Architecture graduate student to lead workshop at design computing conference

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Mina Rahimian, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in architecture with a focus on computational design and sustainability, is co-teaching a workshop as part of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) annual conference Oct. 24-26 at the University of Texas at Austin. The theme of this year’s conference is “Ubiquity and Autonomy.” Along with Rahimian, the “Generative Design Workflows with Dynamo and Project Refinery” workshop will be led by representatives from Autodesk, Inc., and Mohammad Keshavarzi, a Ph.D. student at the University of Califonia, Berkeley. Rahimian co-taught a workshop on the same topic at the Education and Research in Computer Aided Design in Europe (eCAADe) and Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics (SIGraDi) annual conference at the University of Porto in Portugal last month. Rahimian is a researcher with the Stuckeman School’s Stuckeman Center for Design Computing and the Hamer Center for Community Design. Her research focuses on data mining the impact that the urban form has on the energy performance of community microgrids. During the spring and summer of 2018, she was a visiting researcher at the University of Lisbon where she worked with Jose Nuno Beirao and the Design and Computation Group. Originally from Iran, Rahimian holds a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the University of Tehran and a master of science in architecture from Penn State. She also has a graduate certificate in applied statistics from the Penn State World Campus. In addition to completing her last year of her studies at Penn State, Rahimian is a sustainable architecture, engineering and construction generative design researcher with Autodesk, having served as a sustainability technology analyst with the company over the summer and fall of 2017. Hosted by the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, ACADIA 2019 brings together researchers, educators and design professionals from around the world to discuss and exchange ideas on computational design and emerging technologies in architecture. More information can be found on the conference website at http://2019.acadia.org.