This programme seeks forward-thinking researchers and professionals committed to rethinking urban and architectural practices. Candidates should be driven by curiosity, innovation, and a desire to create inclusive, regenerative environments for contemporary urban life. Students must meet the eligibility criteria of pursuing PhD studies in Australia.
IAAC-SWIN Offshore PhD Programme
Defining New Frontiers in Architectural Innovation
Why IAAC-SWIN Offshore PhD?
This programme uniquely bridges IAAC’s radical, hands-on experimentation with Swinburne’s robust technological innovation. Students engage actively across international campuses, building rich networks and achieving credentials from an internationally acclaimed university. The synergy between Barcelona’s dynamic experimental culture and Melbourne’s industry-focused research cultivates an environment ideal for pioneering solutions to global urban challenges.
Study Areas
The IAAC-SWIN offshore PhD gives the possibility to explore a wide range of topics. The PhD programme will allow to merge the experience and experimental approach of both IAAC and Swinburne, further enhancing their shared research agendas through a collaborative approach to the highest level of education.
Student profile
Entry Requirements
Prospective candidates must demonstrate significant research abilities, meet Swinburne’s English proficiency requirements, and possess academic credentials (Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees) in relevant fields such as Engineering, Design, Architecture, or related areas.
When applying to undertake a higher degree by research, you must:
1. Comply with Swinburne’s English language requirements.
2. Have met one of the minimum entry requirements listed in one of the study areas (see above) or demonstrate equivalent prior learning and research experience as set out in Swinburne’s required standards of achievement and research experience.
View Swinburne’s required standards of achievement and research experience here
Students should apply through Swinburne (Offshore program) and IAAC by sending an email to [email protected]
Coordinators & Faculty
Areti Markopoulou is a Greek PhD architect, researcher, and urban technologist working at the intersection of architecture and digital technologies. Her work focuses on redefining cities through an ecological and technological spectrum, merging design with biotechnologies, new materials, digital fabrication, and big data. She is the Academic Director at IAAC in Barcelona, and she leads the Advanced Architecture Group, a multidisciplinary research lab exploring how design and science can positively impact the built environment.
Areti co-founded StudioP52, an art/tech gallery activating abandoned industrial warehouses, and served as co-editor of the digital platform Urban Next. She has consulted on and developed projects on topics including urban regeneration through data science, circular construction and multidisciplinary educational models in the digital age.
Markopoulou is the co-author and editor of “Learning Cities: Collective Intelligence Urban Design” (Actar, 2022), “Edible” (TAB, 2022), “ Black Ecologies” (Actar, 2019), and co-author of the forthcoming book “Building Metabolism” (Actar, 2025) supported by the Graham Foundation Grant for Individuals.
She is the Chair of Responsive Cities Symposium that she co-founded in 2016 and served as Head Curator of international exhibitions including co-curating the Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB 2022), Future Arena & On Site Robotics (Construmat 2017 & 2019), HyperCity (Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale, 2015), and MyVeryOwnCity (World Bank, BR Bcn 2011).
Areti Markopoulou
Academic Director (she/her)
Mathilde Marengo is an Australian–French–Italian PhD Architect whose research focuses on contemporary urban phenomena, its integration with technology, and its implications for the future of the planet. In today’s critical environmental, social, and economic context, she explores how designers can address these challenges through circular and metabolic design.
She is the Urban Sciences Lab Director, Head of Studies, Co-director of the Master in Advanced Urban Planning & Data Analytics (formerly City & Technology), and a PhD Supervisor at IAAC. In this setting, she designs and tests innovative educational formats, promoting holistic, multi-disciplinary design approaches that emphasise materialisation and reframe design education in the Information Age.
Her work extends to National and EU-funded research projects, including URBiNAT, InnoChain ETN, and BUILD Solutions. Mathilde’s work has been published and exhibited internationally.
Mathilde Marengo
Head of Studies / USL Director / MUPD (formerly MaCT) Co-Director (she/her)
Manuel Gausa holds a PhD from ETSAB, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (2005), and has been a Full Professor of Architecture and Landscape Design at UNIGE-Università degli Studi in Genoa since 2014. He coordinates the ADD, PhD Architectural and Design Program, and directs the GIC-Lab, focusing on urban and territorial research.
