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Dr Kostas Grigoriadis

Dr Kostas Grigoriadis

Lecturer in Architecture

The Bartlett School of Architecture

Faculty of the Built Environment

Joined UCL
1st Dec 2015

Research summary

Multi-Materials in Architecture: Grigoriadis' main research area is multi-material design and the implications of functionally graded material use in architecture and construction. More specifically, his PhD thesis proposed a new methodology of designing with functionally graded materials using particle system element simulations. This method concentrated on designing the connection of glazing to aluminium frame in a curtain wall envelope and concerned the whole process from beginning to end, of research, design, and fabrication of the connection. The resulting original contribution of the thesis was a process model created in an existing simulation software that can be used in a standard laptop computer in order to design with functionally graded materials. In addition to his PhD thesis, a recently awarded fellowship for Google in California, instigated a new research area relating to multi-material design, namely of the environmental benefits and embodied energy savings incurred by the use of these materials in buildings. The range of topics that the broader multi-material research agenda investigates include: advanced computational design and computational fluid dynamics simulations in architecture, multi-material or functionally graded material design, multi-colour and multi-material 3D printing and fabrication, generative design (topology optimisation) and embodied energy of multi-material building parts.

Epistemology of Computer Simulations in Architectural Design: On a theoretical level, a further research topic is the formulation of an appropriate epistemology (also known as the epistemology of computer simulations—EOCS) linked to the use of computer simulations to design with (computational blending). More specifically, this concerned the creation of a criteria framework for setting out, running, and evaluating the results of the simulations.

Cognitive Theory (Material Engagement Theory and Conceptual Blending): Drawing from Lambros Malafouris' Material Engagement Theory (MET) and Turner and Fauconnier's Conceptual Blending Theory, another main research investigation is in the cognitive processes taking place when designing with graded materials in the computer. Additionally, the question of authorship and agency in the design process is analysed through MET in order to rethink the wider anthropocentric notion of form imposition on materials.

Teaching summary

Kostas Grigoriadis has taught a Design Unit in the Architecture BSc (ARB/RIBA Part 1) programme at the Bartlett School of Architecture for three years from 2016 to 2019. He also taught in Research Cluster 14 in the Postgraduate Urban Design MArch programme that is part of the Bartlett Prospective (B-Pro), for two years from 2015 to 2017. Since 2017 he has been running Research Cluster 8 in the Architectural Design MArch programme. The cluster's main research focus is on multi-material design and the wider implications that the use of multi-materials will have on architecture and building construction. More specifically, the cluster explores new procedures of designing and building with material gradients, aiming to rethink component-based assembly and the standard practice of twentieth century mechanical connnectivity. The first two cycles of this research agenda were targeted towards the rethinking of the building envelope, namely of curtain walling and its part based build-up. The corresponding design research projects investigated the use of robotic fabrication for the insitu 3D printing of building facades, and more importantly the fusion of metal and glass to generate component-less, materially continuous envelopes. Currently, the cluster is researching into the multi-material design of large span structures for transit hubs in London. In 2019-20 this was targeted to the Euston Station site and in 2020-21 to the main concourse roof in King's Cross Station. In addition to the above, Grigoriadis coordinated the Design Technology II module in the Architecture BSc (ARB/RIBA Part 1) programme for one year, and is currently the Year 1 Technology Module coordinator in the Architecture MSci (ARB Part 1 & 2) programme. He has also been supervising thesis students in Architecture MArch (ARB/RIBA Part 2). Outside UCL, Kostas has been teaching in the Undergraduate School at the Architectural Association School of Architecture since 2010, held a Visiting Lectureship in Architecture at the Royal College of Art from 2012 to 2015, and has been an External Examiner at the MA in Architecture and Urbanism programme at the University of East London from 2015 to 2018.

Biography

Dr Kostas Grigoriadis studied architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, followed by a Master's degree in Architecture and Urbanism at the Architectural Association’s Design Research Laboratory (DRL). He has worked for Foster + Partners and Populous in London and held a Visiting Lectureship at the Royal College of Art where he also completed a PhD in Architecture by Project (in June 2017) that focused on multi-material design methodologies. In 2020 he completed Part I of the MA in Philosophy course at the Open University. His practice Continuum Design & Architecture provides building design services, and has currently completed the construction of a tourist centre and small-scale masterplan in Anhui, China. Continuum has previously won Spiretec competition for the design and construction of 62,000 square metre World Trade Centre Noida in Delhi, India. Grigoriadis is currently a Lecturer in Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL and has been teaching at the Architectural Association's Undergraduate School since 2010. He has edited the book Mixed Matters: A Multi-Material Design Compendium, published in June 2016 by Jovis Verlag and was awarded the Ivan Petrovic Prize in eCAADe (Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe) 2014, and the Arup Prize for Emerging Talent in Architecture—Special Mention at the Royal Academy’s 2016 Summer Exhibition. In 2018 he won the RIBA President’s Award for Design and Technical Research and in 2019 he was awarded the inaugural Google R+D in the Built Environment Fellowship.

Publications