Masoud Akbarzadeh, Assistant Professor of Architecture in Structures and Construction Technologies at the University of Pennsylvania and Director at Polyhedral Structures Laboratory, will showcase his amazing research and practice projects in a 45-minute lecture followed by a 15-minute Q&A session at the upcoming conference Computational Design: NEXT 11. Masoud Akbarzadeh is a designer with academic background and experience in architectural design, computation, and structural engineering. He holds a D.Sc. from the Institute of Technology in Architecture, ETH Zurich, where he was a research assistant in the Block Research Group. In addition, he has two degrees from MIT: a Master of Science in Architecture Studies (Computation) and a MArch, the thesis for which earned him the renowned SOM award. He also has a degree in Earthquake Engineering and Dynamics of Structures from the Iran University of Science and Technology and a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering. His main research topic is Three-Dimensional Graphical Statics, a novel geometric method of structural design in three dimensions. In 2020, he received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award to extend the methods of 3D/Polyhedral Graphic Statics for Education, Design, and Optimization of High-Performance Structures. He is also a Co-PI in a $4.6 million grant funded by National Science Foundation to investigate high-performance, self-Morphing building blocks across scales toward a Sustainable Future. Has also received a $2.4 Million ARPA-E Grant to Research the Design of Carbon-Negative Buildings starting September 2022.

Fabio is an accomplished architect with over 20 years of experience at Devoto Design. He earned his Master's degree from La Sapienza University of Rome and is a certified Project Manager. Initially joining as a Project Manager, his exceptional engineering expertise quickly led to his promotion to Design Manager. Now leading a team of skilled draftspeople, he oversees all engineering and design aspects across all projects.

Hanaa Dahy is a registered architect, engineer, and product developer. She established the BioMat@Copenhagen Research Centre at Aalborg University in 2022 at the TECH: Technical Faculty of IT & Design at the Institute of Sustainability and Planning and is the CEO of BioMat GmbH / BioMat TGU at TTI GmbH since 2022 after the great success of her established BioMat department in ITKE, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning in Stuttgart, Germany since 2016 and after grounding her architectural office in Cairo since 2003. Dahy holds diverse patents in the field of sustainable building solutions, especially biomaterials and recycling applications in the building industry. Her patents are internationally registered, in EU region, in Germany, in USA, and in Malaysia. Dahy developed the new architectural design philosophy „Materials as a Design-Tool“, based on applying alternative resources as a starting point in the design process. This philosophy intends to reach sustainable future architecture by targeting available local and bio-annually renewable resources, integrating digital tools like digital fabrication technologies and parametric computational design tools. She designed and fabricated a number of innovative, sustainable, and smart building products, earned numerous Design Awards, won diverse industrial project funds, and designed and constructed numerous architectural and landscape projects as well as diverse experimental architectural pavilions. Her project regions included Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Dahy’s office & research fields include: architecture inspired by nature, biocomposites, biomimetics, sustainability, smart materials, ecologic building Systems, product design, robotic and digital fabrication technologies, bio-intelligence, vertical farming, additive manufacturing technologies for the building industry, 3D printing, Tailored Fibre Placement, Bio economy, Circular economy.

Mariana Cabugueira is the Architect Director, Award Winner, and Founder of [MC] Studios, an Architecture and Design Studio with a hybrid practice that spans both physical built Architecture and Real-Time Rendered Open World Design (metaverse). Mariana holds a Master's in Architecture and Urbanism from Lisbon's FAL School and the Politecnico di Milano, alongside a Master's in Architectural Design Research from the Architectural Association - DRL in London, cementing her as an Architectural Designer. As a Senior Architect at Zaha Hadid Architects for over 5 years, Mariana contributed to the design of iconic projects like the Navi Mumbai Airport and Tower C in Shenzhen. In 2022, she was the Leader and Art Director of the Architecture Department at Wilder World - an international web3 company - designing and urban planning the Metaverse City, Miami. Founded in 2022, Mariana Cabugueira Studios is driving evolution in architecture and digital design by positioning the architect as the main actor in designing and building multi-leveled social arenas in both physical and digital realms. [MC] Studios bridges the physical and digital in architectural practice, particularly within the rapidly emerging virtual reality space in the Cognitive Health Industry. Mariana is also an Academic teacher, Head Tutor, and Research Studio Director of the Design Research Studio ArchiMetaverse Pro and a Tutor at PAACADEMY, where she contributed to shaping the next generation of architectural and digital design talents.

Joe Bowers – Computational Designer & Creative Technologist“After 10 years of taking on Industrial Design projects from companies like Nike, Google, Duracell, The US military, and Levi’s, Joe felt unchallenged, unsatisfied, and was not having any fun at all. So, at the height of his career, he did something rather odd… he quit.Trading his luxury hotels and first-class flights for a School Bus, he converted into a roaming design lab (complete with 3D print, CNC, laser etcher, and sewing machines). He spent two years traveling free of the demands of rent, a job, or clients. As such, he was allowed to fully devote himself to his own curiosity as a guide and decision-maker. In the deepest, most remote corners of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts, he found himself going deep into studying philosophy, metaphysics, and Tarot to discover key secrets in the history of human creativity.The result was discovering a new obsession with the creative process and the unnecessary friction of modern digital tools. Instead of amplifying human creativity with their raw computational power, they get in the way with rigid, vibe-less programs or try to replace or imitate human talent with AI.The results are not surprising;work that is as uninspiring and as unfun as the processes used to create it.Joe became obsessed with creating tools and processes that facilitate a better collaborative relationship between the designer and machine, one that allows both parties to lean into their unique strengths. Human intuition and computational power working together.He now focuses on methods of computational design to “make things that make things,” which allows him to create Petri dishes of design principles and constraints that then grow design objects in a way that closely mimics nature and human traditions. Iterating in minutes instead of millennia. In a process he describes as “absurd, overpowered, and fun as hell.”In the age of AI, the audience has responded well to something so refreshing, algorithmic, and new, yet still hand-crafted and human-made.He used to take inspiration from Rams and Loewy, now he looks to Jung, Bosch, AF Klint, Plato and the Tarot.This may be why his work is a mix of the cerebral and the absurd. The old and the new. That's why they call him The Caveman Creative or The Well Tarot. “

George Guida is the co-founder of xFigura and a partner at ArchiTAG, where he leads innovative architectural designs and applied AI research. A recognized leader in AI for architecture, he has lectured and conducted workshops internationally. As an ARB architect and LEED AP, with professional experience at Foster + Partners and the MIT Media Lab, and teaching roles at Harvard GSD and Wentworth, George combines practical expertise with an academic approach to his teaching.