STF#8 - 2023: Presentations
Realising Complexity
Innovative architecture often requires innovative digital systems and workflows. Grasshopper has become ubiquitous in academia and practice, yet the revolution it has created isn’t over. A further stage in this sea change is all about collaboration, combining the results of multiple designers, disciplines and software in a seamless experience. Foster + Partners Applied R+D team (Applied Research + Development) will show how the company is leading this shift to collaborative design systems through their extensive use on recent built work and projects on-site: a mixed-use development in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighbourhood, the Mobility Pavilion for the Dubai World Expo 2020 and the Lusail Towers in Qatar.
Martha Tsigkari
Martha Tsigkari is a Senior Partner and Head of the Applied R+D team at Foster + Partners. Her background spans architecture, engineering, and computer science. She has two decades of experience working in projects of all scales and uses. Her work incorporates computational design, human-computer interaction, machine learning, and optimisation. She has investigated the usage of deep neural networks and genetic algorithms in the design process, aiming to solve problems ranging from passively actuated micromaterials to performance-driven urban layouts. She is also an Associate Professor at the Bartlett, UCL and has lectured and published on the subject of computational design internationally.
Adam Davis
Adam is a Partner in the Applied R+D team at Foster + Partners. His background as an artist and software developer informs his work. Engaging with complex building and masterplan projects he has trained computers to anticipate design decisions; deployed a city-scale acoustic sensor network; and created a system for real-time exchange of data across disciplines, locations and design applications. He is currently delivering innovative smart building and digital twin technologies for the practice. Adam studied Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and Computational Design at University College London. He joined Foster + Partners in 2006.
Khaled Elashry
Khaled’s interests combine Architecture and Computer science. Currently works as an Associate at the Applied R+D team at Foster + Partners in addition to tutoring at the Bartlett school of architecture, University College London. He holds a master degree in Adaptive architecture and computation from University College London. His recent work bridges the gap between architecture practice and research applying state-of-the-art technological innovation to complex design challenges with expertise in optimization, fabrication, robotics, virtual reality and data visualization. He recently worked on multiple state of the art architecture projects like the Mobility Pavilion in the UAE expo, The Lusail stadium in Qatar and the UAE pavilion in Milan expo in addition to working with Boston dynamics in the applications of robotics in construction.
Marios Tsiliakos
Marios is a Design Systems Analyst and Associate Partner at the Applied R+D team at Foster + Partners, expanding the boundaries of applied computation and problem solving for AEC industry in large-scale design projects.
Within ARD his interests lie on the domains of complex geometry, data or performance driven design, and interoperability, focusing on the development of Hermes, F+P’s inhouse interop tool.
For more than a decade he's been teaching extensively in the UK and Europe, namely at the Bartlett School of Architecture-UCL, the Architectural Association and the Institute for Experimental Architecture in Innsbruck, Austria.
His research has been published in peer-reviewed conferences and his generative design work has been exhibited and presented around Europe, Asia, and North America.
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