Santiago R. Perez

Santiago R Perez

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
EMAIL
PHONE
850-599-3244
OFFICE
Architecture - Qip

Office Hours

Walter Smith Architecture Bldg Room #317

MWF •  9:00 a.m -12:00 p.m

About Me

Santiago Pérez is an Associate Professor at the Florida A&M University (FAMU) School of Architecture + Engineering Technology (SAET). His teaching and research are focused on the convergence of Architecture, Material Innovation and Robotic Fabrication, with over twenty-five years of teaching experience in North America, and Australia. Prior to joining FAMU in 2023, Pérez coordinated new robotic + digital fabrication electives, graduate and undergraduate design studios, and “structures & natural systems” courses at the University of Western Australia, Perth, over the span of five-years.

Pérez has directed the development of multiple site-specific, large-scale “Design-Fab” and “Robo-Fab” installations and exhibitions as a primary component of his teaching and research, in collaboration with Universities, Art Museums and Public Agencies in the United States, Spain and Australia. These include a visitor pavilion for the Bachman Wilson House by Frank Lloyd Wright, at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the RoboFAB Bike Trail Pavilion, both in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and installations sponsored by the Buffalo Bayou Partnership and Lawndale Art Center in Houston, Texas.

His creative practice extends to directing learning-by-making workshops with students in Alicante Spain, Oahu, Hawaii, and Perth, Australia. His teaching and scholarly research considers the impact of design, making and the emergence of AI within a Post-Digital, Post-Extractive environmental and social context.

As an advocate of material experimentation with new technologies, Santiago has a broad record of publications, book chapters and conference proceedings, focused on the intersection of Design, Materiality and Making, as the major themes of scholarly research. His research has been presented internationally in symposia including Barcelona (ACSA), the US (ACADIA, ACSA, NCBDS) and Australia (TEDx UWA and SAHANZ)

Pérez received a Master of Architecture with Distinction from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and was a student of Japanese Architect Tadao Ando. He was awarded a Post-Graduate Research Fellowship, as a Researcher in Residence in the offices of Tadao Ando in Osaka, and AMORPHE Architects in Tokyo, headed by Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama. These experiences served as a critical foundation, early in his training, for subsequent development of teaching and research, combining a passion for form, material and space.

Areas of Interest

  • Architectural Design-Robotics, Digital Fabrication & Design-Fab
  • Architectural Design + Material Innovation
  • Architecture + Ecological Innovation
  • AI + Design Computation
  • Japanese Architecture + Urbanism

Education

 
  • Master of Architecture, with Distinction, 1991
    Harvard University Graduate School of Design
  • Bachelor of Architecture, 1989

    Boston Architectural College

Work History

  • Associate Professor 2023-Present
    Florida A&M University SAET
  • Senior Lecturer 2018-2023
    University of Western Australia School of Design (Perth, AU)
  • Visiting Lecturer 2016-2017
    University of Nebraska College of Architecture (Lincoln, NE)
  • Assistant Professor / 21st Century Endowed Chair in Integrated Practice 2010-2016
    University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture (Fayetteville, AR)
  • Visiting Assistant Professor (Summer Intensive Program) 2009
    University of Hawaii School of Architecture (Oahu, HI)
  • Assistant Professor 2006-2010
    University of Houston College of Architecture (Houston, TX)
  • Assistant Professor 2003-2006
    University of South Florida School of Architecture & Community Design (Tampa, FL)
  • Visiting Lecturer  2002-2003
    University of Arizona College of Architecture, Planning & Landscape Architecture (Tucson, AZ)
  • Part-Time Instructor + Thesis Advisor 1995-2000
    Boston Architectural College (Boston, MA) 

Academic Accomplishments

(Partial List)

  • Co-Director: Community of Practice: Developing Technological Leaders. Funded initiative ($20,000 au) University of Western Australia, with co-director Thomas Braunl, UWA Engineering & Automation. 2019-2023. 

