MEET THE SPEAKER\\ Sherif Tarabishy, Associate Partner Foster + Partners, UK

Sherif Tarabishy, Associate Partner Foster + Partners, UK, will join SHARE Cyprus 2024 to present his take on the integration of the latest computation technologies in the design process.

Sherif Tarabishy is an architect, computational designer and researcher, currently working as an associate partner at the world-renowned studio Foster + Partners. Within the practice, he has a position in the Applied Research + Development group where he has the chance to work on complex design challenges on a daily basis. He has an extensive expertise in geometry optimisation, robotics, digital fabrication, data analysis, virtual and augmented reality, machine learning and artificial intelligence. He is deeply involved in developing digital tools and implementing different technologies in the design-to-production workflow. Sherif Tarabishy is also an instructor and lecturer at The Bartlett in the MSc. in Architectural Computation and the M.Arch. in Architectural Design courses, with a focus on technology integration and software development in the AECO industry. For over 13 years, he has been lecturing, training and consulting at different universities and firms in Egypt and the UK, discussing and advising on the incorporation and application of the latest digital tools in the design and execution process. During his MSc in Architectural Computation at UCL’s The Bartlett, his thesis explored the possibility of utilising Open Big Data and Machine Learning to automate design processes.

 

 

The Applied Research and Development group at Foster + Partners, in which Sherif Tarabishy plays a pivotal role, is an integrated multi-disciplinary team of architects and engineers (who are also expert programmers), with an expertise that ranges from art, architecture, and computer science to landscape architecture, structural engineering and applied mathematics. They are embracing machine learning and the advances in artificial intelligence. The office’s dedication to performance driven design has been instrumental to the development of tools which allow intuitive yet informed decision making early on in the design process. The purpose of this direction of development within the practice is not to replicate or replace designers, but to enhance the knowledge, instincts and sensitivities, to free the architects from routine tasks, to improve, optimise and push the boundaries of the designs. Interactive design interfaces, high-performance distributed computing and optimisation, custom analytical software, generative systems allow the architecture today to be much more responsive to the challenges and rapid changes of the field and to explore expansive design choices. This type of integrated approach, where architects and engineers can combine the best of human intuition with computational rigour, has been a successful formula for Foster + Partners, allowing the practice to come up with smart buildings that combine the best design and the best technology.