FAU SOA WELCOMES | MASOUD AKBARZADEH | FALL ‘25/SPRING ‘26 LECTURE SERIES

The FAU School of Architecture (SOA) is excited to announce that Masoud Akbarzadeh, Associate Professor of Architecture in Structures and Advanced Technologies at the University of Pennsylvania’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design and Director of the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory (PSL), will present in our annual lecture series on Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 3 p.m. in the MetroLAB.

Akbarzadeh is a designer and researcher whose work bridges architecture, structural engineering, and computation, with a focus on three-dimensional graphical statics and polyhedral structural systems. His research investigates how geometry-based structural design, digital fabrication, and advanced computation can enable materially efficient, high-performance spatial structures.

As Director of the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory at Penn, Akbarzadeh leads a multidisciplinary team exploring innovative structural typologies that integrate architectural geometry, structural behavior, and emerging construction technologies. His work includes the development of novel methods for 3D/Polyhedral Graphic Statics, supported in part by a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to advance their use in the design and optimization of complex structures.

In his lecture, Akbarzadeh will share recent projects from the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory, highlighting applications of 3D graphical statics in the design of funicular systems, spatial frames, and lightweight, materially efficient assemblies. Through built prototypes, experimental installations, and computational workflows, he will discuss how geometric thinking can reorganize relationships between form, force, and fabrication in contemporary architectural practice.