Pia Fricker

Pia Fricker

Pia Fricker serves as Professor and Vice Head of the Department of Architecture at Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Finland. She holds the Professorship of Computational Methodologies in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism and directs the interdisciplinary Urban Studies and Planning Programme at the Department of Architecture. Pia Fricker’s research and teaching link urban design and landscape architecture to the field of digital design culture through the lens of emerging technologies.

Her research is actively collaborating with other Departments at Aalto University, international academic partners (ETH Zurich, The Singapore University of Technology and Design - SUTD, Hafencity University Hamburg) as well as with professional partners on a national and international level.

She is currently leading research projects in data-driven design methods for dynamic urban landscapes and in the field of immersive, collaborative design environments, featuring a new reading and interaction of ecosystem datasets in the realm of Mixed Reality.

Pia Fricker holds a PhD in Architecture and a postgraduate degree in Computer Aided Architectural Design from ETH Zurich, a master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Architecture, specialising in Urban Design and Landscape Architecture from the Technical University of Karlsruhe.  

Prior to her current position, she was Director of Advanced Studies in Landscape Architecture ­– Landscape Architecture Design Simulation – at ETH Zurich, Chair of Landscape Architecture, Prof. Christophe Girot from 2009-2015.

Pia Fricker is a member of the editorial board of the JoDLA (Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture), the Scientific Program Committee of the DLA conference, the peer review committees of ACADIA (Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture) and eCAADe (Education and research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe), as well as expert peer reviewer for the International Journal of Architectural Computing, Landscape and Urban Planning Journal, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, and the Journal of Architecture and Urbanism. Pia Fricker has published extensively, and her work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the National Design Centre Singapore, the National Library of Singapore, at EMMA - Museum of Modern Art, as well as a part of Helsinki Design Week.

In addition to her academic work, she works as a consultant to municipalities and large-scale landscape and urban projects in the area of digitalization, with special focus on adaptive urban development.

Full researcher profile
https://research.aalto.fi/...

Contact information

Phone number
+358503087105

Areas of expertise

Urban Design, Landscape Architecture, Water Urbanism, Parametric Design, Algorithmic Design, Data-Driven Design, Big Data, Atmospheric qualities in space and multisensory approach in spatial design, Interaction between space and objects, Responsive systems and environments, Emerging models of digital representation, Critical interrogations of the digital and analogue, Generative Artitificial Intelligence, 211 Architecture, Architecture

Publications

From intangible to tangible : The role of big data and machine learning in walkability studies

Jun Yang, Pia Fricker, Alexander Jung 2024 Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

Introduction

Erich Buhmann, Stephen Ervin, Prof. Dr. Pia Fricker, Sigrid Hehl-Lange, James Palmer 2023 Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture

Computing Land-Scapes

Prof. Dr. Pia Fricker, Toni Kotnik 2023 Patterns of Interaction: Computational Design Across Scales

Convergence

Pia Fricker, Toni Kotnik 2023 Patterns of Interaction: Computational Design Across Scales

CULTIVATING A CULTURE OF COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN THINKING

Prof. Dr. Pia Fricker 2023 Terrain Vogue

Digital Landscape Architecture Education – Where Do We Stand and Where Should We Go?

Pia Fricker, Ulrike Wissen Hayek, Rosalea Monacella 2023 Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture

Epilogue

Pia Fricker, Toni Kotnik 2023 Patterns of Interaction: Computational Design Across Scales

From Data Points to Spatial Experiences

Prof. Dr. Pia Fricker, Tina Cerpnjak 2023

Interconnected Agencies For Sustainable Futures : A Discourse on the Notion of Adaptation and Space

Prof. Dr. Pia Fricker, Friederike Landau-Donnelly, Constantinos Miltiadis, Shubhangi Singh 2023 Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education