Professors
Univ.-Prof. Arch. Dipl.-Ing. Karolin Schmidbaur
Professor
Karolin Schmidbaur is an internationally practicing architect, researcher and educator. She is a Partner at Coop Himmelb(l)au and Professor at the University of Innsbruck, institute of experimental architecture, building construction and technology.
Karolin Schmidbaur holds a degree from the Technical University of Munich where she graduated in 1992. In the same year she joined Coop Himmelb(l)au in Vienna, Austria, and since then has been operating from their offices in Los Angeles, California, which she led from 2003 to 2016, and Guadalajara, México, from 2000 to 2003. Since 2009 Karolin Schmidbaur is Partner at Coop Himmelb(l)au, Vienna, and Head of Research of the office.
International, realized projects under her lead are the Groninger Museum, East Pavilion, in Groningen, Netherlands (1994), one of the first buildings constructed directly from 3-dimensional digital data, the High School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Los Angeles, California (2008), a flagship project on the west coast of the United States for art in public education, and the Paneum near Linz, Austria (2017), the first free- form building in Austria to be constructed from cross laminated timber.
The focus of her research and practice lies in the development and translation of innovative architectural ideas into material, detail and construction. Here she investigates the reciprocity of analog and digital processes and the synthesis of opposites as a strategy for spatial, material and detail development.
Before joining the University of Innsbruck in 2017 she taught at the University of California (1997-98) and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (1998-2000, 2014), both in Los Angeles, as well as the Post Graduate Program of the University of Applied Art in Vienna (2010-2012).
Karolin Schmidbaur is an active member of the German (since 1995) and the Austrian Chamber of Architects (since 2018).
email: karolin.schmidbaur@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64614
Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Marjan Colletti, PhD
Professor
Dr. Marjan Colletti is an architect, designer, educator, researcher and author. He holds a degree from the University of Innsbruck and a PhD in architectural design from The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL (MArch Architecture). He is a p/t chair professor of Building Design & Construction as well as the founder of REX|LAB, the robotic experimentation laboratory at the University of Innsbruck. He is also a p/t full professor of Architecture & Postdigital Practice (first world-wide) and co-director of the MArch Architecture (ARB/RIBA Part 2) at The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL London. He was also a guest professor at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), UTA (University of Texas Arlington) and TU Vienna, and taught at the University of Westminster and the Royal College of Art in London. He co-founded MAM-arch and ran workshops in Taiwan, Norway, Denmark and France. Marjan has exhibited over 90 times in international venues, he publishes and lectures regularly on design-research and research-led education, and acts as scientific reviewer for several major funding bodies in the UK, Switzerland, Canada, Russia, Australia, UAE etc.
email: marjan.colletti@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64685
Administrative Staff
Scientific Staff
Arch. Dipl.-Ing. Heike Bablick
Senior Lecturer, IT representative
email: heike.bablick@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64650
Dipl.-Ing. Kilian Bauer
University Assistant, PhD student
email: kilian.bauer@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64616
Dipl.-Ing. Georg Grasser, MAS.
Senior Scientist
email: georg.grasser@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64623
Andreas Körner, PhD
University Assistant, Post-doc
Andreas’ research and design experiments explore the relationship between the built and the natural environment through layering, materials, and environmental simulations. Special interest is given to the impact of weather on surfaces and their textural articulations. The results are highly intricate interfaces that communicate invisible environmental parameters to humans in the built environment. Andreas is a PhD alumnus of the department; his dissertation can be found here.
Summary of teaching and research activities: https://www.exparch.at/tag/andreas-korner/
email: Andreas.Koerner@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64613
Arch. Dipl.-Ing. Markus Malin
University Assistant
email: Markus.K.Malin@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64630
Arch. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Peter Massin
Senior Scientist, Post-doc
Summary of teaching and research activities: https://www.exparch.at/peter-massin/
ORCID: 0000-0002-9664-0584
Peter Massins’ field of research deals with digital design processes and the theory of ornament. In 2021 he finished his doctorate, titled Zur Konstitution des Ornaments. The research investigates the historiography of the ornament and its recent implications in the digital and postdigital era. He is a member of the Chamber of Architects and part of the committee for professional education. With Marjan Colletti, he is the co-editor of various publications, Postdigital Neobaroque (2024), Research and Project Almanac (2013) and Meeting Nature Halfway (2018).
email: Peter.Massin@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64655
Arch. Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Mathoy
Senior Lecturer
email: Thomas.Mathoy@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64615
Mag. Christoph Opperer, PhD
University Assistant, PHD candidate
email: christoph.opperer@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64616
Daria Smakhtina, MArch
University Assistant
email: Daria.Smakhtina@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64613
Arch. Dipl.-Ing. Gilbert Sommer
Senior Scientist
email: Gilbert.Sommer@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64645
Dipl.-Ing. Catalina Tripolt
University Assistant
email: catalina.tripolt@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64616
Arqu. Dr. Gonzalo Vaíllo, MSc
University Assistant, Post-doc
Gonzalo Vaíllo is a registered architect in Spain, principal founder of the Vienna-based studio MORPHtopia, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Experimental Architecture (Studio Schmidbaur) at the University of Innsbruck. He has also been a visiting professor at Texas A&M University and has taught at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He holds a doctorate in architecture from the University of Innsbruck and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (international co-tutelle). His work intertwines practice, design research and theory, focusing on aesthetics, technology and philosophy for a design theory and methodology of the unknown potential of multi-agency objects as design material.
email: Gonzalo.Vaillo-Martinez@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64617
Lecturers
Dipl.-Ing. Simon Comploi, BSc.
