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AUAR believes that to address the demands of the housing and climate crisis, construction cannot just be automated. It needs to be reinvented. We are revolutionising construction to empower people and communities to create better and more sustainable homes. We believe in healthy, inspiring and sustainable living environments that are designed by and for local communities. 

Our solution is a world first. We designed a modular building system that uses robotics and automation to deliver high quality, affordable, sustainable homes. The system consists of building blocks made from timber, a renewable material, which are robotically pre-fabricated and assembled into dwelling units with minimal material waste. Our software integrates the whole delivery process: from design to robotic assembly to procurement. The units can be easily customized based on site and context. Our approach radically reduces the production chain. One industrial robot can be a factory, embedded in local communities that need housing, providing opportunities for upskilling local labour and creating new kinds of jobs. 

AUAR’s team includes recognised leaders in our areas of work including automation, generative design, AI, design, community. Some of AUAR’s work is in high profile museum collections such as the Centre Pompidou, we have written books and been featured in the press (Wired, BBC, SkyNews, The Guardian, Mashable). In 2019 we wrote a book on the topic of automation in architecture called Robotic Building: Architecture in the Age of Automation. In 2020 we designed and built Block West in partnership with our UCL research laboratory AUAR Labs, local residents in Knowle West, Bristol and citizen-led digital arts organisation Knowle West Media Centre. Block West won the AJ Small Projects Award for Social Sustainability in 2021. 

Co-Founder Bios:

Mollie Claypool, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Mollie is a leading architecture theorist focused on issues of social justice highlighted by increasing automation in architecture and design production, and the potential of automation in architecture and the built environment to provide more socially engaged and environmentally sustainable ways of designing and building. Mollie is co-author of Robotic Building: Architecture in the Age of Automation (Detail Edition 2019) and author of the SPACE10 report “The Digital in Architecture: Then, Now and in the Future” (2019). She is also Associate Professor in Architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. At The Bartlett she is Co-Director of AUAR Labs and History & Theory Coordinator in MArch Architectural Design. She is the Managing Editor of Prospectives, an open access peer reviewed journal supported by The Bartlett. Mollie has studied at Pratt Institute, AA School of Architecture and The Bartlett.

Gilles Retsin, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Gilles is an architect, educator and thinker working at the intersection of computation, fabrication and architecture. His design work and critical discourse has been internationally recognised through awards, lectures and exhibitions at major cultural institutions such as the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Royal Academy in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He edited an issue of Architectural Design (AD) (Wiley, 2019) and co-authored Robotic Building: Architecture in the Age of Automation (Detail Edition 2019). Gilles is also Associate Professor in Architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. At the Bartlett he is Co-Director of AUAR Labs and Programme Director of the MArch Architectural Design at UCL. He studied architecture in Belgium, Chile and the UK, where he graduated from the Architectural Association. 

Claire McAndrew, Co-Founder & Chief Communities Officer 

Claire is a social scientist that works across architecture and practices of care. She focuses on new frameworks for participation — drawing upon contemporary theory, research and debate around architecture, technology, community and public engagement in the production of the built environment. Her writing and practice consider the use of co-design methodologies to shift social practices, inform public policy and enact more care-full capacities. Claire is Director of Public Engagement and Co-Director of AUAR Labs at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

Team Bios: 

David Doria, Computational Designer

David is an architect and urbanist interested in the technical and political implications of automation, artificial intelligence, computational design and fabrication. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Federal University of Sergipe and an MArch Architectural Design from The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

Kevin Saey, Designer & Developer

Kevin Saey is an architect and researcher in automation, digital fabrication and computational design with a background in game design. Kevin studied Digital Arts and Entertainment at University College West Flanders, MSci in Architecture at KU Leuven and MArch Architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

Danae Parissi, Computational Designer

Danaë is an architect interested in bringing together the traditional discipline of architecture with cutting edge computational theory, to explore new interdisciplinary paths of design. She has completed her integrated MArch at the NTUA School of Architecture and an MSc in Architectural Computation at the The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

Robert Pavlovskis, Creative Technologist

Robert is a developer and technologist interested in digital spaces, interaction design, games and new media art. With a particular focus on real-time rendering and 3D graphics. He holds a BSc in Creative Computing from Goldsmiths University of London, and has a background in Art & Design.

Ivo Tedbury, Systems Designer

Ivo is an architectural designer and robotics developer interested in integrated building design, engineering and robot fabrication. He has broad experience designing and building custom hardware and software, and holds BSc and MArch in Architecture, and MRes Architectural Computation from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

Nikolaos Tsikinis, XR Developer

Nikolaos is a developer interested in all things XR with a background in computer science. He studied Informatics and Telecommunications at University of Athens, a MSc in Computer Science at Athens University of Economics and Business and a MRes in Virtual Reality at University College London.