Speakers
Andrew Vrana, AIA
METALAB is a design office that integrates expertise in digital media and fabrication with architecture, from concepts through construction. Our work spans a variety of scales from civic art to buildings to product design, concentrating on the innovative use of materials and new ways that construction can be made more efficient and accurate through technology. As researchers and facilitators working in the sprawling landscape of industry, production, and can-do attitude that is uniquely Houston, we are finding new ways to advance, and meet, our client's goals.
Andrew Vrana is an Architect who has structured his practice toward design augmented by advanced computation and 3D computer modeling as well as knowledge of materials and building culture. He has worked in the office of Renzo Piano Building Workshop and now is applying his interests and experiences professionally with METALAB and in academia as a Visiting Assistant Professor and Research Assistant Professor at the University of Houston College of Architecture. With Joe he teaches Digital Fabrication seminars and develops Green Building Components with industrial partners. Andrew seeks to merge the formal and organizational possibilities of contemporary design with a localized sensibility toward craft and quality in architecture.