Fabio D’Agnano
Fabio D’Agnano joined the Centre for Print Research in October 2019 as an Associate Professor as part of our Expanding Excellence in England investment from Research England. He is an architect with specialisms in the fields of 3D design and digital manufacturing.
The main strands of his research are artificial intelligence and robotics in fine art, and using haptic approaches to augmented 3D printed tactile surfaces to enable visually audiences gain improved access to cultural artefacts.
He taught for more than twenty years (2009-2021) at the Iuav Architecture University of Venice, focusing on 3D modeling, 3D printing and electronic prototyping. In 2011, he founded the postgraduate master’s course in Digital Architecture, which has been fully subscribed each year since its inception. This course prepares students for the architecture profession, with its graduates going on to work in companies and on projects at the forefront of 3D design all over the world.
In addition to his experience in design and 3D modeling, he also has experience in design, electronic prototyping, 3D printing, coding and digital craftsmanship – both as a practitioner and lecturer. Fabio is particularly interested in new teaching methods and serves as a consultant to the Italian Ministry of Education in the field of digital manufacturing in higher education, using the Design Thinking method.
In addition to his academic career Fabio directed an architectural practice (Glass Architettura Urbanistica), leading teams of up to ten people delivering large-scale projects and winning international competitions.
He founded the company Tooteko, a spinoff based in Italy that focuses on making art accessible for the visually impaired through digital models. This company has received the Seal of Excellence and several grants from the European Community. He also secured funding for and managed several EU-funded projects, including UNESCO4ALL TOUR which aimed to create an innovative, thematic, transnational tourism product based on the UNESCO World Heritage sites.
He also founded the International Immersive Architecture Conference in 2017, both in Venice and Singapore (four editions). He is author of the handbook “3d Max per l’Architettura” (Apogeo Editore, Milano, 2006) that has sold more than 10,000 copies. Fabio has significant industrial and academic experience as a researcher, practitioner and teacher. His wide-ranging background transcends disciplines and has equipped him with both specific expertise and a broad, knowledgeable perspective on multi-disciplinary approaches to innovation, which are essential qualities to provide reviews of proposals for academic research and postgraduate education in the contemporary world.
Fabio is a DigitALL Mentor of the EU DigiTOUR, Programme of the European Union which aims to shape the next-generation of EU tourism SMEs in the digital realm. He is a member of the Member of the ARB Architects Registration Board, the technical committee for education, lifelong learning Association of Architects PPC of the province of Milan and has previously served as a member of the Scientific Committee, Innovation and Craft SocietyIfis Bank and ‘Triennale di Milano’.
Qualifications
2022 Smart Manufacturing: Moving From Static to Dynamic Manufacturing Operations-MIT Professional Education
2016 Master Trainer in Mobile Educational Computing. MIT, Boston
2004 MA (hons) Architecture, Iuav Architecture University, Venice
Teaching
Fabio is teaching on the Design Research Module for the MArch Architecture at UWE.
