Lecture by IntCDC Visiting Professor Mariana Popescu – Digital materials across scales

IntCDC Visiting Professor Mariana Popescu – Assistant Professor for Digital Fabrication in the Civil Engineering and Geosciences Faculty of TU Delft, will give a presentation on "Digital materials across scales".

Abstract

The need for sustainable design, engineering and fabrication strategies for concrete construction is recognized as a key challenge in the building industry. Structural designers are therefore in the unique position of being able to shape the built environment at a time when building sustainably is more important than ever.  Advancements in the past decades have enabled us to design and fabricate increasingly more complex geometries, making it seem that the options are limitless. Applying the principles of efficiency, economy and elegance in designing structures that intelligently include structural performance and architectural geometry makes it possible to significantly reduce the amount of material used in a structure and its embodied emissions. Their expressive, intricate and bespoke geometries can be challenging to build with traditional formwork methods. To harness the full potential of non-standard and non-repetitive efficient concrete structures, the formwork systems used for construction need to be rethought. As such, alongside design, the fabrication and construction process play an equally important role in reducing the impact of buildings on the environment. 

Short Bio

Mariana Popescu is a computational architect and structural designer with a strong interest and experience in innovative ways of approaching the fabrication process and use of materials in construction.  Her area of expertise is computational and parametric design with a focus on digital fabrication and sustainable design. Her extensive involvement in projects related to promoting sustainability has led to a multilateral development of skills, which combine the fields of architecture, engineering, computational design and digital fabrication.  In 2019, she successfully defended her Ph.D. and was named a “Pioneer” on the MIT Technology review global list of “35 innovators under 35”. She is currently Assistant Professor for Digital Fabrication in the Civil Engineering and Geosciences Faculty of TU Delft.

After the lecture, we invite you to join us for a small get-together. There will be snacks and drinks while you have the opportunity to talk and socialise with all the participants. This will be a wonderful opportunity to share ideas about the topic and make new connections.

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