Silvio Carta

Professor Silvio Carta SFHEA – ARB – RIBA –MCABE C.Build E

Professor of Architecture

Dr Silvio Carta is an architect (ARB/RIBA), Chartered Building Engineer (MCABE) and Professor of Architecture at the University of Greenwich.

His research includes Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning design methods applied to the built environment, urban data science, data-driven approaches and computational design. He is currently the Section Editor of Computational Sustainability and Design, City and Built Environment (Springer/Nature), and a member of the technical committee: Data Sensing & Analysis (DSA) of the European Council on Computing in Construction (EC3).

Prior to joining Greenwich, Silvio led the department of Architecture and Design at the University of Hertfordshire (2013-2023), where he played a substantial role in the foundation and development of Architecture in the University, including undergraduate and postgraduate, as well as research programmes.

Silvio is a member of AHRA: Architectural Humanities Research Association, ACADIA: Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, as well as Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). Silvio is an Accreditation Visitor for the ARB and currently Visiting Fellow in the Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford.

He is the author of Big Data, Code and the Discrete City. Shaping Public Realms (Routledge 2019), Machine Learning and the City: Applications in Architecture and Urban Design (Wiley 2022), and Accidental Collectives: How Computers Create Social Structures (Palgrave MacMillan/Springer Nature 2024).

Architecture

Awards
  • Vice Chancellor Award 2023 Nomination. Researcher of the Year. University of Hertfordshire (UH)
  • Vice Chancellor Award 2021 Nomination. Best manager and Best Colleague University of Hertfordshire (UH)
  • Vice Chancellor Award 2020 Manager of the year. Highly commended, UH
  • STAG Award nomination 2019 (Student’ Union): Best teacher, UH
  • Vice Chancellor Award 2019 Nomination. Best manager, UH
  • Vice Chancellor Award 2017 Shortlisted. Best tutor, UH
  • Vice Chancellor Award 2016. Nomination. Best colleague, UH
  • Landscape Project Award in Sardinia. Jury mention, Cagliari, Italy 2011
  • Landscape Project Award in Sardinia. 1st Prize, Cagliari, Italy 2010
  • Europan 2010. Selected Project. NL 2010
  • Urban spaces along the new canal, Competition, 2nd prize. Italy, 2010
  • Award for Young Italian Critics – PresS/Tletter, 1st prize Rome 2009
  • Award for Young Italian Critics – PresS/Tletter, 2nd prize. Rome 2007
  • Award Architecture and Accessibility. Italian Parliament. 1st Prize. Rome, 2006

Recognition

MCABE – Chartered Member of Chartered Association of Building Engineers
ARB – Registered Architect. Architects Registration Board
RIBA – Chartered Architect. Royal institute of British Architects
SCOSA – Standing Conference of Schools of Architecture
EC3 – European Council on Computing in Construction
AHRA – Architectural Humanities Research Association
ACADIA – Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture
SFHEA – Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy
FRSA – Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (until August 2023)

Research / Scholarly interests

My research brings together people, places, and technology. My field of expertise is Architecture and Computational Design: the use of computational methods applied to design and architecture. My research includes Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning design methods applied to the built environment, urban data science, data-driven approaches, net zero and computational design. In particular, my work revolves around three main strands:

  • Urban and Building Carbon data
  • AI and health
  • Advanced Design methods, ethics and bias in computation

My contribution to this field is summarised in my work on discrete cities (Routledge 2019), Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (Wiley 2022), data science for design (Palgrave McMillan 2023) and algorithmic approaches for architecture and cities (Harvard Data Science Review 2021, ACM/Ubiquity 2020).

  • 2023. Unlocking Community Resources for Sustainable Living (U-CREST). AHRC Design Accelerator scheme (IAAOCT27-002).
  • 2021-22 PI. EU KEEP+ IMPROVE: Optimising Housing Configuration Platform. Proj. no. 672.
  • 2021-22 PI. AHRC/ KTN Sustainability Visualised - Net-Zero at a District Council Level. AH/W008270/1.
  • 2022 PI. Private funding City Net Zero Tool CINT.
  • 2020-21 PI. SOLID - Seating optimisation Layout and Intelligent Distribution. Funded through Innovate UK project PARAS IUK86576 (CharcoalBlue).
  • 2020-21 CO-I. MiniCoDe: Minimise algorithmic bias in Collaborative Decision Making with Design Fiction. EPSRC Digital Economy Network Plus on Digital Technology and Social Justice (NE2.001).

Recent publications

2023 Turchi, T., Carta, S., Ambrosini, L. and Malizia, A., 2023. Human-AI Co-creation: Evaluating the Impact of Large-Scale Text-to-Image Generative Models on the Creative Process. In International Symposium on End User Development (pp. 35-51). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
2023 Owen, I., Carta, S. & Willcock, I. 2023. Diffusion Models and Architectural Education. Initial considerations and Speculations. Association of Architectural Educators Conference 2023 (in press).
2023 Carta, S., Turchi, T., Pintacuda, L. & Jankovic, L., 2023. RECOMM. Measuring Resilient Communities: an analytical and predictive tool. International Journal of Architectural Computing (in press)
2022 Carta, S. Machine Learning and the City Reader. Wiley (2022)
2022 Carta, S., Turchi, T. & Pintacuda, L., Measuring Resilient Communities: An analytical and predictive tool. 2022, CAADRIA 2022 Proceedings. 27th International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / Sydney, Australia.
2022 Carta, S., Turchi, T., Spencer, N. & Vidal Calvet, M., Encoding social values of local communities in algorithmic-driven design methods. Formal methods in architecture - Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on formal methods in Architecture (6FMA). Springer
2021 Carta, S. et al., Resilient Communities: A Novel Workflow. Frontiers in Built Environment. Frontiers
2021 Carta, S. Self-Organising Floor Plan. Harvard Data Science Review (HDSR)
2020 Carta, S. Machine learning and computational design. ACM Ubiquity
2020 Carta, S. et al. “Genetic Algorithms and Self-organising plans in care homes”. Sustainability. SI: "Self-Organised Simulation for Sustainable Building Design".
2020 Carta S., de Kock Pieter. “Trojans of ambiguity vs resilient regeneration: visual meaning in cities”. Construction Economics and Building. UTS ePress.
2019 Carta, S. Big Data, Code and the Discrete City: Shaping Public Realms (1ed). Routledge 2019
2019 Carta, S. Special Edition: Urban data assemblage. ENQ: The Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) Journal for Architectural Research. VOLUME 17 ISSUE 1
2019 Carta, S, et al. Standing out in a crowd: Big Data to produce new forms of publicness. Smartness? Between discourse and practice. 'Critiques' (Critical Studies in Architectural Humanities) series. Routledge, 2019.
2018 Carta S. “Digital Personal Space: From the Plaza to the Global Canopy”. Journal of Urban Cultural Studies.
2018 Carta, S., et al. "Study trip as means of expanded learning." Information, Communication & Society 21.9 (2018)
2017 Carta, S. “Architectural Generosity: A Preliminary Attempt at a Qualitative Definition”. Space and Culture. Sage.
2016 Carta, S. “Interdisciplinarity, a New Generation of Architects, and Mediocritas”. ENQ – Enquiry  
2013 Carta, S., Gonzalez, M. Mapping Connectedness of Global Cities: α, β and γ tiers, GaWC Visualization link
2012 Carta, S. (ed.) CEBRA From Drawing to Design to Drawing, AADCU Program, Hust Press, Beijing.
2011 Carta, S. (ed.) Maurice Nio, Urban Presences, AADCU Program, Hust Press, Beijing