The MAA is a visionary master program with an innovative and open structure, mixing diverse disciplines, shaping professionals capable of producing theoretical & practical solutions towards responsive cities, architecture & technology.
Architectural Alienation In a world that is rapidly urbanizing itself, architecture holds immense power to shape the lives of individuals and how they experience the public space. Yet, architectural design often neglects the various needs of the community it is supposed to serve, leading to alienation and exclusion, particularly for marginalized populations. – 1.1.Hostile design … Read more
A Methodological Approach to Urban Morphology and Hybrid Energy Systems in the Global South Project Statement: “Even as we advance in Energy Innovation, our cities continueto grapple with deep inequalities. In this research, I proposerethinking Urban Morphology—not merely as the physicalform of our settlements, but as a strategic lever for equitableenergy solutions. The conceptual Energy-Morphology … Read more
What is Infrastructure Justice? Rio’s Context State of the Art Rio Maps Sao Goncalo Proposal Thank you!
ROLE FINAL INPUTS AND OUTPUTS TEAM ROLES AND COMMUNICATION STREAMS COMMUNICATION COLLABORATION REFLECTIONS CARBON FOOTPRINT OBJECTS TRACKER APP We imagined a smarter way to design façades—one that doesn’t just generate new materials but maximizes the potential of what already exists. That’s why we developed a custom parametric tool that helps architects and designers track, organize, … Read more
SecondMatter challenges architecture’s extractive processes and wasteful material cycles by upcycling Construction Demolition Renovation Waste (CDRW) into structural and non-structural applications. It blends ramming, which compacts granular materials into high-strength forms, with jamming-inspired interlocking of irregular aggregates. Large concrete waste pieces form a reinforced core, wrapped in a rammed mix of fine brick and concrete … Read more
Manual floorplan generation for high-rise residential buildings is labor-intensive and often overlooks key environmental parameters, limiting the ability to quickly assess performance-based design alternatives.
Context How? Where? Workflow Outputs
Abstract Parametric design tools like Grasshopper empower architects to create adaptive and efficient spatial layouts, but their complexity presents a barrier for non-experts. This research proposes a community-driven design tool that leverages Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) and Large Language Models (LLMs) to learn from expert-authored Grasshopper scripts, enabling prompt-based parametric layout design. By encoding design … Read more
ABSTRACT; Decoding Urban Mobility: This project evaluates the impact of AI-driven traffic management versus conventional fixed-timing methods on urban congestion. It analyzes real-time and historical data—including traffic patterns, weather, demographics, and incident reports—from cities like London, Barcelona, and Los Angeles and compares machine learning models (e.g., LSTM, GRU, XGBoost) with traditional techniques. The study identifies … Read more
A Methodological Approach to Urban Growth and Hybrid Energy Systems in the Global South Why Global South ? Urbanization in the Global South is a defining trend of the 21st century, with over 90% of urban growth expected to occur in low- and middle-income countries by 2050. This rapid expansion has led to a surge … Read more
Located in the quiet community of Sant Adria De Besos lies the Besos Power Station. This waste to energy power plant is responsible for providing power to over 10 municipalities of Spain and takes care of nearly half of the waste that comes into Barcelona. While this factory proves to be highly effective, several negative … Read more
NARRATIVE Back to Zero is a regenerative concept that targets oil refineries and other aging infrastructures that pollute our world. The narrative is inspired from the “skin in the game” concept, and calculates lifetime co2 emissions for high emitting “hosts”, which then becomes a target for that same “host” to sequester through the carbon sequestration … Read more
