FABIO GRAMAZIO
Fabio Gramazio is an architect with multi-disciplinary interests ranging from computational design and robotic fabrication to material innovation. In 2000, he founded the architecture practice Gramazio & Kohler in conjunction with his partner Matthias Kohler, where numerous award-wining designs have been realised. Current projects include the design of the Empa NEST research platform, a future living and working laboratory for sustainable building construction. Opening also the world’s first architectural robotic laboratory at ETH Zurich, Gramazio & Kohler’s research has been formative in the field of digital architecture, setting precedence and de facto creating a new research field merging advanced architectural design and additive fabrication processes through the customised use of industrial robots. This ranges from 1:1 prototype installations to the design of robotically fabricated high-rises. The recent research is outlined and theoretically framed in the book The Robotic Touch: How Robots Change Architecture (Park Books, 2014).
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BRANKO KOLAREVIC
Branko Kolarevic is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Calgary Faculty of Environmental Design, where he also holds the Chair in Integrated Design. He has taught architecture at several universities in North America and Asia and has lectured worldwide on the use of digital technologies in design and production. He has authored, edited or co-edited several books, including “Building Dynamics” (with Vera Parlac), “Manufacturing Material Effects” (with Kevin Klinger), “Performative Architecture” (with Ali Malkawi) and “Architecture in the Digital Age.” He is a past president of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) and a recipient of the ACADIA Society Award in 2015 and ACADIA Award for Innovative Research in 2007. He was also recently President of the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB), which accredits professional programs in architecture in Canada. He holds doctoral and master’s degrees in design from Harvard University and a diploma engineer in architecture degree from the University of Belgrade.
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NEIL KATZ
Neil Katz is an architect with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. He uses a “computational design” approach to design, and has used this methodology in developing geometry (simple and “complex” geometry) and as a way of analyzing and designing in response to many project goals, including environmental and sustainability goals.
“Computational design”, aspects of which include algorithmic and parametric design as well as building information modeling (BIM), is as much a way of thinking about design as using and developing tools for design.
Neil has taught at various schools, and is often invited to speak about his work at schools and conferences.
