news


2024

December 6
Presentation
FMA 2024


Honored to participate in the conversations of the 7th International Formal Methods in Architecture Symposium at the Ordem dos Arquitectos in Porto, Portugal. My presentation, “Kahn’s Two Houses: From Formal Analysis to Animated Synthesis,” focuses on Louis Kahn’s DeVore and Adler Houses and develops a shape grammar to study Kahn’s claim that the houses “grow out of the same order.” I appreciate the feedback and discussions at the symposium ... and am looking forward to developing the work in more detail for the book chapter in 2025!








November 15
Presentation
SIGraDi 2024
Congratulations to Kurt Hong on the presentation of our paper, The Isovist Grammar: Automating Isovists and Isovist Fields with Visual Rules, at the SIGraDi 2024 conference @ UIC in Barcelona! Check out the research here.



September 23
Lecture
Agnes Scott College
Delighted to have the opportunity to present my research, “On Space within Space: The Language of John Portman’s Entelechy I,” as part of the Building on Dana -  A Year of Learning from John Portman project at Agnes Scott College. Thank you to Katherine Smith and Nell Ruby for the invitation!



July 19
Publication
Journal of Building Engineering
How can a series of formal methods be developed into a complementary workflow to accelerate the adaptive reuse of historic buildings toward regenerative design? What methods best support spatial reconfiguration vs. structural modification, for example, and how might they be integrated? More specifically, how can modifications to the structural wall layout in historic masonry buildings be efficiently determined while allowing for the consideration of various spatial reconfigurations?

Dani Paulino, Rebecca Napolitano, and I are motivated by these questions in our latest research, “On Determining Structural Wall Layout During the Adaptive Reuse Process of Historic Masonry Buildings,” published in the Journal of Building Engineering. The paper presents a computational strategy based on genetic algorithms to explore and optimize structural modification while offering designers flexibility in spatial arrangement. Since existing buildings are subject to damage, the optimization considers a multi-objective function targeting minimizing the presence of damaged elements and maximizing the presence of undamaged elements in the design, in addition to minimizing the buildings eccentricity, subject to structural constraints. The work is led by Dani Paulino as part of her doctoral thesis in Architectural Engineering at Penn State. Please check out the full paper here.


July 7
Workshop @ DCC’24
Design Computing + Cognition
Concordia University
Enjoyed sharing some recent research and student work from FAU at our workshop, New Directions in Shape Grammars, at the 2024 Design Computing and Cognition conference at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada ... thank you to Thanos Economou and Iestyn Jowers for the invitation ... and to all participants for the engaging discussions!  

April 24
Publication
Nexus Network Journal
How can Sebastien Truchet’s visual treatment of combinatorics, characterized by the truchet tile, be formalized computationally to define a generative system for crafting geometric tiles and patterns? Once defined two-dimensionally, how might these geometries be further specified three-dimensionally to provide a design framework for tiling patterns with depth?

Natalie Walter, Benay Gursoy, and I engage these questions in our article, “The Truchet Tile Grammar,” published in the Nexus Network Journal. The paper extends our initial work presented at the Nexus 2023 Conference in Turin, which was developed as part of Natalie Walter’s MS thesis (advised by Benay) and my shape grammars course at Penn State. Natalie used truchet tiling to fabricate mycelium-based acoustic panels and explored how a generative system could expand the design space for tile generation with a variety of aesthetic and acoustic properties. Please check out the full paper here.

April 13
AI+Education
DigitalFUTURES
Happy to have the course + studio work we’ve been developing in the FAU School of Architecture Foundations curriculum featured in Dr. Joseph Choma’s presentation “Integrating AI into a Professional Architecture Program” @ the DigitalFUTURES AI + Education discussion - watch it here.
April 4
Distinguished Master’s
Thesis Award
Penn State
Congratulations to Chowdhury Ali Imam on receiving the Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award for his Master of Science in Architecture Thesis! The thesis is co-advised by Dr. Jose Duarte and myself - read more about it here.


April 2
Publication
Nexus Network Journal
In what ways is Anne Tyng’s notion of “metamorphology,” the study of the transformation of forms, manifest in her design projects where she was the sole architect of record? Tyng advocated for this approach in her pedagogy and research, but what evidence of a metamorphological design narrative is present in Tyng’s architectural practice that might give flesh and bones to her theories? Can a shape grammar synthesize these speculations to visualize Tyng’s transformations and interpret the ongoing potential of Tyng’s arguments in her theoretical and physical work?

