Master in AI for Architecture and Business Innovation

Willy Müller is a Spanish-Argentinian architect and urbanist, with a PhD from the Università degli Studi di Genova (UNIGE). He is one of the founders of IAAC, where he created the Urban Sciences Lab. He co-directs the Maestría en Urbanismo Próximo and has led the X-Urban Design Studio of the Master in Advanced Architecture since 2003. Willy has co-authored several books, including Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture and Hipercatalunya.

In 1996, Willy founded WMA – Willy Müller Architects, winning multiple international competitions, including projects in St. Petersburg, the Puerto de Almería, and the Mercabarna Flower Market, which earned the International Real Estate Award for Best Public Services Building in Europe (2010).

From 2011 to 2015, Willy was the CEO of Barcelona Regional Agency, overseeing strategic planning and urban development. He has led major urban projects worldwide, including Dream City in the Dominican Republic, Vitoria Bay in Brazil, Moscow Agglomeration, and the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Master Plan (PDUI).

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).

David Andrés León is a private consultant for digital technologies for the AEC industry with particular focus on web development and user interfaces for AI. His goal is to empower designers with digital tools to leverage the design process. He is also currently Director of the Master of Advanced Computation for Architecture and Design at IAAC, and a member of the faculty of the Norman Foster Foundation and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). He has been involved in various research collaborations and co-authored numerous publications in the field of architectural research.

David holds a Master of Science Degree from the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) in Universitat Stuttgart and a Masters Degree in Advanced Design and Digital Architecture from the Escola Superior de Disseny i Enginyeria de Barcelona (Elisava). He has been involved in several research undertakings of which stand out his participation in German research platform FAT-LAB in Stuttgart and his collaboration as a research assistant in the Centre for Information Technology and Architecture (CITA) for the EU-Horizon 2020 Future and Emerging Technologies Proactive Action project Flora Robotica. David is also the co-author of various publications in the field of architectural research and robotics.

Mathilde Marengo is an Australian – French – Italian PhD Architect whose research focuses on enabling spatial justice in cities by leveraging advanced technologies to bridge data gaps and enable designers and decision makers to leverage these and integrate the perspectives of all, both humans and more than humans, into urban planning towards the development of evidence based, inclusive and just urban futures.

She is Head of Studies, Faculty and PhD Supervisor at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) researching, designing and experimenting with innovative educational formats based on holistic, multi-disciplinary and multi-scalar design approaches, redefining the paradigm of design education within the context of the climate crisis, rapid technological development and planetary urbanisation.

At IAAC, she also directs the Urban Sciences Lab (USL), a research group that enhances the creative practice of urban design through data driven methodologies. The USL explores urban design intelligence within the contexts of urban ecologies and regenerative landscapes; urban communities and public space; and urban analytics and spatial justice pioneering the transition of the urban environment in the era of big data. As part of her work in the USL, she Co-Directs IAAC’s Master in Advanced Urban Planning & Data Analytics.

Her investigation is also actuated through her role in several National and EU funded research projects, as well as being published and exhibited internationally.

Chiara Farinea is an Italian architect and urban planner. She holds a PhD in Urban Planning from IUAV (Venice), a Master in Advanced Architecture from IAAC (Barcelona), and an architecture degree from Politecnico di Milano. She also studied at ETSAB (Barcelona) through the Erasmus Programme and has been a member of the Association of Architects of Genova for over ten years.

Chiara’s research focuses on environmental planning and design. She is currently Head of European Projects at IAAC’s Advanced Architecture Group, coordinating several EU-funded projects related to education, research, and sustainable development. She also serves as faculty in IAAC’s educational programs.

Previously, she was a professor of Urban Planning at the Faculty of Architecture of Genoa and co-founded Gr.IN Lab, exhibiting installations at the Venice Arsenale and the Italia-China Art Biennale.

Her past experience includes managing international cooperation and smart city projects at D’Appolonia, where she led the award-winning proposal for the Rome City of Science competition. She has also worked as a Senior Architect at Open Building Research in Genoa and as a Junior Architect at KSP Engel und Zimmermann in Berlin.