  • Invited Exhibition & Panelist: Transmedial: Expanding Technologies in Contemporary Printmaking. Robotic Printmaking, PS Artspace, Fremantle, Australia 2021.

  • Invited Speaker: TEDx UWASalon Art+ Perth Australia. Loss of Control in the Post-Digital Age. University of Western Australia, 2019.

  • Invited Exhibition: MAKING DRAWING[s] Robotic Drawing Machines + Algorithmic Drawing. Big Omaha Technology Conference: Omaha, Nebraska + UNL Lincoln NE, 2017.

  • Invited Workshop: Elastic Boundaries Fabrication Workshop, University of Alicante, Spain. Sponsored by Dr. Javier Sánchez Merina, Universidad De Alicante, 2016.

  • Invited Public Lecture: Rethinking Wright: Adapting Usonian Principles in 21st Century Architecture. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art + University of Arkansas, 2014.

  • Invited Exhibition + Lecture: FABCRAFT: Crafting the Future with Digital Fabrication. Exhibition of digital fabrication work at the  Sugar Gallery in Bentonville, Arkansas. Invited lecture at the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture, 2012.

  • Interdisciplinary Course Development Award: Computational Craft: The Algorithmic Development of Form $25,000 usd. University of Arkansas Honors College, 2011.

  • Advanced Digital Fabrication Lab: Awarded in conjunction with 21st Century Endowed Chair Appoinment ($164,000 usd). University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture, 2010.

research

  • Funded Research: Endowed Chair Sponsored Research Award. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art: Design-Fab Visitor Pavilion for the Bachman Wilson House (by Frank Lloyd Wright). University of Arkansas, 2014. US $150,000.

  • Funded Research: Advanced Prototyping and Fabrication. Primary Investigator: Santiago Perez, Co-Investigator with Elizabeth Bollinger. University of Houston FDIP: Faculty Development Grant 2008. US $25,000.

  • Postgraduate Research Fellowship: Competitive Award by the Harvard Graduate School of Design & Tamaki Foundation, for a 1-Year Research Fellowship in Japan, hosted by Tadao Ando Architects in Osaka, and Amorphe Architects in Tokyo, Japan, 1991-92.  US $40,000.

Publication

 

  • Pérez, S. (2025). Tacit Learning + Robotics: Rethinking Material Agency in Design. NCBDS40 Proceedings of the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student. Editors: Tania Allen, Patricia Morgado & Sara Queen, North Carolina State University College of Design. (Publication being compiled for release in August, 2025). (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2021). Encoding Material Culture. SAHANZ Peer-Reviewed Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand: Vol. 37, What If? What Next? Speculations on History’s Futures. Editors. Kate Hislop and Hannah Lewi. (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2021). The Space Between. Exhibition Catalog Essay. Transmedial: Expanding Technologies in Contemporary Printmaking. PS Artspace, Fremantle, Australia. Editors: Monika Lukowska and Sarah Robinson. ISBN 978-0-646-81421-6.

  • Pérez, S. (2017).  Loss of Control: Error, Glitch and Imperfection in Architecture. Peer-reviewed book chapter published in Lineament: Material Geometry and the Physical Figure in Architectural Production. Edited by Gail Borden and Michael Meredith, Routledge.

  • Pérez, S. (2013). Para-Bodies: Rethinking Material Intuition in the Age of Parametric Design. Book Chapter in Unconventional Computing: Design Methods for Adaptive Architecture. Editors: Rachel Armstrong & Simone Ferracina, Riverside Architectural Press / ABC Art Books Canada, First Edition. (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2012). Post-Parametric Design Intelligence. Proceedings of the ACSA International Conference, Barcelona. Editors: Xavier Costa, Martha Thorne. (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2012). Rethinking Post-Vanguard Conceptual Practices. Proceedings of the ACSA International Conference, Barcelona. Editors: Xavier Costa, Martha Thorne. (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2011). Towards an Ecology of Making. Peer-reviewed book chapter in Matter: Material Processes in Architectural Production. Editors: Gail Borden and Michael Meredith, Routledge Press, Taylor & Francis Books.

