Who Are We

Christian Derix founded the R&D group at Aedas Architects in 2004 and heads the Computational Design Research there. He is teaching computational architecture at University of East London (UEL), TU Vienna and Politecnico di Milano. In 2002 he set up the Centre for Evolutionary Computing in Architecture (CECA) with Paul Coates at UEL.

Melissa Woolford worked as a designer for Zaha Hadid Architects, KOL/MAC and DORA. Her work has been exhibited at "Beyond Media," Florence (2005), Pratt Institute and University of Massachusetts and is included in Liquid Urbanism (2004). She has adjudicated at Columbia, Pratt, the Architectural Association, Malaquais, Paris and the University of East London, and received her Masters in Architecture from Pratt Institute in 2006.

Paul Coates has been teaching architecture since 1970 after training at the Architectural Association in London. In the '80s, he set up a small software company to design innovative 3d software. Since 1991 he has been running the msc in computing and design at the University of East London. In 2001 he and two previous students set up CECA, the Centre for Evolutionary Computing in Architecture. As head of CECA, he has recently been involved in collaborative research projects with EU partners defining a virtual campus for design education. Currently CECA is collaborating with London Boroughs' Urban Buzz initiative in developing generative models of urban structure for master planning.

Paul is one of the founders of the computational generative approach to architecture, and his students have helped to define the field.