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).

Angelos Chronis Angelos is the CEO and Co-Founder of Infrared City GmbH as well as Senior Research Engineer at the Austrian Institute of Technology in Vienna and Co-Director of the Master in AI for Architecture & the Built Environment at IAAC.

His work focuses on performative design, simulation, AI and data-driven design and optimization as well as interactive interfaces and AR/VR. He has led the development of various design and integrated simulation systems, such as infrared.city, a ground-breaking AI-driven climate simulation framework.

Alexandre Dubor is an architect and researcher integrating new technologies to improve how we build and live in cities. He holds a Master’s degree in Architecture & Engineering from EAVT & ENPC (France) and a Master’s in Architecture from IAAC (Spain), specialising in robotic fabrication and large-scale additive manufacturing (FabBot 3.0). Alexandre is also a licensed architect (HMONP) in France and has worked in various architectural firms, including Libeskind, Atenastudio, iDonati, and AREP, from competition to delivery stages. In parallel, he explored coding and scripting through his practice at Collectif277.

Since 2012, Alexandre has been working at IAAC as an expert in digital and robotic fabrication. He currently leads the Robotics Lab and co-directs the Master in Ecological Architecture & Advanced Construction. Alongside IAAC staff, students, and industry partners, he investigates how advancements in materials, digital fabrication, and computational design can create a more efficient, affordable, sustainable, and personalised construction ecosystem.

Shyam Francesco Zonca is a product designer, who focuses on creating truly durable and richly detailed goods within the creative process.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Politecnico di Milano and with two academic experiences in Brazil and Portugal, and a Master of Science in Product Design for Innovation.

Since he moved to Spain in 2017 he has been working with digital manufacturing in the academic area, IED and IAAC; and in projects that integrate digital technologies with handcrafted finishes.

In Milan and Rio de Janeiro he worked as Creative and Project Manager in different areas of design, including products, furniture, digital fabrication, events and visual merchandising. Following this line, he has executed not only creation works, but also collaborated with craftsman and production control.

Hamid Peiro is an architect and digital fabrication expert with a Master of Advanced Studies ETH in Architecture and Digital Fabrication from ETH Zurich. His work integrates computational design, robotic fabrication, and sustainable construction, with a strong focus on automation and bio-based materials. He has collaborated as a researcher and developer with the Canadian Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2025 and has developed several Grasshopper plugins focused on computational design, mathematics, and image processing. Hamid’s work has been recognized in both national and international competitions, including awards from Philips Lighting and other design innovation platforms.

Serjoscha is a PhD Candidate in the City Intelligence at the Austrian Institute of Technology in Vienna. He teaches at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, the Bauhaus University in Weimar and the University of applied arts Vienna.
Before joining the AIT, he studied economics and china studies at the university of Hamburg and Integrated Urban Development and Design at the Bauhaus University Weimar and Tongji University Shanghai.
His research interest lies in cities as complex systems and the interplay of spatial configurations with socio-economic patters of self organization. For his PhD he focuses on developing integrated workflows for performance driven urban design and simulation.

Serjoscha is interested in applying spatial data analysis with simulation methods in the realm of performance driven urban planning and design with a particular interest in the intersection of top?down driven development and evolutionary city growth.

Akshay Madapura is a Computational Design Specialist and Architect from India, with a strong foundation in advanced digital technologies and their application in architecture. He is a graduate of the Master in Advanced Architecture at IAAC, where he has played a key role in numerous projects and seminars that explore the integration of digital tools with physical design processes.

His areas of expertise include algorithmic design, machine learning, computer vision, interaction design, and robotic fabrication. Akshay’s primary focus is on applying data-driven algorithms to real-world architectural challenges, aiming to create innovative, efficient, and sustainable design solutions.

With a passion for advancing computational methodologies, Akshay is committed to driving the evolution of architecture through the informed use of technology, pushing the limits of how data and algorithms can shape the future of design.