Master in Robotics and Advanced Construction

Aldo Sollazzo is an Italian entrepreneur and innovator, expert in robotics, computer vision, and computational design. He is the CEO of Noumena since 2011, a data-driven company implementing computer vision and machine learning to study and analyze spatial dynamics.

As part of the Noumena Group, he is also the CEO of PURE.TECH, a material-driven company operating promoting sustainability at the industrial scale, and of LAMÁQUINA, a large-scale 3D printing factory, shaping new architectural solutions integrating advanced manufacturing and computation.

At the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalunya in Barcelona, he is the Director of the Master in Robotics and Advanced Construction.

In 2019 Aldo received, from the Italian President of the Republic, the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy for the promotion of national prestige abroad as a recognition of his scientific and technological activities.

Aldo has made many appearances as a guest speaker at Conferences and University Seminars, amongst them European Conference on Computer Vision, Barcelona Urban Tech, Future City Summit, The Venice Biennale and TEDx Barcelona.

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.

Daniil Koshelyuk is a computational designer, creative coder, and architect holding a Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Advanced Architecture (MAA02) from IAAC. Daniil has been working with interactive installations, merging physical computing and computational design tools; mixed reality projects in a range of applications from product design to urban analysis; and teaching and assisting seminars and workshops in computational design, physical computing, and mixed reality.

In his career, Daniil has been exploring situations where, in a broad sense of the words, physical and digital layers intersect. His interests centre around creating smarter, more responsive, and interactive environments by digitally enhancing architecture, creating tools for unconventional interactivity, and managing and designing complex systems.

Andrea Graziano is an architect and computational designer, member and co-founder of Co-de-iT – Computational Design Italy, currently engaged in teaching international workshops about computational design, digital tools and robotic fabrication in architectural design, lecturing and consultancy work. Andrea is member and co-founder of digifabTURINg, a research cluster focused on digital fabrication, computation, robotics and material research applied in the field of architecture, design & art. Andrea acts as an active catalyst through his intense activity of social networking of the paradigm-shift in the fields of architectural research, computation and science. A ‘digital explorer’ and ‘knowmad’ aiming to research, curate and envision the rapid evolution of science, technology, art and philosophy, their possible convergence and tooling into design and architecture.

Sameer Kishore holds a PhD from the University of Barcelona (Spain), an MSc in Computer Graphics (Vision and Imaging) from University College London (UK), and a BEng in Computer Science Engineering from BITS Pilani University (Dubai, UAE). He is the campus programme coordinator for the MSc. Robotics programme and heads the Immersive VR Lab at Middlesex University Dubai. His teaching and learning interests cover Humanoid Robots, Applications of Robotics, Human-Robot Interaction, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Real-time Computer Graphics, Telepresence, Embodiment and Body-Ownership Illusions. He was previously the Head of Medical Rehabilitation; Virtual Reality Innovation at Virtual Bodyworks (Barcelona, Spain) and was a Postdoctoral Research at the University of Barcelona (Spain)

Nikol Kirova is an interdisciplinary Bulgarian architect with an educational background in interior design, urban planning, and advanced architecture. Currently, Nikol is a teaching assistant and a researcher at IAAC, developing her PhD with a focus of her research is the integration of material innovation in design and architecture, as part of the IAAC-SWIN offshore PhD program, developed with the Swinburne University of Technology.

The common feature of her work is the search for alternative solutions for optimised construction, material informed design, and spatial communication. Her research interest lies in investigating how materiality in architecture and construction can be reestablished and propose better communication between the built environment and its inhabitants.

For a couple of years Nikol was developing Synapse, a smart material system for real-time urban flow data collection toward responsive environments and informed decision making. The novel research was awarded the Digital Matter and Intelligent Construction and the Artificially and Materially Intelligent Architecture excellence awards in 2018 and 2019.

Nico Schouten joins Metabolic as the team lead of the Built Environment team. He focuses on the implementation of circular principles and systems-thinking in building projects. He works with architects to create clear frameworks on how to design and realise the circular buildings of the future.

While undertaking a Masters in Architecture at the faculty of Architecture and the Built environment at the TU Delft, Nico became interested in using what he was learning to build a more sustainable world. This led him to further research the concept of systems thinking, and how to implement circular strategies in his designs.

Nico has worked on a wide range of building projects, focused on urban natural ecologies, waste systems, renewable energy, and happy and healthy communities in different geographies.

His background as an architect, coupled with his experience in collaborative urban design processes and systems thinking, allows him to integrate knowledge on ecological impacts with creative solutions that engage novel technologies and are sensitive to social issues.

Davide Rovera is an Entrepreneurship Lecturer and Startup Mentor, with international experience in the consulting and industrial industries as well as the b2b SaaS and growth spaces.

Davide is a Lecturer at the Department of Strategy and General Management at Esade Business School, where he teaches Entrepreneurship and Product Management courses both at the undergrad and graduate level. He is the co-founder and Manager of eWorks, Esade’s venture creation program, which provides support to students and recent graduates working on the creation of high growth companies. He’s an adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship for IAAC and Porto Business School, and an Advisor to Feat Ventures and Fondazione CRT. He’s the Managing Partner of Kili Ventures.

From 2017 to 2019 he collaborated with Fusion Point, a project created in partnership between Esade, UPC (Polytechnic University of Catalunya) and IED (Istituto Europeo di Design) and part of the Design Factory Global Network. He has been part of the founding team of Fusion Point, then covered the role of Industry Collaboration Manager.

Davide is particularly interested in supporting early stage ventures, especially at the intersection between technology, design and business with a particular focus on AI, Education and Web3. He is an investor and advisor to multiple early stage startups in different industries.

Davide is a volunteer for the Startup Africa Roadtrip program, supporting sub saharan African entrepreneurs.

Before joining Esade, he worked as a Consultant in the Business Development and Special Projects area of CNH Industrial, one of the world’s largest capital goods companies. He acquired international startup experience by leading the US Business Development efforts in San Francisco for an Italian startup, Vivocha and co-created an incubator for web 2.0 projects, Treatabit.

He holds a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management from Politecnico di Torino (Italy) and completed his studies at RWTH Aachen (Germany) and Kent University (UK).

Ece Tankal is a Turkish Architect. IAAC Alumni, Ece completed her Master in advanced Architecture in 2014, presenting a project entitled Translated Geometries, developed along with Efilena Baseta and Ramin Shambayati, investigating the potential of programmable matter, in particular, Shape Memory Polymers, towards the generation of Responsive Environments.

Before coming to IAAC, Ece Completed a joint degree of the IED and UAB (Barcelona) in Interior Design, specializing in the design for Commercial Spaces; as well as a degree in Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at the Bilkent University in Ankara.

Ece is the Co-founder and Head of Creative Design at Hyphen-Labs, an international team of women of colour working at the intersection of technology, art, science, and the future.