I work through these questions in my article “The Grammar of Anne Tyng’s Simpler Space Structures,” published in the Nexus Network Journal. The paper extends my initial work on the subject presented at the Nexus 2023 Conference in Turin to interpret a sequence of three of Tyng’s residential projects. This analysis is framed through the lens of the octetruss to examine the evolution of Tyng’s design approach where the interplay between Platonic geometries and their transformations demonstrates exponential formal and functional opportunity. This analysis provides a foundation for a constructive theory on Tyng’s space structures. The theory is constructive in two directions. First, in that it defines a lattice of spatial relations and their transformations to reconceptualize the houses, and second, in that these same conceptualizations motivate a shape grammar that produces prototypes for space structures rooted in Tyng’s examples. Sample reconfigurations generated with the grammar are offered to support discussion on the value of a metamorphological design approach and how it recalibrates understanding of Tyng’s work to inspire ongoing reinvention. Please check out the full paper here.

January 23
Publication
International Journal of Architectural Computing
Can computational design processes informed by self-build processes in protracted refugee camps (those that become permanent settlements) aid in reframing planning practices to better support the housing of vulnerable populations? More specifically, can shape rules, documenting spatial relations and their change over time, help designers understand the informal transformation process of ten housing units in Irbid Camp in Jordan? How might the formal interpretation of these design moves contribute to the advancement of the design of emergency housing as critical systems that acknowledge the potential for temporary housing to become permanent?

Dima Abu-Aridah and I are happy to share the publication of our paper “Shape Grammars and Self-Built Refugee Communities: The Transformation from Tent Shelter to Customized Structure in Irbid Camp” in the SIGraDi Special Issue on Critical Appropriations of the International Journal of Architectural Computing (IJAC). The paper pursues the above questions and develops a parametric shape grammar to formalize self-build transformations of a variety of housing units at Irbid Camp in Jordan to examine how formal systems and related technologies can empower creative planning and participatory design in refugee camps to anticipate adaptation, transformation, and permanence. Read this open-access paper here.




2023

November 1
Guest Lecture
Penn State


Happy to join the Fall 2023 Shape Grammars course at Penn State today to share my research in a talk, “Architectural Theory, Shape Computation + Shape Machine”- thank you to Benay Gursoy for the invitation!






September 21
Presentation
eCAADe
TU Graz
Congratulations to Dani Paulino on the presentation of our paper (w/ Kali Lewis and Becca Napolitano), Automating the Adaptive Reuse of Cultural Heritage: A Computational Framework for Reconfiguring Historic Masonry Buildings, at the Virtual Heritage session of the 41st eCAADe conference!

September 21
Presentation
eCAADe
TU Graz
Congratulations to Chowdhury Imam on the presentation of our paper, 3D Voxel Grammar of Managalabas (Goodwill House) , at the Generative Design and AI session of the 41st eCAADe conference!

September 20
Presentation
eCAADe
TU Graz
Congratulations to Keerthana Govindarazan on the presentation of our paper (w/ Yasmine Abbas and Jose Duarte), Translating Christopher Alexander’s Patterns for Immersive Virtual Reality: A Rule-Based Approach to Behavior Testing in VR , at the Generative Design and AI session of the 41st eCAADe conference!

August 7
New Gig
FAU SoA
First day of my new position at FAU SoA - honored to be joining such an innovative and forward-looking faculty as tenure-track Assistant Professor + Foundations Coordinator!  


June 25-30
Workshop
DigitalFUTURES
Looking forward to our 2023 DigitalFUTURES Workshop “Computational Design with Shape Grammars” with Thanos Economou, Kurt Hong, James Park, Yichao Shi, Yeon Tae Chung, and our participants online.

June 14
Presentation
Nexus 2023
Politecnico di Torino
Sharing our research, with Natalie Walter and Benay Gursoy, on a truchet tile grammar in a paper titled “From Graphical Combinatorics to Tiling Grammars,” at the 2023 Nexus conference today.


June 12
Presentation
Nexus 2023
Politecnico di Torino
Delighted to share my research today as part of the 2023 Nexus Conference on Architecture and Mathematics. The paper describes work-in-progress on “Anne Tyng’s Transformations of the Octetruss” - my take on how Tyng’s theories on metamorphology are fleshed out in her residential design work.



April 6
Remix Rowhouse
Pittsburgh Center
Our directed research studio, Remix Rowhouse, took a roadtrip to Pittsburgh today for a community working session and exhibition of our progress at the Homewood Carnegie Library - it was excellent to get feedback on preliminary proposals for new housing prototypes based on the row house!

