The AA School’s PhD programme combines advanced research with a broader educational agenda, preparing graduates for practice in global academic and professional environments. Current doctoral research encompasses the topics of the school’s postgraduate programmes in architectural theory and history, architectural urbanism, emergent technologies and design, and sustainable environmental design. Within each of these strands candidates can engage in design-led research (PhD in Architectural Design) or follow the traditional route of the text-based dissertation. Across the programme’s streams, shared research issues are explored through specialist groups, seminars and other events in and outside of the school. This year, several of the programme’s PhD candidates contributed to conferences and publications in the UK and abroad. ‘A Day on the Grid’ was a public event organised by Alexandra Vougia, Costandis Kizis and Gabriela García de Cortázar Galleguillos, held in early May. The programme’s current PhD candidates and recent graduates participated, as well as teaching staff and students from across the school. The day tackled the issue of the grid from nine angles, each examined by two papers: ‘prologue’, Aldo Urbinati; ‘urban’, Alexandra Vougia and Ross Adams; ‘maps’, Gabriela García de Cortázar Galleguillos and Emmanouil Stavrakakis; ‘drawing’, Alison Moffett and Nerma Cridge; ‘plan’, Alejandra Celedon and Costandis Kizis; ‘intermission’, Merve Anil and Eleanor Dodman; ‘coordinates’, Ryan Dillon and Arturo Revilla; ‘graph’, Valeria Guzman and Jingming Wu; ‘epilogue’, Doreen Bernath; ‘discussion’, Pier Vittorio Aureli, Mark Campbell and Marina Lathouri.
Director
Simos Yannas
Supervisors
Pier Vittorio Aureli
Lawrence Barth
Paula Cadima
Mark Cousins
Jorge Fiori
Hugo Hinsley
George Jeronimidis
Marina Lathouri
Patrik Schumacher
Brett Steele
Thomas Weaver
Michael Weinstock
Simos Yannas
External Supervisors
Doreen Bernath
Vida Norouz Borazjani
David Cunningham
Socratis Georgiadis
Spyros Papapetros
Edward Soja
Francisca Aroso Pinto De Oliveira
Fabrication-Based Design of Responsive Transitional Spaces
Supervisors: George Jeronimidis, Michael Weinstock
The design research is focused on fabrication of physical thresholds between buildings’ internal and external environments. New design paradigms have been abstracted from biological models to inform the engineering and material organisation of a deep transitional zone. Digital design and fabrication techniques are combined to enhance the performative capacity of this new system. Using a subtractive machining process the properties of wood are manipulated to meet the desired performance criteria of light penetration, privacy and views.
Francisca Aroso Pinto de Oliveira is a registered architect in Portugal, graduated from ESAP (Oporto), holds a Master Degree in Advanced Architecture from IaaC+UPC (Barcelona). She has worked in different architecture firms in Portugal and Spain. From September 2008 to July 2009 she was teaching assistant on Digital Fabrication Classes, Parametric Design Seminar, Digital Tectonics Studio and worked as well on the FabLab BCN at IaaC. She was part of the curatorial team for the Full Print3d Exhibition at the DHUB Barcelona. Since September 2009 she is a PhD candidate at Architecture Association in London, within the EmTech.
e-mail: francisca.aroso@aaschool.ac.uk