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Anne Kinnunen
Pia Christina Fricker
Person profile
Pia Fricker serves as Professor of Practice 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. In her teaching, Fricker encourages students enthusiasm for computational design thinking experimentation in the design of projects that are sensitive to the qualities of a singular place as well as part of the broader context–be it urban or rural.
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, University of Copenhagen) 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, as well as in Didactics and Pedagogy 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 National Design Centre Singapore, the National Library of Singapore, 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.
Person profile
Pia Fricker holds the Professorship for Computational Methodology in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, linking between the area of large-scale landscape architecture design and urban design. In 2017 she founded and directs the Digital Landscape Architecture Laboratory, which is a teaching and research hub fostering the experimental integration of emerging computational methods and workflows. The hub is actively collaborating with other Departments at Aalto University, as well as with professional partners on a national and international level.
Previously (since 2007), she was Director of Graduate Studies in Landscape Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich. She studied architecture with a focus on its intertwining with landscape and urban design at the University of Karlsruhe, University of Tampere and University of Helsinki. She received a DAAD scholarship for her postgraduate studies at the ETH Zurich, where she received postgraduate degrees in Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) and in Didactics and Pedagogy. She is a member of the editorial board of the JoDLA (Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture), the Scientific Program Committee of the DLA conference, and the Peer Review Committees of ACADIA and eCAADe. In her teaching, Fricker encourages students enthusiasm for computational experimentation in the design of projects that are sensitive to the qualities of a singular place as well as part of the broader context–be it urban or rural.