Staff

Asterios Agkathidis (MA Programme Director, ARCH711/ARCH713 /ARCH729/ARCH730/ARCH721-23 coordinator)  

Asterios studied architecture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the RWTH Aachen, completing his postgraduate MA studies in Advanced Architectural Design at the Staedelschule Architecture Class (Frankfurt). Being a registered architect in Greece since 2000, he became a partner at b&k+ (Cologne) and then worked for VMX Architects (Amsterdam). After working for OMA that same year, he later founded the architecture and research laboratory a3lab Frankfurt-Thessaloniki and has been planning and realising projects around the world for a decade. His work has been published, awarded and exhibited widely. His research, teaching and lecturing experiences include the Aristotle University Thessaloniki, University of Thessaly, International Islamic University Malaysia, The Izmir University of Economics, the University of Westminster, the University of Edinburg, the Columbia University and MIT among others. He was a Research Associate at the Darmstadt University of Technology, a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Lebanese American University and a Senior Lecturer at Raffles Design Institute Shanghai. Today he is a Senior Lecturer for Digital Design, Programme Director for the MA in Advanced Architecture, PGT Lead in Architecture at the University of Liverpool, HEA Fellow and a registered Architect in the UK (ARB) and Greece (TEE). His 9th book ‘AI-Assisted Architectural Design’ was published in 2024 by BIS Publishers, Amsterdam. His current research activities are centred on AI-assisted design, 3D/4D printing, parametric design, generative design, material computation, VR/AR, robotics and digital fabrication.

Juliana Kei (Design Studio, History and Theory and Thesis Tutor)

Juliana is an architect and architectural historian. Her current research looks into how the term “built environment” was first mooted in the 1960s in Britain; and the changes in architectural pedagogy and research engendered by the invention of the built environment. Her other research, extending from her PhD research at the Royal College of Arts, explores the rhetorical and visual devices in architecture’s post-modern turn. As part of the Hong Kong Design History Network, she curates the Hong Kong Pavilion at the London Design Biennale 2020 (2021). Juliana has also worked as an architect and strategic planner in Hong Kong, China, London, Tokyo and New York. She received a BA in Architectural Studies from the University of Hong Kong and a Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University

Guzden Varinlioglu (Lecturer)

Guzden is an architect of computational design, focusing on immersive technologies, architectural design education and digital cultural heritage. She holds a PhD in Art Design and Architecture, a MFA in Graphic Design, and BArch from the prestigious Turkish universities of Bilkent and METU. Her interdisciplinary research reached international grounds at MIT, UCLA and TAMU. Holding an associate professorship by the Council of Higher Education of Turkey, she taught courses on computational design, architectural design studio and design theory at both graduate and undergraduate levels. As a Fulbright and Chevening alumni, Guzden has received numerous grants, fellowships and awards for her designs, presentations and publications.