  • Pérez, S. (2010). Cardboard: Structural & Material Innovation. Invited Co-Author: Outside the Box: Cardboard Design Now. Editor: Duncan McCorquodale, Black Dog Publishing, London 2010.

  • Pérez, S. (2010). M. I. Material Intelligence. Creating Making Forum Proceedings, University of Oklahoma College of Architecture. Editor: Angela M. Person. (Peer-Reviewed). URI: https://hdl.handle.net/11244/322084

  •  Pérez, S. (2009). (re)cycling MAKING. Critical Conversation Session: On Fingerprints in the Act of Making. ACSA Proceedings: The Value of Design. Session Moderator: Peter D. Waldman. Proceedings Editors: Pheobe Crissman & Mark Gillem. (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2009). EFAB: Environmental Fabrication Studio. 97th ACSA Annual Meeting, Portland Oregon (Poster Session).

  • Pérez, S. (2008). Crafting Complexity: Material / Procedure / Form. Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association For Computer Aided Design In Architecture (ACADIA) Editors: Andrew Kudless, Neri Oxman, Marc Swackhamer. (Peer-Reviewed).  ISSN: 978-0-9789463-4-0

  • Pérez, S. (2008). Towards a New Tactility: Embodied Material Consciousness & MAKING. Material Matters: Making Architecture; Proceedings of the 2008 ACSA West Fall Conference, University of Southern California. Editors: Gail Peter Borden & Michael Meredith. (Peer-Reviewed). ISBN: 9780935502664

  • Pérez, S. (2008). EFAB- Environmental Fabrication: Towards a Confluence of Craft & Computing in Prefabricated Component Design. Proceedings of the 2008 ACSA Northeast Fall Conference, Without a Hitch- New Directions in Prefabricated Architecture. Editors: Peggi Clouston, Ray Kinoshita Mann, and Stephen Schreiber. (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2008). Order For Free: Process / Procedure / Form. Proceedings of the 2008 ACSA West Central Fall Conference, Architecture in the Age of Digital Reproduction, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Editor: Erik M. Hemingway. (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2006). Polyform: Biomimetic Surfaces. Synthetic Landscapes; Proceedings of the 2006 Annual Conference of the Association For Computer Aided Design In Architecture (ACADIA), 471-482. Editors: Gregory Luhan, Phillip Anzanole, Mark Cabrinha, Cory Clarke. ISBN: 0-9789463-0-8

    (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2005). A-Ware: Autonomy, Emergence and the Uncanny. Summer Institute for Architecture Journal 2005. Catholic University of America School of Architecture & Planning. (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2004). The Synthetic Sublime: Notes on Physical / Digital Space & Form. Proceedings of the ACADIA / AIA Conference, Toronto, Canada 2004; Fabrication: Examining the Digital Practice of Architecture (Jointly hosted by University of Waterloo & University of Toronto) 162-175. Editors: Philip Beesley, Nancy Yen-Wen Cheng & R. Shane Williamson. ISBN: 0-9696665-2-7 (Peer-Reviewed).

  • Pérez, S. (2004). Synthetic Terrain: Digital Fabrication & The Emergent Landscape. Changing Territories, New Cartographies: ACSA Northeast Regional Conference, Syracuse University. (Peer-Reviewed).

Courses Taught At FAMU

  • ARC 5352 Advanced Architectural Design 5.1
  • ARC 6357 Graduate Design 6.1
  • ARC 3324 Architectural Design 5
  • ARC 3325 Architectural Design 6
  • ARC 4341 Architectural Design 7
  • ARC 4342 Architectural Design 8
  • ARC 2501 Architectural Structures 1
  • ARC 4291 Special Studies in Architecture 1 Elective: Material Ecologies + Making
  • ARC 4291 Special Studies in Architecture 1 Elective: PostDigital Making: From Digital Fabrication to Design Robotics
  • ARC 4293 Special Studies in Architecture III Elective: Design Robotics + Crafting  

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