Thanos Economou Headshot

Athanassios Economou

Professor; Director, Shape Computation Lab

Athanassios Economou

Professor; Director, Shape Computation Lab

Education

Ph.D. (Architecture), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
M.Arch., University of Southern California (USC)
Diploma (Architecture), National Technical University of Athens (NTUA)

Keywords

shape grammars, computational design, formal specification of style, computer-aided design, design theory, architecture and music, generative morphology, courthouses

Biography

Athanassios (Thanos) Economou is a professor of architecture in the College of Design at Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Economou’s teaching and research are in the areas of shape grammars, computational design, formal specification of style, computer-aided design, and design theory with over forty published papers in these areas. He is the Director of the Shape Computation Lab and the Director of the Architectonics Study Abroad Program at Georgia Tech. Recently funded projects include the project Shape Machine, NSF/iCoprs, and Courtsweb: A Visual Description of Federal Courthouses, GSA/US. Courts, $1.3M. Design projects from his studios at Georgia Tech have received prestigious awards in international and national architectural competitions. He has been invited to give talks, seminars, and workshops at several universities including MIT, Harvard, TU Vienna, Tsinghua Univ, U.Michigan, NTUA, among others. Dr. Economou holds a Diploma in Architecture from NTUA, Athens, Greece, an M.Arch from USC, and a Ph.D. in Architecture from UCLA.

  1. Eloy, S., Pauwels, P., Economou, A., (Eds): Advances in Implemented Shape Grammars: Solutions and Applications, Artificial intelligence for Engineering Design Analysis and Manufacturing (AI EDAM), Cambridge University Press (CUP), Spring 2018, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2018.
  2. Grasl, T., and Economou, A., “From Shapes to Topologies and Back: An Introduction to a Parametric Shape Grammar Interpreter”, in S Eloy, P Pauwels and A Economou: Advances in Implemented Shape Grammars: (AI EDAM), Cambridge University Press (CUP), Spring 2018, Vol.32, No.1, 2018.
  3. Dortdivanlioglu, H., and Economou, A., Outlining Terragni: A Riddle Reworked, CAAD Futures 2017, G. Çağdaş et al. (Eds.), CCIS 724, pp. 381–394, 2017.
  4. Economou, A., and Grasl, T., Paperless Grammars, Cultural DNA: Computational Studies on the Cultural Variation and Heredity, Ed. Ji-Hyun Lee, KAIST, Daejeon, Korea, pp. 158-178, 2017.
  5. Ligler, H., and Economou, A., “Entelechy revisited: On the Generative Specification of John Portman’s Architectural Language” Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, Sage Press https://doi.org/10.1177/0265813516676489; 2016.
  6. Park, J., and Economou, A., The Dirksen Variations: Towards a Generative Description of Mies's Courthouse Language, in Real Time: Extending the Reach of Computation, Proceedings of the 33rd eCAADe Conference, Volume 1, eds: Martens B., Wurzer G., Grasl T., Lorenz W.E., and Schaffranek, R., Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria, pp. 453-462, 2015.
  7. Economou, A., and Kotsopoulos S., “From Shape Rules to Rule Schemata And Back”, Design Computing and Cognition DCC’14. Eds: J. S. Gero and S. Hanna, Springer, pp. 419-438, 2014.
  8. Grasl, T., and Economou, A., “Towards Controlled Grammars: Approaches To Automating Rule Selection For Shape Grammars”. Ed: E. Thompson, Fusion: Proceedings of the 32nd eCAADe Conference, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK, Volume 2, pp. 357-363, 2014.
  9. Quan, J. S., Economou, A., Grasl, T., and Pei-Ju Yang P., “Computing Energy Performance Of Building Density, Shape And Typology In Urban Context,” 6th International Conference on Applied Energy – ICAE2014, SciVerse Science Direct, Energy Procedia, Elsevier, pp. 1602-05, 2014.
  10. Grasl, T., and Economou, A., “From Topologies to Shapes: Parametric Shape Grammars Implemented by Graphs”, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 40 (5): 905 – 922, 2013.

ARCH 6508 Shape Grammars

ARCH 6501 Analog / Digital Computation

ARCH 6210 Architectonics

COA 3114 Art and Architecture in Greece

ARCH 4012 Architectural Design Studio VI