Presentation Title
Computational Geometry for Sustainable Construction

Description
Underlining the environmental challenges facing our planet, and with particular attention to the role the Architecture and Construction industry has to play, the presentation will show how Digital Design and Fabrication methods can enable designers to explore environmentally efficient solutions with exciting complex geometry. The focus will be on the use of advanced computational geometry generation methods, in combination with digital fabrication techniques for the early phases of architectural design in the fields of acoustics, structures and building energy.  

Bio
Tomás Méndez Echenagucia is an Architect and researcher at the Block Research Group in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich. He holds a double degree in Architecture from Universidad Central de Venezuela and Politecnico di Torino, and a PhD in Architecture and Building Design, also from the Politecnico di Torino, a title he obtained in 2014 with his dissertation "Computational Search in Architectural Design".  His master's thesis "Architectural, acoustical and structural form" on the optimisation of shell structures for concert spaces was the subject of a paper for which he was awarded the Hangai prize by the International Association of Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) in 2008. He has worked as an architect and a consultant in Computational design in Europe and South America, designing energy efficient building envelopes and large concert auditoria. He has built many large scale prototypes, demonstrators and pavilions in different architectural exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale in 2016. His research is focused in Digital Design for Sustainable construction by means of Multi-Disciplinary Search tools for including Acoustic, Structural and Environmental design.