As a Principal Partner and Co-Director of Gausa+Raveau actarquitectura since 2000, Manuel has made significant contributions to architecture, landscape, and urban design. He served as Dean of IAAC from 2012 to 2015 and was Vice-President of the Advisory Council for Sustainable Development (CADS) in Catalonia from 2008 to 2012.
Manuel has held various academic positions, including Professor of Design Projects Studio at UNIGE and Director of the Master Program “Intelligent Coast” at Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya. His involvement in urban development includes roles on the Consell Consultiu de l’Hàbitat Urbà and the Scientific Technical Committee of CRUIE.
He has been an influential figure in architecture since the 1990s, serving as President of Metropolis and Director of the magazine “Quaderns d’Arquitectura i Urbanisme.” A founding member of Actar Architecture and Actar Projects Editorials, Manuel is an author of several significant publications and was honored with the Médaille de l’Académie d’Architecture de France in 2000.
Manuel Gausa
IAAC Co-founder / MOeC Co-Director / MAA, MaCT Faculty / Advanced Theory Director / PhD Supervisor (he/him)
Areti Markopoulou
Academic Director (she/her)
Areti Markopoulou is a Greek PhD architect, researcher, and urban technologist working at the intersection of architecture and digital technologies. Her work focuses on redefining cities through an ecological and technological spectrum, merging design with biotechnologies, new materials, digital fabrication, and big data. She is the Academic Director at IAAC in Barcelona, and she leads the Advanced Architecture Group, a multidisciplinary research lab exploring how design and science can positively impact the built environment.
Areti co-founded StudioP52, an art/tech gallery activating abandoned industrial warehouses, and served as co-editor of the digital platform Urban Next. She has consulted on and developed projects on topics including urban regeneration through data science, circular construction and multidisciplinary educational models in the digital age.
Markopoulou is the co-author and editor of “Learning Cities: Collective Intelligence Urban Design” (Actar, 2022), “Edible” (TAB, 2022), “ Black Ecologies” (Actar, 2019), and co-author of the forthcoming book “Building Metabolism” (Actar, 2025) supported by the Graham Foundation Grant for Individuals.
She is the Chair of Responsive Cities Symposium that she co-founded in 2016 and served as Head Curator of international exhibitions including co-curating the Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB 2022), Future Arena & On Site Robotics (Construmat 2017 & 2019), HyperCity (Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale, 2015), and MyVeryOwnCity (World Bank, BR Bcn 2011).
Mathilde Marengo
Head of Studies / USL Director / MUPD (formerly MaCT) Co-Director (she/her)
Mathilde Marengo is an Australian–French–Italian PhD Architect whose research focuses on contemporary urban phenomena, its integration with technology, and its implications for the future of the planet. In today’s critical environmental, social, and economic context, she explores how designers can address these challenges through circular and metabolic design.
She is the Urban Sciences Lab Director, Head of Studies, Co-director of the Master in Advanced Urban Planning & Data Analytics (formerly City & Technology), and a PhD Supervisor at IAAC. In this setting, she designs and tests innovative educational formats, promoting holistic, multi-disciplinary design approaches that emphasise materialisation and reframe design education in the Information Age.
Her work extends to National and EU-funded research projects, including URBiNAT, InnoChain ETN, and BUILD Solutions. Mathilde’s work has been published and exhibited internationally.
Manuel Gausa
IAAC Co-founder / MOeC Co-Director / MAA, MaCT Faculty / Advanced Theory Director / PhD Supervisor (he/him)
Manuel Gausa holds a PhD from ETSAB, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (2005), and has been a Full Professor of Architecture and Landscape Design at UNIGE-Università degli Studi in Genoa since 2014. He coordinates the ADD, PhD Architectural and Design Program, and directs the GIC-Lab, focusing on urban and territorial research.
As a Principal Partner and Co-Director of Gausa+Raveau actarquitectura since 2000, Manuel has made significant contributions to architecture, landscape, and urban design. He served as Dean of IAAC from 2012 to 2015 and was Vice-President of the Advisory Council for Sustainable Development (CADS) in Catalonia from 2008 to 2012.
