Feature

Building the Future

College of Architecture Associate Dean incorporates digital design in teaching, research at Texas Tech.

Maria R. Perbellini.
Maria Perbellini was named a 2016 Integrated Scholar by the Office of the Provost. Integrated Scholars are faculty who dedicate themselves to a course of lifelong learning and advance Texas Tech's role in educating, serving and inspiring others to do the same.

A robotic arm and a thermoforming vacuum, 3-D printers, and laser-cutting machines may sound like equipment most likely found in an engineering lab, but a Texas Tech professor has spent the last eight years proving they are just as valuable in an architect’s hands.

Maria Perbellini, associate dean for graduate programs in the College of Architecture, came to Texas Tech with a vision to incorporate digital design and fabrication into the curriculum of the college.

Shortly after starting as an associate professor in 2008, Perbellini co-founded the Digital Design and Fabrication (DDF) program with fellow College of Architecture professor and director Christian Pongratz.

I actually negotiated this program when I arrived at Texas Tech, Perbellini said. I was hoping it would significantly impact the curriculum and the future of our college.

Since its official inception in 2011, the DDF program has played an important role in the college, not only expanding curriculum options, but also allowing students to develop skills that can influence their careers. Faculty research is also significantly impacted.

Perbellini said the program, a specialization of the Master of Science of Architecture, now boasts a 100 percent placement rate, with students receiving job offers even before graduation.

Digital design and fabrication is a subject Perbellini knows well: she is an expert in computational design and material-based processes, with a particular interest in digital technology and fabrication. Her work focuses on advances in digital technology that promote novel design abilities and sensitivities.

Maria Perbellini holding a 3-dimensional model as she instructs graduate students in the College of Architecture.
Perbellini and her students study ways different material properties and performances combine with digital technologies to produce a unique product.

Perbellini said she is dedicated to developing both academic and professional paths that embrace technology and lead to new knowledge, unconventional results and sustainable design solutions.

The path the DDF program is currently on, Perbellini said, is a rewarding one. The program has lead to collaborations across campus between both faculty and students, and with national and international universities, increasing the college’s visibility and reputation.

Positioned at the intersection of architecture, engineering and computational fields, Perbellini said, the DDF program offers a sustainable interdisciplinary outreach to other departments.

Working across disciplines is just one more benefit of the program.

It is preparing students for leading practices that are responding to significant questions that are not just about architecture, but are actually integrated to environmental issues, to social issues, to economic issues that are important to our life and important to the spaces where we live, Perbellini said.

Perbellini brings a multicultural perspective to her work as well. Born in Italy, she is a licensed architect and member of the Order of Italian Architects and an associate member of the American Institute of Architects. She has also worked in New York City and taught in South Korea and Italy. Every summer, she leads a study abroad intense studio in Italy.

When she’s not teaching, fulfilling the duties of an associate dean or conducting research, Perbellini is using her expertise as a principal in the firm Pongratz Perbellini Architects, which practices in Verona and Lubbock.

However, she said she doesn’t differentiate between facets of her career. Instead, she integrates each component into the other, which is advice she gives to anyone trying to balance multiple duties.

Find your passion, develop your interest and be serious about what you do, Perbellini said. Bring your research in your classroom; contaminate your pedagogy with creative ideas that can foster entrepreneurial scholar opportunities.

Perbellini said she finds her own inspiration from looking into the future, which is what she considers her students.

I like to call my students my future, she said. I find inspiration when I can instill in them a curiosity for the future. When I can activate in them a discovery without limit, endless and without boundaries.

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