Dr Alejandro Veliz Reyes

I lead the MA/MSc Integrated Design Innovation programme at the School of Art, Design and Architecture. After training as an Architect (Chile), over the last 10 years my research profile has focused on the cross-disciplinary investigation of socio-technological contexts of creative innovation, including R&D on material systems in fragile socio-economic housing delivery processes (Veliz Reyes et al., 2008), digitally-mediated interaction in design studios using augmented reality technology (Veliz Reyes, 2016), and large-scale robotic 3D printing with traditional building materials (Veliz Reyes et al., 2019), a combination of expertise developed in collaboration with industry and academic partners in Chile, UK, Italy, and Australia. 

Qualifications

Roles on external bodies

Teaching interests

Research interests

My research is concerned with digital innovation for creative disciplines and contexts of practice. To date I have engaged with multiple disciplines (computer science and robotics, design research, material studies, architectural design, and design theory research) and audiences through projects supported by industry, academia and professional bodies. For example, I lead the only UK-based research team awarded by EPSON Robotic Solutions (Germany) to investigate creative applications of high precision robotic manufacturing technology, and my recent Automation Fellowship (South West Creative Technology Network, Research England) allowed me to explore creative opportunities of robotic 3D printing, leading the in-house development of fabrication strategies for creative material studies. This work has led to recent visiting roles in Chile (2019-21), and guest lectures in Italy, India, Chile, and Costa Rica. My research has been published in journals such as Architectural Science Review and Automation in Construction.

Grants & contracts

• (2021-22) Participatory design for manufacturing of customisable building components (Principal Investigator), University of Plymouth, Wessex Community Assets, Assemble Studio. Funding: Connected Everything II Network, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (£57,017).
• (2021) Hard data: Rendering images of the mind in the physical world (Principal Investigator, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business), University of Plymouth. Funding: University of Plymouth Arts-Health Collaboration Fund (£3,925).
• (2021) Digital asset archive of environmental models for use in navigational, virtual reality (VR) and immersive arts and health research (Principal Investigator, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business), University of Plymouth. Funding: University of Plymouth Arts-Health Collaboration Fund (£3,923).
• (2021) A next-generation toolkit for understanding navigational impairment (Co-Investigator), University of Plymouth. Funding: University of Plymouth 2020-2021 Research Pump-priming Support Fund (£7,500).
• (2020-24) Generating Older Active Lives Digitally (GOALD) (Co-Investigator - Digital Design and Fabrication), University of Stirling and University of Plymouth. Funding: Healthy Ageing, Social, Behavioural and Design 2020 (Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (£1,999,885).
• (2020-23) E-Health Productivity & Innovation in Cornwall (EPIC2) (Academic Advisor - Digital Fabrication), University of Plymouth. Funding: European Regional Development Fund (£4,147,612).
• (2019-20) Automation Fellowship (Academic Fellow) at the South West Creative Technology Network. Funding: Research England’s Connecting Capabilities Fund through the South West Creative Technology Network (£15,000).
• (2019) Self-adaptable robot assisted manufacturing in intelligent sustainable work cells (Principal Investigator) at the School of Art, Design and Architecture, and the School of Computing, Electronics and Mathematics, University of Plymouth. Funding: EPSON (~£34,600). Award granted through the provision of 3 EPSON VT6 series robots.
• (2017-19) Computing craft: manufacturing of cob structures using robotically controlled 3D printing (Co-investigator), University of Plymouth and Cardiff University (partner institutions). Funding: Connected Everything (Industrial Systems in the Digital Age) - Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council funding via University of Nottingham (~£73,000).
• (2017) Augmented vernacular: embedding digital practices into traditional cob construction techniques (Principal Investigator) at the School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Plymouth. Funding: Chartered Institute of Building, Bowen Jenkins Legacy Research Fund (£7.000).
• (2013-14) Reflective and dynamic use of Wikis to support collaborative design learning (Research Assistant) at the School of Architecture, University of Liverpool. Funding: British Higher Education Academy (Individual Grant Scheme, £7.000), & University of Liverpool (£19.076).
• (2010-14) Augmented Pedagogies (Principal Investigator - PhD Research) at the School of Architecture, University of Liverpool. Funding: Chilean Government Grant BecasChile for doctoral studies (~£25.000), & Graduate Teaching Assistantship from the University of Salford. (~£75.000).

Reports & invited lectures

• Creative Innovation and Digital Fabrication. Guest lecture at the S.B. Patel College of Architecture and Design, Pune, 10th June 2021, India.
• Negotiated matter: Craft and robots in Architecture. Guest presentation at the Masters of Architecture (MArch), University of Hertfordshire. 23rd April 2021, United Kingdom.
• 3D printing in Architecture. Guest presentation for CIBSE - Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (South West) and IET - Institution of Engineering and Technology, 12th April 2021, United Kingdom.
• Experiencias de fabricación digital: aplicación en la arquitectura y su enseñanza (Experiences with digital fabrication in architectural teaching and learning). Guest lecture at the Digital Fabrication Laboratory, School of Architecture, Universidad de Costa Rica.
• Design Thinking and Industrial Innovation: MSc Integrated Design Innovation. Guest lecture at the SNS College of Technology, Coimbatore, 8th October 2020, India.
• Creative Innovation and Digital Fabrication. Guest lecture at the Saveetha College of Architecture and Design, Chennai, 17th September 2020, India.
• Creative Innovation and CAD/Prototyping. Guest presentation at the Prototyping Seminar, Acceleration through Innovation (ATI) Cornwall, 8th September 2020, United Kingdom.
• Presentation at the "Construction with earth: innovation and robotics" seminar (Construccion en Tierra, Innovacion y Robotica). Interdisciplinary Centre for Sustainable Construction and Production and University of Bio-Bio, 23rd July 2020, Chile.
• Digital Fabrication: A framework for STEAM research. Presentation at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research (ICCMR), 25th March 2020, Plymouth, United Kingdom.
• I+D: Experimentos multidisciplinares (R&D: Multidisciplinary experiments). Guest lecture at UBB. November 2019. Concepcion, Chile.
• I+D: Experimentos multidisciplinares (R&D: Multidisciplinary experiments). Guest lecture at the Department of Architecture UTFSM. November 2019. Valparaiso, Chile.
• A multimodal approach to digital architectural design education research. PhD Conference, Manchester Architecture Research Centre, Manchester School of Architecture. 22 November 2013, Manchester, United Kingdom.
• Digital fabrication in architectural design. Workshop “Future Fabrication Technologies for Creative Designers and Artists”. VR Lab in Collaboration with Future Factory, Nottingham Trent University, 16 September 2013, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
• Grounded theory methodology in the context of new design pedagogies. Workshop “When social science meets Lean and BIM”. University of Salford in collaboration with the Center for Research on Activity, Development and Learning of the University of Helsinki. 3-4 December 2012, Manchester, United Kingdom.
• Architecture in Extreme Environments: The work of the Department of Architecture at UTFSM, Chile. Research Lecture Series. Research and Documentation Centre in Technology, Architecture and City in Developing Countries (CRD-PVS), Polytechnic of Turin, Italy.

Related articles on the University website

• £1.6m funding to explore how digital resources can support older people’s health
• University of Plymouth opens new Digital Fabrication and Immersive Media Laboratories
• University wins international competition to test cutting edge robots