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Masoud Akbarzadeh

Associate Professor of Architecture

masouda@design.upenn.edu

Polyhedral Structures Laboratory

Profile

Education

Dr. Sc., SMArchs, MArch, M.Sc.,B.Sc.

Short Bio

Masoud Akbarzadeh is a designer with a unique academic background and experience in architectural design, computation, and structural engineering. He is an Associate Professor of Architecture in Structures and Advanced Technologies and the Director of the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory (PSL). He holds a D.Sc. from the Institute of Technology in Architecture, ETH Zurich, where he was a Research Assistant in the Block Research Group. He holds two degrees from MIT: a Master of Science in Architecture Studies (Computation) and a MArch, the thesis for which earned him the renowned SOM award. He also has a degree in Earthquake Engineering and Dynamics of Structures from the Iran University of Science and Technology and a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering. His main research topic is Three-Dimensional Graphical Statics, which is a novel geometric method of structural design in three dimensions. In 2020, he has received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award to extend the methods of 3D/Polyhedral Graphic Statics for Education, Design, and Optimization of High-Performance Structures.

Research Interests

3D graphical statics using polyhedral reciprocal diagrams, graphical statics, structural form finding, computational design, architectural design, computational geometry, structural design, spatial structures, architectural geometry, polyhedral geometry, geometric optimization, digital fabrication techniques, infrastructural design, hydraulic design, applied mathematics, graph theories.