Rowan Murray

Rowan Murray is General Manager of Ronstan Tensile Architecture, a division of Ronstan International he founded with his partners in 1991 and which today is recognized as a leading global manufacturer, supplier and sub-contractor of tensile elements for Lightweight Architecture. Rowan’s knowledge of cables and cable structures has helped realize structures on three continents.  

For the past twenty five years Rowan has been the Secretary of the Lightweight Structures Association of Australasia (LSAA).

Dr Daniel Prohasky is an architectural engineer and roboticist passionate about translating research towards accelerating the scaled adoption of exciting, resourceful and low-carbon architecture.

Daniel pursues the multidisciplinary integration of knowledge and systems of design with a focus on the development of novel elegant robotic systems to build exciting cities of the future. Daniel has worked as a research engineer with two of the most innovative engineering firms in the world, Arup and Aurecon. Where he encouraged and implemented new ways of tackling engineering problems using the latest in computational tools and innovative thinking.

Daniel is passionate about building resourceful and elegant architecture. He believes that, as engineers and architects, one of the most important challenges of our time is the need to reduce waste and atmospheric carbon emissions - yesterday. He’ll help you develop the abilities to create, not only environmentally sustainable architecture, but also, beautiful buildings that people love and are excited to dwell within!

He is devoted to invigorating your innovative thinking. Leading by example, he has created Curvecrete, a new advanced manufacturing and architectural engineering practice tackling these challenges. So, you can have the chance to tap in to firsthand experiences with the construction industry and real-world low-carbon construction projects.

He was voted the Victorian Professional Engineer of the Year award in 2023 Engineers Australia Excellence Award.

Amongst the throngs of summer tourists outside the world’s most famous building site, the Sagrada Família, New Zealander Mark Burry stands out in the crowd. Not only because he’s tall and silver-haired but because he looks out of place amongst the colorful, casual, camera-carrying crowds bumping into each other, trying to get to the end of the miles-long queue or find a better angle for that photo. Burry instead seems more like a popular university professor: a kind smile, glasses, softly-spoken and just a little formal. He is making his way through the tourists because he is taking a short break from his work as one of the principal architects on the Sagrada Família.

Burry has been working on the construction of Antoni Gaudí’s basilica since 1979 and has been instrumental in the development of the project over the last 30 years, steering it through some once-unimaginable technological advances. He is the only person working on the project today who has used both the traditional manual architectural drawing of plans as well as digital computation techniques. In 2004, the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi awarded Burry the prestigious "Diploma i la insignia a l’acadèmic corresponent" and given the title "Il·lustrisim Senyor," in recognition of his work on this important Catalan landmark.

The above extract is credited to Metropolitan Barcelona where the complete article may be found.

Dr Nic Bao – RMIT University School of Architecture and Urban Design

Bio:

Dr. Ding Wen 'Nic' Bao is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture, and Architecture Technology Courses Coordinator at RMIT University, specializing in performance architecture, computational design, structural optimization, behavioral algorithms, additive manufacturing, and robotic fabrication. He has authored over 60 publications, including high-impact journal papers, book chapters, and conference proceedings, and serves on the editorial boards of the Architectural Intelligence Journal, Sustainable Structures Journal, and the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism.

Nic is an award-winning architect, holding Australian and US Registered Architect, and UK RIBA Chartered Architect. He directs B.W Architects (BWA) and Wonderform Studio, founded the FormX Research Lab, and is a partner at Ameba. His work has been showcased at prestigious venues including the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne Design Week, Hong Kong BoDW, Venice Biennale, Shenzhen Biennale, and the Barcelona IASS Expo. Nic holds his PhD in Civil Engineering and Architecture from RMIT, receiving two Research Excellence and Impact Awards. He has received numerous accolades, including the Young CAADRIA Award, DigitalFUTURES Young Award, MUSE Design Award, GPDP Gold Award, IAI Design Award, A'Design Award, and the 2023 Engineering Structures Journal Best Paper of the Year, among others.

Nic also holds key roles as Secretary of CAADRIA, Organizing committee member of the DigitalFUTURES Association, Member of the Board of Directors at ACADIA and key member of organizer team of IASS 2023 conference in Melbourne. He has been invited as a scientific reviewer and session chair for international conferences including CAAD Futures, CAADRIA, ASCAAD, eCAADe, and DigitalFUTURES, and has led 14 workshops and masterclasses at international conferences such as DigitalFUTURES, CAADRIA, SIGraDi, IASS, and ACADIA. Additionally, Nic has been invited as a guest lecturer and critic at universities worldwide, including Tsinghua University, Shenzhen University, Tongji University, Southeast University, The University of Newcastle, The University of Queensland, The University of Melbourne, Università di Pisa, UCL Bartlett, ETH Zurich, Architectural Association (AA), and the University of Michigan.

Dr Sofia Colabella is an architect and Lecturer in Architectural Design at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning of the University of Melbourne, with a PhD in Architectural Technology.

Sofia co-founded Gridshell.it, a company specialising in the design and construction of performative timber architecture and acoustic shells, designed through digital tools and full-scale prototypes.

She co-founded the Italian-based architecture practice CMMKM Architecture and Design, specialising in residential architecture. Her research interest and expertise relate to design, timber tectonic cultures, digital design & fabrication, and the reuse of reclaimed materials for architectural purposes.

As visiting Scientific Partner at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), she provided a novel approach to the feasibility of reuse of discarded high-tech sports equipment for structural purposes. She is a member of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS).

James Marr is a Director of Tensys and has been working in the field of structural engineering design for over 20 years.  His expertise and experience has been gained while working in offices around Australia and in the UK on many international projects.  With a board design base from these travels, he now enjoys specialising in designing lightweight structures. Whether it be tensioned membranes, cable-nets, pneumatic or geometrically challenging, he is passionate about structural detailing which both looks good and is simple to build.

Tensys is an international specialist engineering design practice in lightweight structures.  This field encompasses fabric tension and cable net structures and complex geometric forms.  Offices are located in Bath UK and Melbourne Australia.

Dr Ivana Kuzmanovska is interested in the ways that building design and building production can inform one another to achieve more beautiful, more sustainable, and more efficient outcomes. Ivana has spent her career exploring this relationship through architectural research, practice, and teaching.

In 2020, Ivana received the Mollie Holman Medal for her PhD thesis on the importance and value of the ‘D’ (design) in DfMA and how a production-informed design approach might be applied to building design and delivery. Ivana’s most recent research explores data-informed pathways towards more sustainable and efficient built outcomes in the construction industry.

Ivana is experienced in managing interdisciplinary research teams within a university context, and she has an excellent track record of industry collaboration in applied research settings.

Prior to joining Arch_Manu in her current role as Manager, Ivana worked on several Building 4.0 CRC projects as a researcher with the Future Building Initiative at Monash University.

Oliver’s Bio:

Oliver first discovered his passion for unique and challenging projects in 2008 when he first joined the window shading industry as an installer. After graduating from university with a degree in project management, he delved into managing and successfully delivering national rollout programs for fit outs in the retail, commercial, education, hospitality and health sectors. His experience also expanded internationally into multiple areas such as Macau, the Maldives and Port Moresby to name a few. Fascinated by their unique approach to custom based solutions for window shading systems and sustainable facades, Oliver decided to join the Climate Ready Engineering team in 2020. Since joining, Oliver has managed multiple iconic projects and has always championed the vision of the Designers and Architects and brought them to life. Oliver’s background and understanding in window shading system installation and project management makes him the perfect candidate for managing, coordinating and delivering large scale projects.

Title: A discussion of the Façade shading and automation systems of the One Sydney Harbour Project