Alicia Nahmad-Vazquez

Aerial view of a unique architectural structure with a flower-like design, surrounded by tiles, stones, and glass walls.
Abstract concrete sculpture with wing-like forms in front of a dark stone building.
A large, Y-shaped wooden structure displayed in a room with shelves. Several people sit and observe the piece.
Two children playing on a large red sculpture in a grassy park area with trees and a building in the background.
Black and white image of a women with curly hair to her shoulders wearing a black top.

Alicia Nahmad-Vazquez

Alicia Nahmad is an architectural designer with a passion for robotics and digital fabrication, a strong believer that robotics can augment human craft and that human-robot collaboration is the future of the construction industry. Her work focuses on exploring design through integrating materials, local skills and cutting edge design and digital fabrication technologies - such as machine learning and robotics - in relation to context-specific environments.

Alicia, a research-based practising architect, is the Founder of The Circular Factory (CF) and MIToolbox two startups that focus on democratising the construction industry and futureproofing the trades though enabling equal access to digital machines and tools. With 15 years of experience, she has been engaged with the digitization of building trades and as adapted advanced digital design and robotic fabrication methods to incorporate traditional building cultures. Alicia’s work expands across several scales, from architectural pavilions and robotic installations to developing customized PPE masks for frontline personnel. She has build numerous pavilions and digital fabrication technology demonstrators in countries like Mexico, India, Canada, China and Brazil. Her projects include the construction of award-winning ‘Knit-Candela’ and diverse collaborations with practice and academic institutions. She holds a PhD from Cardiff University and a MArch from the AADRL.

As an academic and an entrepreneur, Alicia works as an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary SAPL where she also co-directs the Laboratory for Integrative Design. Alicia is also a visiting Professor at the Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania. Before joining SAPL, she worked as studio master at the Architectural Association AADRL. Alicia also worked developing digital tools for practices like Populous and Zaha Hadid Architects. Her work has been published in numerous conferences, journals and book chapters. Alicia has been invited to exhibit her work at high-profile international events such as the Venice Biennale. She has lectured internationally on related topics.