha Hadid Architects where he has worked on a series of Urban and Architectural projects specialising in the use of computation within the design development process. In addition, he is a VR developer for the ZHVR Group, AR/VR research and development group within ZHA. He’s previously been a Course Tutor Bartlett UCL BPro's Research Cluster 9, unit focused on extended realities and augmentation in architectural design and fabrication.
Course Tutor – Mostafa El-Sayed
Mostafa co-founded the robotic company Automata. Prior to setting up his company he worked at the office of Zaha Hadid Architects within the computational design department. At the DRL Mostafa specialises in combining design and technology in the field of fabrication and architecture. Mostafa has engaged with varied audiences from automotive design to 3d printing companies prior to finding a shared interest in simplifying robotics and their applications.
Seminar Tutors:
Klaus Platzgummer
Carlos Andres Lora Yunen
Macarena Poppe
Technical Tutors:
Edoardo Tibuzzi
Danae Polyviou
Software Tutors:
Elisavet Konstantinidou
Cesar Fragachan
Octavian Mihai Gheorghiu