January 18
Hajjar Competition
Penn State
It was a pleasure to join the 22nd annual William Hajjar Housing Competition Jury at Penn State today along with Pep Aviles, Mahyar Hadighi, + Clarissa Albrecht. Thank you to the third year faculty for the invitation -  congratulations to all the third year students who participated, and especially to Nina Ferrante and Cameron Walsh for their winning designs!




2022

November 10
Presentation
SIGraDi 2022



Congratulations to Dima Abu-Aridah on the presentation of our paper, From Shelter to Home: Transformation Grammar of Housing Units in Irbid Refugee Camp, at the SIGraDi 2022 conference!

November 10
Presentation
SIGraDi 2022
Congratulations to Dani Paulino on the presentation of our paper (w/ Becca Napolitano and Cooper Knapp), The Reviver Grammar: Transforming the Historic Center of Sao Luis through Social Housing, at the SIGraDi 2022 conference!



November 8
Guest Lecture
Georgia Tech
Zoomed in to the Fall 2022 Shape Grammars course at Georgia Tech School of Architecture/School of Interactive Computing today to share my most recent reworkings of my research on John Portman’s Architectural Language in a talk, “Design Animation”- thank you to Thanos Economou for the invitation and to the students for their curiosity, questions, and discussion!



October 20
Humanitarian Materials Research Grant
Penn State Materials Research Institute
Our research project, Material Stock Analysis and Adaptive Reuse Planning for Affordable Urban Housing, in collaboration with Dr. Rebecca Napolitano has been awarded a 2021-2022 Humanitarian Materials Grant from the PSU Materials Research Insitute - looking forward to the next steps on this project!



July 3
Workshop @ DCC’22
Design Computing + Cognition
University of Strathclyde
Looking forward to our workshop, From Shape Machine to Future Shape Grammar Research, at the 2022 Design Computing and Cognition conference at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland ... our first international in-person workshop since before the pandemic!!  






April 22
NCMA Competition
Penn State
Congratulations to Jackie Zheng on the first place award for his project, Weaving Gold: Extending the Neue Galerie, from my Spring 2022 National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA) Competition Studio!
April 7-9
Workshop + Lecture
ConCave PhD Symposium
Thrilled to be attending the 2022 ConCave PhD Symposium, Divergence in Architectural Research, at Georgia Tech’s College of Design to give a workshop, “Curating a Research Agenda,” and walking lecture on John Portman’s architecture in downtown Atlanta.





March 23
VDC Episode Released
Interview with Derek Ham
Episode 005 of the Voices in Design Computing Podcast is out! It features my interview with Derek Ham, Department Head of Art + Design, Associate Professor of Graphic Design, and Affiliated Assistant Research Professor at North Carolina State University. On the episode, Derek and I discuss his multi-disciplinary background, the startup Logic Grip, and current scholarship developing interactive VR experiences including the I Am A Man project.

March 14
Guest Lecture
Georgia Tech
Enjoyed an evening with the CS 8803 course, Shape Machine, at the Georgia Tech School of Interactive Computing. The lecture focused on the latest developments in my research using Shape Machine in a talk called “Animating Design Narratives” - thank you to Thanos Economou for the invitation & to the students for excellent questions/discussion afterwards!

March 9
VDC Episode Released

Interview with Shelby Doyle
Episode 004 of the Voices in Design Computing Podcast is out! It features my interview with Shelby Doyle, Associate Professor of Architecture and Stan G. Thurston Professor of Design Build at Iowa State University College of Design. On the episode, Shelby and I talk about her course, “Equity in Computing,” her research on the SOM Computer Group, and her current work on The Digital Now at the Canadian Center for Architecture.


March 2
Lecture
SCDC Lecture Series
Excited to share my research today as part of the Spring 2022 Stuckeman Center for Design Computing Lecture Series. The title of the talk is “Critical Restoration: Rule-Based Systems for the Redesign of Building Stock.”

February 23
VDC Episode Released
Interview with
Huiwon Lim
Episode 003 of the Voices in Design Computing Podcast is out! It features my interview with Huiwon Lim, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the Stuckeman School, Penn State University. On the episode, Huiwon and I talk about human-computer interaction and extracting the visual narratives from data to convey rich humanistic stories - approaches he is keen on developing in his teaching and research.

February 9
VDC Episode Released
Interview with
Karla Saldaña Ochoa
Episode 002 of the Voices in Design Computing Podcast is out! It features my interview with Karla Saldaña Ochoa, Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Florida and director of the Spatial Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Research & Experimentation (SHARE) Lab. On the episode, Karla and I talk about her background, teaching, and research on moving beyond typologies and optimization to find new computer-aided design frameworks for human and machine intelligence.

