Taro Okabe

Taro Okabe is a first class registered architect (Japan) and director at Shigeru Ban Architects Europe in Paris who leads European activities of the office.
Born in Kawasaki, Japan, grew up in London, Tokyo, Osaka and Paris. After receiving a master degree of architecture at Chiba University, Japan, he started his career as an architect working in several architecture offices, and finally joined Shigeru Ban Architects Tokyo on 2004. Here he was involved in competitions and the realization of projects, such as the Nicolas G. Hayek Centre, Swatch Group HQ (finished in 2007) and the Seikei Information Library (finished in 2006) – both in Tokyo. He was soon involved in international projects, such as the 14th Street Hotel NY, NY, USA (finished in 2008), the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado, USA (finished in 2014) and the TDIC Headquarters, Abu Dhabi, UAE (finished in 2010). He became Senior associate at Shigeru Ban Architects in 2008 and moved in this position in 2011 to their Paris office. Here he became in 2013 Director of Shigeru Ban Architects Europe, responsible for projects such as the new Headquarters for Swatch and Omega in Biel Switzerland which is characterized by highly innovative use of glue laminated timber and digital fabrication technologies.

www.shigerubanarchitects.com

Fabian Scheurer

Fabian Scheurer is founding partner of designtoproduction and leads the company’s office in Zurich. After graduating from the Technical University of Munich with a diploma in computer science and architecture, he worked as assistant for the university’s CAAD group, as software developer for CAD-provider Nemetschek, and as new media consultant for Eclat in Zurich.
From 2002 until 2006 he studied the use of artificial-life methods in architectural construction as a member of Ludger Hovestadt’s CAAD group at the ETH Zurich and managed to transfer the results to a number of collaborative projects between architects, engineers, and fabrication experts. In 2005 he co-founded designtoproduction as a research group at ETH to explore the connections between digital design and fabrication. At the end of 2006 designtoproduction teamed up with architect Arnold Walz and became a commercial consulting practice, since then having implemented digital planning and production chains for projects like the Hungerburg-Funicular in Innsbruck (by Zaha Hadid), the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne (by SANAA), or the Centre Pompidou in Metz (by Shigeru Ban) and many others.
Fabian Scheurer has taught Digital Modeling and Fabrication as guest lecturer/tutor at the AA in London, the IAAC in Barcelona, and at HTW Chur (Switzerland).

www.designtoproduction.com

Philip Yuan

Professor, PhD Advisor of CAUP, Tongji University; Guest Professor, MIT; Council Member of Architects Sector, Architectural Society of China; Council Member of Digital Fabrication Sector, Architectural Society of China; Director of Academic Committee of Shanghai Digital Fabrication Engineering Technology Center.

Philip Yuan focuses on the research of Digital Design and Intelligent Construction. He has been awarded a variety of prizes including the 2014 Wienerberger Brick Award, 2015 Shenzhen Biennale Popularity Award and 2016 Gold and Silver Prize of Architectural Design, etc. Philip F. Yuan has published more than 170 theses on academic architectural journals and magazines and 10 books including Collaborative Laboratory, From Diagrammatic Thinking to Digital Fabrication, Digital Fabrication and Computational Design.

www.en.tongji.edu.cn

Areti Markopoulou

Areti Markopoulou is a Greek architect, researcher and educator working at the intersection between architecture and digital techno-logies. She is the Academic Director at IAAC in Barcelona, where she also leads the Advanced Architecture Group, a multidisciplinary research group exploring how design and science can positively impact and transform the present and future of our built spaces, the way we live and interact. Her research and practice seeks to redefine architecture as a performative "body" beyond traditional notions of static materiality, approximate data, or standardized manufacturing. Areti is founder and principal of the multi-disciplinary practice Design Dynamics Studio, and co-editor of Urban Next, a global network focused on rethinking architecture through the contemporary urban milieu. She is the project coordi-nator of a number of European Research funded Projects on topics including urban regeneration though technologies and multi-disciplinary educational models in the digital age. Areti has also served as a curator of international exhibitions such as the On Site Robotics (Building Barcelona Construmat 2017), Print Matter (In3dustry 2016), HyperCity (Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale, 2015) and MyVeryOwnCity (World Bank, BR Barcelona, 2011), and her work has been featured in exhibitions worldwide. Areti serves as member of the Barcelona Advisory Board of "Leading Cities" and advisor of the "Committee of Urbanism and Territory" of the 22@ Network in Barcelona.

www.iaac.net

INNOCHAIN CONFERENCE 2018

Hanif Kara

Hanif Kara is Design Director – AKT II, Professor in Practice – Harvard GSD
Professor Hanif Kara is a design director, educator and co-founder of London-based structural engineering firm AKT II. Under his leadership, the practice has gained an international standing in the field of the built environment, and has won over 350 design awards.
He has been responsible for a number of innovative and pioneering projects but also for raising the profile of ‘design’ both in the construction industry and the wider community. His particular ‘design-led’ approach and interest in innovative forms, historical structures and material uses, prefabrication, sustainable construction and complex analysis methods, have allowed him to work on unique, award-winning projects with leading designers.
Hanif’s contribution to the industry has been recognised by professional bodies where he is a fellow member of: the Royal Academy of Engineering, Institute of Civil Engineers, Institute of Structural Engineers, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
His approach extends beyond the technical aspects of structural engineering discipline and led to his appointment as a commissioner for influential government watchdog CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) in 2008, the first structural engineer to be appointed to this position. In the global context, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture is recognised as one of the most important awards in the industry; Hanif was the first structural engineer to be selected for the Master Jury for the 2004 cycle awards, on which he has served numerous times and is currently a member of the 2019 Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
Hanif’s work is also intertwined with the research and education of design. Following a period of co-tutoring a Diploma Unit at the Architectural Association, he has been Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology at the Harvard Graduate School of Design since 2008.

www.akt-uk.com

Sam Wilkinson

Samuel Wilkinson is an associate within Foster + Partners’ Specialist Modelling Group (SMG), the architecture practice’s multi-disciplinary research and development group. Since 2014, he has worked on various research projects in collaboration with universities or other companies, such as developing large-scale 3D printing with concrete, plastic, and metal, drone mapping for construction sites, and NASA’s Mars habitat challenge.
He studied architecture and environmental design at the University of Nottingham in 2008, and completed his engineering doctorate at The Bartlett UCL in 2014. He has been involved with Smartgeometry, a non-profit educational organisation for computational design and digital fabrication, since 2011 and a director since 2018.

www.fosterandpartners.com