Manuel has held various academic positions, including Professor of Design Projects Studio at UNIGE and Director of the Master Program “Intelligent Coast” at Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya. His involvement in urban development includes roles on the Consell Consultiu de l’Hàbitat Urbà and the Scientific Technical Committee of CRUIE.
He has been an influential figure in architecture since the 1990s, serving as President of Metropolis and Director of the magazine “Quaderns d’Arquitectura i Urbanisme.” A founding member of Actar Architecture and Actar Projects Editorials, Manuel is an author of several significant publications and was honored with the Médaille de l’Académie d’Architecture de France in 2000.
Faculty Name
Position
Blair Kuys
PhD Supervisor, Dean, School of Design and Architecture, Swinburne University of Technology
Mehrnoush Latifi Khorasgani
PhD Supervisor, Course Director, Bachelor of Design (Architecture), Swinburne University of Technology
Mark Burry
MAA Senior Faculty / PhD Supervisor
rof Mark Burry AO FRAIA FTSE is a registered architect and the Founding Director for Swinburne University of Technology’s Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI). His role is to lead the development of a whole-of-university research approach to ‘urban futures’, helping ensure that our future cities anticipate and meet the needs of all – smart citizens participating in the development of smart cities.
Mark Burry is a practising architect who has published internationally on two main themes: putting theory into practice with regard to procuring ‘challenging’ architecture, and the life, work and theories of the architect Antoni Gaudí. He has been Senior Architect to the Sagrada Família Basilica Foundation since 1979, pioneering distant collaboration with his colleagues based on-site in Barcelona concluding in late 2016.
Recent publications include an edited 4-volume 1,600-page collection of papers setting out the grounds for Digital Architecture as a critical concept, including a 9,000-word introduction to the set with accompanying introductions to each volume (Routledge – Taylor & Francis, March 2020), and an edition of AD titled ‘Urban Futures – Designing the Digitalised City’ (Wiley, May-June, 2020).
Jane Burry
PhD Supervisor // MaCAD Senior Faculty
Twitter
Linkedin
An architect who contributed to the team realising Gaudí’s Sagrada Família Basílica. Jane is passionate about creating better, more sensitive, human-centric spaces, and empowering you to do the same. Jane has practiced and taught internationally and has amassed over 100 publications on topics such as how developments in mathematics and physics have been taken up as expressive ideas in architecture thanks to architectural computation.
Much of her work aims to prove that architecture can fine tune the acoustic, thermal and airflow aesthetics, and thus create higher quality environments. She is co-curator of the 2018 International Exhibition: Dynamics of Air. Her FabPod project, an acoustic meeting room created in collaboration at Swinburne, explored how to use non-standard geometry, materials and architectural surface to tune the acoustics of spaces and create better auditory experience in open work areas.
Her career has taken her across the globe and includes time as a project architect on Antoni Gaudí’s incredibly complex Sagrada Família Basílica. Yes, you’ll be able to draw upon the knowledge of an architect who helped realise Gaudí’s vision. Traversing the historic and the future with ease, she’s an advocate for working with robotics in architecture and was recently awarded a Robots in Architecture Pioneer Award, 2016. She has a particular interest in gathering rich environmental data and applying it to design better urban environments.
“IAAC’s strength lies in our relentless pursuit of tangible impact through experimental research and industry collaboration. Joining forces with Swinburne amplifies this mission, connecting pioneering minds from across the globe to develop radical yet practical solutions for cities, industries, and communities.”
Areti Markopoulou
Academic Director, IAAC
“Our collaboration with IAAC through the Offshore PhD is about pushing architecture to its innovative limits. This partnership merges IAAC’s renowned experimental approach with Swinburne’s technology-driven methodologies, creating unparalleled research opportunities. It’s not only about envisioning the future—it’s about actively constructing it.”
Jane Burry
Dean, School of Design, Swinburne University of Technology
Partner Institutions 
IAAC (Barcelona) Since 2001, IAAC has redefined the architectural landscape through experimentation, technological innovation, and pioneering education, directly addressing contemporary global urban challenges.
Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne) With over a century of leadership, Swinburne is recognized for impactful research, strong industry ties, interdisciplinary methods, and unwavering dedication to social transformation and sustainability.