January 26
VDC Episode Released

Interview with Felecia Davis
Episode 001 of the Voices in Design Computing Podcast is out! It features my interview with Felecia Davis, Associate Professor of Architecture, faculty of the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing, and director of SOFTLab at Penn State University. On the episode, Felecia and I discuss how her work explores the cultural capacity of computation - how she got there and her latest projects.  LISTEN HERE /// Also available on Apple Podcasts.





2021

December 10
Guest Talk

Terner Center


Excited to give a guest talk titled “On Atlanta: Center/Periphery” to graduate student teams from the University of California Berkeley/Terner Center for Housing Innovation working on the 2022 HUD Innovation in Affordable Housing Student  Design & Planning Competition. Thank you for your questions and conversation - good luck, I look forward to seeing your submissions!   


September 27
Guest Lecture
Georgia Tech
Visiting the ARCH 1060 course at the Georgia Tech School of Architecture today to introduce first year students to rule-based design in a talk called “Rules for Imagining” - thank you to Ryan Roark for the invitation.


September 8
Presentation
eCAADe
Congratulations to Marzena Nowobilski on the presentation of our paper, The Market Square Grammar: Reconstructing the Facades of Warsaw’s Old Town Square, at the eCAADe conference!


June 11
MS Defense

Penn State
Congratulations to Enam Adnan on the defense of his Master of Science in Architecture Thesis, The Panam Nagar Grammar! Well done. It is a pleasure to advise you and work with the rest of your committee - thank you to Dr. Jose Duarte, Dr. Denise Costanzo, and Dr. Madhuri Desai.

May 6
Dissertation Award

Georgia Tech
I am honored to receive the 2021 Faculty Award of Merit / ARCC King Medal from the School of Architecture for my dissertation, The Portman Variations: A Critical Approach to Entelechy I Mediated by Shape Machine. Thank you to my advisor, Dr. Thanos Economou, and my committee - Dr. Daniel Cardoso Llach, Dr. Christina Crawford, Dr. Dennis Shelden, and Dr. George Stiny.

April 29
DBSC Episodes Released
Interview with Phu Hoang of MODU + with Charles E. Rogers of Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP
New episodes of the Design Business Startup Culture Podcast are out! Today’s release includes: a) our interview with Phu Hoang, cofounder of MODU, discussing how every architect needs to write to develop clarity in their practice and how dynamic programs advance design. LISTEN HERE; and b) our interview with Charlie Rogers, discussing laws and contracts for designers as well as how legal counsel can help designers set up their practices. LISTEN HERE

April 12
DBSC Episodes Released
Interview with Jarel Portman of JPX Works + with KP Reddy of Shadow Ventures
New episodes of the Design Business Startup Culture Podcast are out! Today’s release includes: a) our interview with Jarel Portman, founder of JPXWorks. Jarel talks about how great architecture is great business and the value of integrity - “you never have to remember the truth.” LISTEN HERE; and b) our interview with KP Reddy, founder of Shadow Ventures, discussing how big ideas need structure and how projects in the built environment can be reconceptualized as products. LISTEN HERE
February 26
Sustainability Teaching Fellow
College of Arts and Architecture
I am delighted to join the second cohort of Sustainability Faculty Teaching Fellows at the College of Arts and Architecture, Penn State. The purpose of the fellowship is to imagine and develop transformative sustainability initiatives for courses in arts and architecture - I look forward to our conversations and learning more about everyone’s work.

January 31
DBSC Episode Released
Interview with Brian Bell and
David Yocum of BLDGS
A new episode of the Design Business Startup Culture Podcast is out! It features our interview with Brian Bell and David Yocum, partners in the design firm BLDGS. They share insights on their evolving practice and how they keep looking for opportunities.   LISTEN HERE

January 5
DBSC Episode Released
Interview with Tariq Abdullah and Tiffany Green-Abdullah of Tarchitects
A new episode of the Design Business Startup Culture Podcast is out! It features our interview with Tariq Abdullah and Tiffany Green-Abdullah of Tarchitects, reminding us of that “people hire people.” Together they are growing a design practice, supporting valuable community needs, and working to develop curricula for high school students. LISTEN HERE




2020

December 16
DBSC Episode Released
Interview with Kiki Goti of SomePeople


A new episode of the Design Business Startup Culture Podcast is out! It features our interview with the youngest start-up in the series, Kiki Goti of SomePeople, sharing thoughtful advice on fearlessly launching a small design practice and how human-centered technology can impact design - LISTEN HERE

