I am a Professor of Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA), where I am leading the new research by design studio Non Standard Habitats. I am a registered architect in Spain since 2003, and in Portugal since 2023. I was trained as an architect at Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (2003), hold an MDesS in Design and Technology from Harvard University Graduate School of Design (2008) and conducted my PhD studies in Madrid and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2008-12).

Prior to joining the MSA, I was a Reader in Architecture at the Liverpool School of Architecture (2010-24), where I held different academic roles, including Research Lead/REF Co-ordinator (2022-24) and MArch Programme Director (2019-2022). I led design studios and lecture-based courses on research methods and environmental design at both undergraduate and post-graduate level, and I also supervised numerous postgraduate dissertations. I founded the Experimental Material Ecologies Research Group (EMERG), and within it created two laboratories: ECALab (Environmental Ceramics for Architecture Laboratory) in 2011, and HouseLab  in 2020.

My research lies at the interface between sustainable architectural design and material technology with an emphasis on the impact of innovative environments on building occupants (comfort, perception and wellbeing). My work is guided by two interconnected approaches. As a historian and theorist, I am interested in documenting and analysing the invention and implementation of historic pioneering sustainable materials and technologies for architecture. My publications on Le Corbusier’s Mur Neutralisant, and my book Sustainable Retrofits (Routledge 2018) follow this direction. I am currently continuing research on materials, energy and heritage to develop a new book, Glass and Light (Lund Humphries), focused on the evolution of the glass façade in its relationship with daylight control technology, from mid 19th century to present-day. The idea is to present a new reading of how glass as an architectural material played a key role in the definition and advancement of design, but also evidence how modernist architects, developed progressive thinking in this direction through design, prototypes and built examples, that have influenced our contemporary practice.

As the founding director of the ECAlab and HouseLab, my research developed a new methodology to optimise the integration of ecological performance in the design process by bridging various fields, from advanced digital prototyping, environmental simulation and building tectonics to craft, psychophysics and inclusive design. Within ECAlab I investigated energy efficient, low resource intensive architectural surfaces producing 85 innovative designs and 46 building prototypes. ECAlab has collaborated with the Spanish cluster of ceramic manufacturers for 10 years, as well as with local industrial partners, such as Granby Workshop and a network of international professional practices of architects and ceramicists. This work has been showcased in three major events in collaboration with Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA, 2017-18), TATE (2018) and The Building Centre (2019-20). The film Moulding Futures illustrates the works, methodologies and concepts of ECAlab and was nominated for best film in the category “Reshaping the Economy” of the 2018 tve Global Sustainability Film Awards at BAFTA, London. With the creation of HouseLab, I wanted to expand my research scope to engage in the production of buildings and policy by developing neglected areas of inclusive, human-centred design. A recent consultancy project on the design of a sensory pavilion for neurodiverse children for Elm Tree School (Lancashire) and my new project Designing for Neurodiversity works in this direction.

Through ECAlab and HouseLab, I am interested in the creation of platforms to enable opportunities for innovation by connecting professionals, industry and research, but also to improve communication between areas by developing tools that support architectural education. My book Elements of Sustainable Architecture (Routledge 2019) and the online database D-LITE (Database of Light-Interacting Technologies for Envelopes) were developed as tools to better integrate sustainable thinking in buildings from an architect standpoint.

www.house-lab.org
www.ecalab.org
www.d-lite.org

PhD Supervision

Current PhD students

  • Tongyao Lin. Adaptive Therapeutic Environment for People with ASD Based on a Neurofeedback Cyber-Physical Architectural System (2023-2026)
  • Juan Rivera Soriano. The Sustainable Modernity (2021-2025) Funded by Minciencias, Colombian Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation
  • Khawlah Tarim. Defining a Sustainable Biophilic Design Framework in a Hot and Dry Climate (Desert Environment) (2021-2025) Funded by King AbdulAziz University
  • Mehmet Arif Aktoğ. Energy Optimisation during AEC Conceptual Design (2019-2024) Funded by the Turkish Ministry of National Education
  • Chitraj Bissoonauth. Toolmaking in Parametric Façade Design (2019-2024)

