Design-Tech Talk 8.0

Hamid Hassanzadeh is a distinguished architect, entrepreneur, researcher, and speaker. Having earned his degree in architectural engineering in 2012, Hamid has since contributed to various architectural projects across multiple regions around the globe. In early 2016, he founded the ParametricArchitecture platform, initially launching on Instagram. Today, ParametricArchitecture, often abbreviated as PA, stands as a globally renowned hub for parametric, computational design, and AI lovers, boasting over 20 million monthly interactions on the internet. Hamid endeavors to demystify the intricacies of the parametric, computational, and AI realms through compelling articles, interviews, workshops, podcasts, and conferences disseminated across various digital platforms. Furthermore, he’s the visionary behind PAACADEMY, an educational entity under the aegis of PA, dedicated to propagating the concepts of computational architecture and design. The PAACADEMY, as an educational platform, educates and engages with its audience, introducing them to advanced techniques and algorithms employed by architects, designers, and coders alike. He highlights exemplary projects executed using state-of-the-art design software, ensuring that his audience not only witnesses but also comprehends the depth and philosophy of these avant-garde design practices. Moreover, as the esteemed host of the 'PA Talks' interview series, he engages in enriching conversations with architects, orchestrates numerous workshops, conferences, and events, and has had the privilege of interviewing myriad globally acclaimed architects, delving into their methodologies and foresighted visions for the architectural landscape.

With considerable experience in International projects and in the UK, Edoardo is Design Director at AKTII and specialises in complex design, leading the applied research team. His portfolio includes The Vessel, a complex, high-profile collaboration with Heatherwick Studio in New York, the Heydar Aliyev Museum in Baku, with Zaha Hadid Architects, and the Bloomberg Headquarters with F+P. Ed has been involved in several collaborations with KTH University in Stockholm, the AA and the RCA in London, and the Harvard GSD, where he is currently running various lectures and workshops. He published various papers and books on digital fabrication, sustainable design, new technologies, and material research.

Ana Gabriela Loayza is an architect and designer currently working as an Architectural Designer & AI Lead at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in New York. She holds an M.Arch II degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD), where her research explored AI-driven design workflows and urban growth boundaries in projects such as Center–Periphery: Encoding New Processes in Shenzhen’s Boundaries. At BIG, she specialises in integrating computational design and artificial intelligence within architectural practice, leveraging her expertise at the intersection of emerging technologies and built-environment innovation.

Daniel Koehler, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the Board of Directors of ACADIA. He leads the Lab for Environmental Design Strategies (lab‑eds) with research sites in Austin, Shenzhen, and Innsbruck, focusing on Generative AI, environmental performance, and architectural typology. Formerly a researcher at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, and the University of Innsbruck, he completed his doctorate on part‑to‑whole methodologies, later published as The Mereological City (transcript / Columbia UP, 2016), now a standard reference on mereology in modernism. Koehler’s work has been exhibited internationally at the Centre Pompidou, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and in Prague, Milan, Montreal, London, and Austin. He consults for computational‑design startups such as Sengine AI. His recent book Compositional Intelligence (Routledge) positions Generative AI as an intellectual partner for rethinking architectural typology across scales.

Lucas Epp is a structural engineer whose work sits at the intersection of architecture, engineering, and craft. His work advances timber and natural materials as primary, high-performance structural systems - from mass timber to long-span, free-form geometries. He has pioneered modern all-wood structural systems and joinery techniques at the new National Performing Arts Centre in Barbados and the School of Architecture and Design at the University of Kansas, blending ancient craft with state-of-the-art computational design and robotics – and opening new possibilities for timber architecture. In 2021, he founded Branch, an in-house software venture creating the next generation of digital tools for structural design-to-manufacture, informed by direct feedback from engineers, fabricators, and field crews. Epp has practiced across the UK, New Zealand, China, the United States, and Canada. He has taught at ETH Zurich, the Architectural Association, and MIT; serves on Canadian and American timber code committees; and has authored multiple industry guidelines. His practice points toward a near future in which structural engineering, fabrication, and software merge - a return to the master builder mindset.

CEO of Noumena - Co-director of the Master in Robotics and Advanced Construction at IAACAldo Sollazzo is an Italian entrepreneur and innovator, an expert in robotics, computer vision, and computational design. He has been the CEO of Noumena since 2011, a data-driven company implementing computer vision and machine learning to study and analyze spatial dynamics. As part of the Noumena Group, he is also the CEO of PURE.TECH, a material-driven company operating to promote sustainability at the industrial scale, and of LAMÁQUINA, a large-scale 3D printing factory, shaping new architectural solutions integrating advanced manufacturing and computation. At the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalunya in Barcelona, he is the Director of the Master's in Robotics and Advanced Construction .In 2019, Aldo received, from the Italian President of the Republic, the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy for the promotion of national prestige abroad as a recognition of his scientific and technological activities.Aldo has made many appearances as a guest speaker at Conferences and University Seminars, amongst them the European Conference on Computer Vision, Barcelona Urban Tech, Future City Summit, The Venice Biennale, and TEDx Barcelona.