​​​​Zohreh Shaghaghian  

Welcome to my Page!


My name is Zohreh. I am Ph.D. candidate in Architecture majoring in Computational design and High-Performance Building at the University of Texas A&M.

I have a bachelor's in architectural engineering and I received my master's in architecture and building engineering at Polytechnic of Milan University, Italy. I am currently perusing my Ph.D. in architecture at the University of Texas A&M. I am the ex-director of BimSim lab, Building Information Modeling and Simulation lab at Texas A&M University.

During my PhD program, I have focused on emerging technologies and their applications in architectural design and education. In this field, my studies cover two areas of research, including:

1) Innovative techniques in the area of energy efficiency for sustainable building design, specifically the application of state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques in building energy performance.

2) Innovative technologies for architectural education, specifically the application of Augmented Reality (AR) in spatial-based problems in architecture.
 

I have worked on multiple computational design projects including generative design, building simulations, Machine Learning (ML) techniques in buildings performance prediction, and application development, specifically Augmented Reality (AR). I am passionate about leveraging data-driven approaches to design high-performance sustainable buildings that could benefit residents and the environment. In a couple of projects, I implemented a parametric modeling platform, specifically Grasshopper, in generating synthetic data that could be used as a training dataset for predictive models. In one of the projects, we used that technique for a Deep Learning model which could generate a facade design sample based on a required daylight performance; and in another project, we used similar techniques for an ML-based model that was capable of predicting a building’s energy performance based on its outline and other performance-based parameters. 

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I have developed an educational Augmented Reality application for architectural and engineering students to learn the mathematical reasoning behind spatial transformations. This application is developed in two levels (primary and advanced)  and has been deployed in AR and non-AR versions.

I have conducted a user study on 60 undergraduate students with statistical analysis and evaluated the learning gain of the application in qualitative and quantitative analysis.