Completed PhD Projects and Post-doctoral Mentorships

  • Dr Lewis Jones. Recycled Ceramics: Innovations in the Production of Sustainable Architectural Surfaces (2024) Funded by Low Carbon Eco Innovatory Programme- European Regional Development Funds
  • Dr Deyan Quan. A Parametric Form Language for Fibre Reinforced Concrete Prefabricated Façade Elements Using 3D Printed Formwork (2024)
  • Dr Bekir Tekkin. A New Framework for Biophilic Design Based on Post-Occupancy Evaluations in Therapeutic Facilities (2023) Funded by the Turkish Ministry of National Education
  • Dr Tavs Jorgensen. Smart Tooling for Ceramic Profile Extrusion: New Approaches to Industrially Focused Interdisciplinary Practice Based Research (funded by AHRC, 2019-2021)
  • Dr Ali Al-Graiti. Evaluating the environmental performance of nanomaterials in architecture (2021) Funded by the Iraqi Education Department.
  • (MPhil)  Sureepan Supansomboon. Classroom Façade Design for Daylighting in a Tropical Hot-Humid Climate (2019)
  • Dr Mai Khalfan. Assessment of the Passivhaus Standard for a Hot Climate: a case study of Qatar (2016)

I welcome inquiries from prospective students who wish to pursue a PhD in Sustainable Architecture and Environmental Design, particularly projects relating to:

  • History and Theory of Materials in Architecture
  • Experimental Design and Advanced Materials and Technologies
  • Building Envelopes
  • Specialist Environments for Health and Wellbeing

Research

Exhibitions

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Szabo, E., Wanner, A., 2022. Interface Surfaces, in Common Space, National Salon of Applied Arts and Design, Mucsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest, Hungary, 10/4/2022 - 4/9/2022.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Szabo, E., Wanner, A., Coutinho, E., Costabile, I., 2019. Interface Surfaces, in Hand Held to Super Scale: Building with Ceramics, The Building Centre, London, 20/9/2019 - 31/1/2020.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Wanner, A., Szabo, E., Coutinho, E., Costabile, I., 2018. PlatFORM, TATE Liverpool, 2018 - 2018.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Wanner, A., 2017. Cerámica, RIBA North, 17/10/2017 - 10/2/2018.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2012. Illuminating Through Ceramics, Liverpool School of Archtiecture, 15/9/2012 - 15/2/2013.

Books

Urbano Gutierrez, R., de la Plaza Hidalgo, L., 2019. 'Elements of Sustainable Architecture', Routledge.

Agkathidis, A., Gutiérrez, R.U., 2018. 'Sustainable Retrofits Post War Residential Towers in Britain', Routledge.

Gutierrez, R.U., 2013. 'Iluminating Through Ceramics'.

Book Chapters

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Agkathidis, A., 2015. 'The Aesthetics of Energy Efficient Retrofit: Post-war social residential towers in Britain'. In RIBA Education Yearbook 2014, RIBA.

Media

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Koeck, M., 2019. 'Ceramic Narratives in Architectural Practice, Research and Education'.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Wanner, A., Koeck, M., Coutinho, E., Costabile, I., Szabo, E., 2018. 'PlatFORM'.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Wanner, A., Koeck, M., 2017. 'Moulding Futures. 2011-2017.'.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Wanner, A., Koeck, M., 2017. 'Moulding Futures. Collaborative Explorations in Ceramics for Architecture'.

Internet Publications

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Andersen, M., 2009. 'D-LITE -Database of Light Interacting Technologies for Architectural Envelopes', http://d-lite.org/.

Journal Articles

Tekin, B.H., Corcoran, R., Gutiérrez, R.U., 2023. 'A Systematic Review and Conceptual Framework of Biophilic Design Parameters in Clinical Environments', HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 16 (1), pp. 233-250.

Jones, L., Urbano Gutiérrez, R., 2023. 'Circular ceramics: Mapping UK mineral waste', Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 190, pp. 106830-106830.

Tekin, B.H., Urbano Gutiérrez, R., 2023. 'Human-centred health-care environments: a new framework for biophilic design', Frontiers in Medical Technology, 5.

