Dr.-Ing. Cristina Nan, Lecturer in Design and Digital Fabrication, Edinburgh School of Architecture and
Landscape Architecture — ESALA

Cristina is a lecturer in Digital Fabrication and Design at ESALA. She studied architecture at the Technical University Munich and the University of Bath. She finished her PhD at the HafenCity University in Hamburg. Her PhD focuses on architectural robotics, the Digital Turn in architecture and the implications of the digitalisation of the discipline with regard to aspects of craft and the discipline’s identity. The doctoral research focuses on both the theoretical context and applied case studies. During her PhD Cristina attended the Open Thesis Fabrication Programme at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and worked as a researcher at the robotic project ‘Minibuilders’, which was widely published and exhibited. She has studied architecture at the Technical University Munich and the University of Bath.

Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, Cristina has worked in a series of architectural practices in Munich and Hamburg. Currently, Cristina is teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, offering courses for 2nd and 4th year students on the Architecture – BA/MA programme at Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA) and the Material Practice – MSc.

She specialises in digital fabrication, architectural robotics, additive manufacturing and algorithmic design. Cristina explores algorithmic design, digital fabrication and material systems as interdependent parameters in order to support the design process and the further evolution of the discipline. Simultaneously, the theoretical discourse in terms of the history of the Digital Turn in architecture and future of computational design is seen by Cristina as an essential component and a main driver of the discipline’s further evolution. A coherent architectural discourse and debate is a key component in offering a correct interoperation of the potential of digital tool, both for design and fabrication.

Besides her focus on digital fabrication, Cristina follows a strong line of investigation related to the socio-economic, geo-political and urban-territorial implications of the gas and oil industry in relation to the renewables energy sector, focussing primarily on offshore energy systems. In relation to this, her current research focuses on the Lithium-triangle, specifically Chile, and the Orkney archipelago.

Roxana Karam, PhD. Cand., Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture — ESALA

Roxana Karam was born on February 22, 1989, in Tehran, Iran and received her bachelor’s degree with distinction from Iran University of Science and Technology in 2011, having been awarded enrolment in the Master course in Architecture and Technology in the same year. After she finished her postgraduate studies in 2014 in Iran, she applied for a PhD position in the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of Professor Richard Coyne and started her PhD course in October 2014.

During her time in the university, she has evolved not only as a designer, but also as a researcher. Her approach to architecture as a creative practice is both top-down and bottom-up. Her main focus is contemporary architectural propositions and urbanism considering new technologies. She is keen on reviewing design processes and methodologies within the scope of speculative realism and biology/nature. She questions the spatial articulation through the interdisciplinary knowledge of architecture, technology and biosemiotics.

She started studying organic, grid shell structures in architecture for her Master’s dissertation in Iran and has developed a design strategy for a multi-complex metro station in west of Tehran. This was the beginning of her journey as an early career researcher at the University of Edinburgh. She has developed research in the area of biomimicry and big data practice in architecture during her first and second year in Edinburgh and also has been actively involved in research groups and teaching accordingly. She is currently in the third year of her PhD.

www.roxanakaram.com