Adaptive re-use: retrofit architecture & the climate emergency

Completing the build early is undesirable, as it results in the asset sitting empty.. It’s all about working out what’s most important, Marks says.

According to ‘Digital Innovation’ finalist, Maria Mamoura, ‘technology is the tool, a medium, to design a world that functions better.’.Mamoura is a director and founding member of Bryden Wood’s Creative Technologies team where she leads work on algorithmic design and simulation.

Adaptive re-use: retrofit architecture & the climate emergency

She began her career as an architecture student in Athens, before advancing to an MSc in Adaptive Architecture and Computation from the Bartlett, UCL.She says that this experience has led to a ‘deep interest in algorithmic design and new technologies in engineering.’.Her initial computational design work for Foster + Partners saw her involved with major international projects, including the New International Airport of Mexico City, a role she says allowed her to ‘experiment with the algorithmic approach to architecture, focusing on complex geometries for large scale projects,’ and which, ‘involved automation of design processes through the whole project lifespan from concept to detailing.’.

Adaptive re-use: retrofit architecture & the climate emergency

Maria says that currently, working at Bryden Wood has allowed her to ‘focus on the core of her interest,’ where she is actively engaged in pushing the boundaries of data-driven design.. For the past twelve months, Mamoura has led the development of the company’s ‘Rapid Engineering Model’ (REM), which Board Director Phil Langley describes as ‘a radical and disruptive new approach to automated design for Highways England, developed by Bryden Wood Technology Ltd. for the Smart Motorways Programme (SMP).’.Assembled from a range of different technologies, rather than a single piece of software, REM is ‘digitally driven and collaboratively enabled,’ comments Langley, which means that ‘SMP schemes can be designed automatically - in a much smarter and faster way.’.

Adaptive re-use: retrofit architecture & the climate emergency

Langley commends Maria’s role at the helm of the multidisciplinary project team, comprising a diverse range of specialists from architects, engineers and computational designers, to GIS specialists and other software developers.

‘This requires not only a deep understanding of many different design disciplines and digital platforms,’ he says, ‘but also a considerate approach to organising and managing diverse team members, who all benefit from Maria’s technical rigour and creative outlook, which has helped build a unique, rich and inspiring project.’.We can test different scenarios and the modelling will follow.

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