Martha Tsigkari is a Senior Partner and Head of the Applied R+D (ARD) group at Foster + Partners. Her background spans architecture, engineering, and computer science. She has two decades of experience working in projects of all scales and uses. She is a specialist in a wide range of areas including computational design, performance-driven design, optimisation, machine learning, interfaces & interaction, design-to-production and fast feedback & integration. Her work incorporates the development of ML, optimisation and simulation tools, the introduction of integrated processes and the creation of physical interfaces. She has a particular interest in machine learning and has lead R&D related to the use of deep neural networks in the design process, to solve problems spanning from micromaterials to performance driven architectural layouts. She has also been investigating the use of Genetic Algorithms in the design pipeline, using them to develop solutions spaces that fit multi-objective criteria.

Martha joined F+P in 2006, and she has since provided solutions for hundreds of diverse projects such as the new airport for Mexico City, Queen Alia Airport, Sheikh Zayed Museum, UAE’s 2015 Expo Pavilion, Lusail Iconic Stadium for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and YachtPlus. She is a member of RIBA, ARB and the Technical Chamber of Greece. In parallel she is an Associate Professor at the Bartlett, UCL, where she has been teaching at the MSc Architectural Computation since 2009. She has been a juror and presenter at various schools worldwide, including MIT, the Architectural Association, UPenn, ETHZ and Chalmers. She has taught, lectured and published on the subject of computational design internationally.