DESIGN TEAM
Alexandra Huerta
California College of the Arts Architecture
Yna Bariring
California College of the Arts Architecture
Austin Graham
University of California San Francisco
Ashley Lasko
University of California San Francisco
Asa Kalish
University of California San Francisco
Aishath Leesha Abdulla
Maldives National University Architecture
Hassan Haleem
Maldives National University Architecture
Instructor Team
Margaret Ikeda
Associate Professor of Architecture, California College of the Arts. Founder and co-director of the Architectural Ecologies Lab, Principal Assembly Architecture
Evan Jones
Senior Adjunct Professor of Architecture, California College of the Arts. Founder and co-director of the Architectural Ecologies Lab, Principal Assembly Architecture
Negar Kalantar
Co-Director, Digital Craft Lab
Associate Professor, Interior Design and Architecture, California College of the Arts
Dyche Mullins
Professor and Chair of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, UCSF. Principal Investigator, Mullins Lab
Ali Farajmandi
Advisor
Architectural designer and CCA graduate, specializing in computational design and kinetic structures. With a passion for innovative solutions, Ali thrives in interdisciplinary collaboration. Currently a researcher at Autodesk Technology Center, he brings creative problem-solving to architectural projects, pushing the boundaries of design with expertise in digital crafts and transformable structures.
Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed
Advisor
An environmental social science expert with a strong academic background, including a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from James Cook University. His career is marked by significant contributions to environmental social sciences, particularly in climate change adaptation, environmental management, and policy development in the Maldives. Starting his career in education, Ibrahim has dedicated over 18 years to environmental management. His work includes engaging communities in sustainability efforts and developing strategies for better environmental practices. Dr. Mohamed is driven by a mission to advance environmental stewardship through education and policy.
Ahmed Fariz Nizar
Advisor
Fariz works at the Maldives National University. His design studios addresses emerging socio-environmental and architectural problems in the Maldivian islands and focusses on the exploration of resilient architectural solutions and prototypes. His service in the environment sector, involvement in urban planning, and engagement with many island councils inflicts a critical and responsible approach towards Architecture.]
Anastasia H. Muliana
Advisor
Linda and Ralph Schmidt ’68 Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. She received a PhD degree in Civil Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on understanding physical mechanisms that lead to nonlinear and time-dependent responses in hierarchical structures under multiple stimuli (mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, and light). This includes investigating viscoelastic responses of polymer composites, long-term degradation and life prediction of polymers and composites exposed to harsh environments, deformations of adaptive and flexible composite structures, and biomechanical properties of plant stems. She is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the US Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Award, and the William Keeler Memorial Award, among others.
Gábor Domokos
Advisor
Professor in the Department of Morphology and Geometric Modeling at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics where he graduated in 1986 as an architect. In 1989 he obtained a PhD in applied mechanics at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 2007, with Péter Várkonyi he discovered a new geometric shape called Gömböc. After that, his research turned towards the mathematical description of natural shapes. In 2020 he wrote a paper with Doug Jerolmack, Ferenc Kun and János Török discussing Plato’s claim that Earth is made of cubes and showing by geometry by measurements that on average, fragmented rock is actually equivalent to the cube. Recently, Domokos published a preprint with Alain Goriely, Ákos G. Horváth and Krisztina Regős where they identify a new class of shapes called soft cells which tile space without gaps but have no sharp corners. Domokos was visiting professor at Cornell University and a Visiting Fellow Commoner at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Prof. Alain Goriely
Advisor
Professor of Mathematical Modelling at the University of Oxford where he is also the Director of the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and a member of Saint Catherine’s College. He is a mathematician with broad interests in mathematical methods, mechanics, sciences, and engineering having authored more than 300 scientific papers and three books. He is well known for his contributions to dynamical systems, mathematical biology, as well as fundamental and applied mechanics. In addition, Alain enjoys scientific outreach based on problems connected to his research, including brain modelling, the mechanics of plants, the shape of seashells, twining plants, umbilical cord and whip cracking. His work has been recognized by a Sloan Fellowship, a Royal Society Wolfson Research Award, the Cozzarelli Prize from the National Academy of Sciences and the Engineering Medal from the Society of Engineering Sciences. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2022 and Professor of Geometry at the Gresham College in 2024.
Prof. Al Bohrani
Advisor
Al Borhani, co-founder of transLAB, is an interdisciplinary designer working across scales and technologies. As an educator, he has taught design studios at California College of the Arts (CCA), Texas A&M University, and Virginia Tech.