PennDesign in Boston: Conversation on Robotics with Faculty Members Robert Stuart-Smith and Masoud Akbarzadeh
Hosted by Dean Frederick Steiner and David Anderson, MArch’95, the Boston PennDesign Alumni Association Chapter, PennDesign Development and Alumni Relations, and PennDesign Admissions invite you to an evening with Robert Stuart-Smith, Director of PennDesign's Autonomous Manufacturing Lab (AML) & Assistant Professor of Architecture, and Masoud Akbarzadeh, Director of the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory & Assistant Professor of Architecture. Professors Akbarzadeh and Stuart-Smith will discuss the role of robotics at PennDesign and how it is influencing the fields of design.
The lecture will be followed by a cocktail reception for our prospective applicants. Faculty and alumni will be available to answer questions about the School and life at PennDesign.
Friday, September 22, 2017
5:30 – 7:30pm
MDS | MILLER DYER SPEARS
99 Chauncy Street, 8th Floor
Boston, MA 02111
The building’s main entrance is located around the corner on Avenue De Lafayette.
Space is limited, please register today
For more information please contact Janhavi Chandra: jchandra@design.upenn.edu
About the Speakers:
Masoud Akbarzadeh is a designer with a unique academic background and experience in architectural design, computation, and structural engineering. He is an Assistant Professor of Architecture in Structures and Advanced Technologies and the Director of the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory (PSL). 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. He holds 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, which is a novel geometric method of structural design in three dimensions.
Robert Stuart-Smith is Director of PennDesign's Autonomous Manufacturing Lab (AML) and an Assistant Professor of Architecture, specializing in robotic manufacturing and generative design. He also directs a sister lab, AML-UCL, in the Department of Computer Science at University College of London, where he is currently a Co-Investigator for research into Aerial Additive Building Manufacturing (Aerial ABM) — an EPSRC funded research project developing an autonomous multi-agent robot construction system for in-situ 3D-printed construction. Prior to joining the faculty at Penn, Robert was a Studio Course Master at the AA School of Architecture in London, and has also taught at Washington University, RMIT, University of Innsbruck, and University of East London. Robert received a Ba.Architecture and BSci in Environmental Design from the University of Canberra and holds a Ma.Architecture + Urbanism from the Architectural Association School of Architecture’s Design Research Laboratory. He has worked in engineering firm Arup's Advanced Geometry Unit and the architectural practices of Grimshaw Architects and Lab Architecture Studio, before co-founding computational research group Kokkugia and RIBA Chartered Architectural Practice Robert Stuart-Smith Design.