Tekin, B.H., Corcoran, R., Gutiérrez, R.U., 2023. 'The impact of biophilic design in Maggie's Centres: A meta-synthesis analysis', Frontiers of Architectural Research, 12 (1), pp. 188-207.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2020. 'Material Landscapes', Area, 172.

Urbano Gutiérrez, R., Du, J., Ferreira, N., Ferrero, A., Sharples, S., 2019. 'Daylight control and performance in office buildings using a novel ceramic louvre system', Building and Environment, 151, pp. 54-74.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2017. 'From Bulbs to Bacteria. The Challenges of Artificial Lighting', Arquitectura Viva, 197.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2016. 'Glass and Light: the Dialectics of Mediation', Arquitectura Viva, 188.

Agkathidis, A., Urbano Gutiérrez, R., 2016. 'Incorporating Digital Tools with Ceramic Crafting: Design and Fabrication of Light Diffusing Screen Shells', Journal of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures, 57 (3), pp. 209-217.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Wanner, A., 2016. 'Innovations in the Production of Ceramic Luminous Environments: where Craftsman Meets Computer', Informes de la Construccion.

Gutiérrez, R.U., 2016. 'The naturalisation of architecture', Architectural Research Quarterly, 20 (3), pp. 257-270.

Gutiérrez, R.U., 2013. '<i>Le pan de verre scientifique</i>: Le Corbusier and the Saint-Gobain glass laboratory experiments (1931-32)', Architectural Research Quarterly, 17 (1), pp. 63-72.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2012. ''Pierre, revoir tout le système fenêtres': Le Corbusier and the Invention of the Mur Neutralisant (1928-1935)', International Journal of the Construction History Society, 27.

Conference Papers

Rivera Soriano, J., Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2024. 'Lessons of Passive Environmental Design in the Sarabhai and Shodan Houses by Le Corbusier', International Conference on History of Architecture, Barcelona.

Aktog, M., Urbano Gutierrez, R., Mohammadpourkarbasi, H., 2023. 'Evaluation of Sustainable Design Strategies in Architectural Practice from 1970 to the Present', S.ARCH (Sustainable Architecture). 10th International Conference on Architecture and Built Environment, Berlin.

Tekin, B., Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2022. 'Healing Architecture: A Review of the Impact of Biophilic Design on Users', Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Santiago de Chile.

Tekin, B., Corcoran, R., Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2021. 'A New Reading of Therapeutic Environments: Biophilic Elements in Maggie's Centres', S.ARCH (Sustainable Architecture). 8th International Conference on Architecture and Built Environment, Rome.

Al-Graiti, A., Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2020. 'Optimising performance and ecological profile of the Zero Carbon House', Passive and Low Energy Architecture Conference, A Coruña, Spain.

Al-Graiti, A., Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2018. 'Investigations on the application of nanomaterials to improve the environmental performance of buildings', Passive and Low Energy Architecture Conference, Hong Kong.

Triantafyllidou, E., Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2017. 'Low Carbon Daylighting Design: Proposal of an Innovative Daylighting Ceramic Facade System', Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Edinburgh.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Wanner, A., 2015. 'Advanced Environmental Ceramic Skins', Energy Forum - Advanced Building Skins, Bern, Switzerland.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Ferreira, N., 2014. 'Performative ceramic louvre screens for increasing daylight usage and thermal control in buildings', Energy Forum - Advanced Building Skins, Bresanone, Italy.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Andersen, M., 2009. 'Sustainability Through Light: A Contemporary Approach to Articulate Design and Technology', 11th European Lighting Conference: Lux Europa, Istanbul, Turkey.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., Andersen, M., 2008. 'A New Perspective for Searching and Selecting Light Control Technologies as a Designer', Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Dublin, Ireland.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2005. 'Towards a Photoconductive Envelope', 1st Conference on Construction Research (IETcc - CSIC), Madrid, Spain.

Urbano Gutierrez, R., 2004. 'Glass + Light', Foro ARCA II Arquitectura y Calidad de Vida. Edificación y Sostenibilidad: un Compromiso Posible, Madrid, Spain.