November 17
DBSC Episode Released

Interview with Débora Mesa of Ensamble Studio
A new episode of the Design Business Startup Culture Podcast is out! It features our interview with Débora Mesa, cofounder of Ensamble Studio, discussing their old school approach to managing firm economics and how research is freedom. - LISTEN HERE
October 12
DBSC Episodes Released

Introduction + 
Interview with Susannah Drake of DLANDstudio
The first two episodes of the Design Business Startup Culture Podcast are out! Today’s release includes: a) the Intro Episode - LISTEN HERE; and b) our interview with Susannah Drake, founder of DLANDstudio, discussing how to start and sustain a design focused business - all while remembering to design your life too! - LISTEN HERE

September 1
Interdisciplinary Research Grant
Stuckeman Center for Design Computing
Generative Redesign: Combining Shape Grammars and Genetic Algorithm to Facilitate Adaptive Reuse, my research project in collaboration with Dr. Rebecca Napolitano has been awarded a 2020-2021 Interdisciplinary Research Grant from the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing - excited to start the project this semester!
August 31
Guest Lecture
Georgia Tech
Looking forward to joining the ARCH 1060 course at the Georgia Tech School of Architecture to share a guest lecture on my research, “From Idea to Iteration” - thank you to Ryan Roark for the invitation.
August 1
New Appointment
Penn State
It’s official - I’m excited to announce my new position as Assistant Teaching Professor of Architecture and core faculty of the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing at Penn State!

May 5
Portman Prize
Georgia Tech
Congratulations to Carly Langsdorf on the first place award for her project, Kinetic Rewrite, from my Spring 2020 Portman Prize Studio ALT/ATL!

March 7  
On-Site/Walking Lecture
ConCave PhD Symposium
I will give an on-site walking lecture discussing John Portman’s architecture in downtown Atlanta for the attendees of the 2020 ConCave PhD Symposium at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture. 



2019

December 16
Talk @ Shape Machine Workshop
National Taiwan Institute of Technology


Along with my colleagues from the Shape Computation Lab, Kurt Hong and James Park, I will present my research in the Shape Machine Workshop at the National Taiwan Insitute of Technology.

December 14
Talk @ Shape Computation and Machine Symposium
National Chiao Tung University 
The Shape Computation Lab is in Taiwan! Thanos Economou, Kurt Hong, James Park and I will lead the Shape Computation and Shape Machine Symposium at the Graduate Institute of Architecture, National Chiao Tung University. 

October 24
On-Site/Walking Lecture
Equity in Architecture
Excited to lead an on-site lecture in downtown Atlanta, “Portman’s Living Model: From the Regency to the Marquis”, for members of Equity in Architecture at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture.

July 18 
Talk @ Shape Machine Workshop
Georgia Tech
I will give the talk, “Architectural Languages and Shape Machine” at the Shape Machine Summer Workshop with National Taiwan Institute of Technology. The workshop is a collaboration with the School of Building Construction at Georgia Tech - thank you to Kurt Hong for the invitation!

May 6
Hambidge Fellowship
Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts + Sciences
I have been awarded a 2019 Fellowship at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences! I’ll spend two weeks in residence to develop my research on John Portman’s architectural language. I look forward to the time, space, and community that this opportunity provides. 

April 11
Talk @ Shape Machine Symposium
Georgia Tech
I will give the presentation, “Shape Machine and Architectural Theory” at the Shape Machine Symposium at the College of Design, Georgia Tech. 

April 9
Presentation
SimAUD 
I will present my paper "From Drawing Shapes to Scripting Shapes: Architecture Theory Mediated by Shape Machine", co-authored with Thanos Economou, at the 2019 Symposium on Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design (SIMAUD).




2018

July 4
Best Presentation Award
DCC Conference


I am honored to receive the best presentation award at the Eighth International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition (DCC) for the presentation of my paper, "On John Portman's Atria: Two Exercises in Hotel Composition", co-authored with Thanos Economou.

July 18
On-Site/Walking Lecture
GT Summer Program
I will give an on-site lecture, “Block by Block: Portman’s Living Experiment in Downtown Atlanta”, for pre-college students participating in Georgia Tech’s College of Design Summer Program - thank you to Yousef Bushehri for the invite.


April 20
On-Site/Walking Lecture
Emory University
My on-site lecture, “Portman and Atlanta,” will be given for students in The Architect and the City course at Emory University’s Art History Department - thank you to Dr. Christina Crawford for the invitation.

April 12
Invited Juror
AIA Atlanta High School Design Competition
I’m delighted to participate as a juror in the 2018 AIA Atlanta High School Design Competition !