External Lecturer
email:
phone:
Santosh Kumar Ketham, MSc, B.Arch, Dip.Arch
External Lecturer
Santosh Kumar Ketham is a practicing architect, educator, philanthropist and researcher at Innsbruck University, Exparch, Hochbau, Austria. He is the founder and director of School of Collectively Building in Austria, NGO Thinking Hand and Studio Ketham's Atelier Architects. His work and talks inspire and empower people while contributing to the reform of neglected communities. Currently, he serves as an external faculty member at Exparch, Innsbruck University, where he teaches timely and important topic Climate Responsive Architecture for Bachelor and Master Students. He has taught design, architecture, and urbanism at various international universities in India and Austria and has been honoured with numerous international awards and recognitions. Additionally, he has been invited as a lecturer, chair conference and critic at several renowned organisations and institution, including IITH, NIFTH, SPAV, JNAFAU, HITS, UIBK, UNIAK, Josh Talks and Amps. His work has been featured in prominent media outlets such as Deutsche Welle Documentary, 3Sat, ORF TV, ArchitectureLive, Shoutout DFW, The Hindu Newspaper, The Times of India and others. He is the editor of the book Speculative Designs: Rethink Mumbai Flooding (April 2025), Sustainable Six Designs (July 2025), Rethink Austria Flooding (August 2025) and further invited editor for the Socio-Cultural Theory Journal (SIP), published by UCL Press and AMPS (Sep 2025). In 2023 he was nominated as someone who has the potential to be a candidate for a Loeb Fellowship, Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD).
Teaching: Climate Responsive Architecture
Websites:
SOCB: http://www.schoolofcollectivelybuilding.com
Studio: http://www.kethamsatelier.com
NGO: www.thinkinghandngo.com
email: kethamsatelier@gmail.com
phone: +43 66565271076
Arch. Dipl. Ing. Michaela Mair
External Lecturer
www.michaelamair.com
email: michaela.mair@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 650 9289698
Arch. Dipl.-Ing. Christiane Marmsoler
External Lecturer
email: Christiane.Marmsoler@uibk.ac.at
phone:
Arch. Dipl. Ing. Frank Stasi
External Lecturer
Frank Stasi is an external lecturer who provides hands-on supervision for students during Bachelor thesis
Project: sophia builds - new places for new learning, summer semester 2021.
email: frank.stasi@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 670 1989841
Dipl.-Ing. Theresa Uitz, BSc., BA.
External Lecturer, PHD candidate
Dipl.-Ing. Theresa Uitz, BSc BA cand PhD is an Austrian researcher and designer, currently holding a doctoral position at the hosting Department. Her combined degrees in architecture and art history push her research interests into several interdisciplinary fields, currently investigating architectural surfaces and their role as artistic canvases for representation. She engages with historical and contemporary concepts of virtuality and cyberspace by integrating point cloud data visualisation. She was awarded the Creative Innovation Award Future Cities-Future Architectures of Tongji University in Shanghai for the concept: What if the building is the nature? and two fundings by the host University (Early Stage Funding, Förderkreis 1669). Most recently, her work was discussed at the DFK (Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, Max Weber Stiftung) in Paris.
email: Theresa.Uitz@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64622
Student Tutors
Christopher Walch, BSc.
Student Tutor, Assistant at REX|LAB
email: christopher.walch@uibk.ac.at
phone:
Former Staff
Dipl.-Ing. Theresa Uitz, BSc., BA.
External Lecturer, PHD candidate
Dipl.-Ing. Theresa Uitz, BSc BA cand PhD is an Austrian researcher and designer, currently holding a doctoral position at the hosting Department. Her combined degrees in architecture and art history push her research interests into several interdisciplinary fields, currently investigating architectural surfaces and their role as artistic canvases for representation. She engages with historical and contemporary concepts of virtuality and cyberspace by integrating point cloud data visualisation. She was awarded the Creative Innovation Award Future Cities-Future Architectures of Tongji University in Shanghai for the concept: What if the building is the nature? and two fundings by the host University (Early Stage Funding, Förderkreis 1669). Most recently, her work was discussed at the DFK (Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, Max Weber Stiftung) in Paris.
email: Theresa.Uitz@uibk.ac.at
phone: +43 512 507 64622
Christian Bührer
Student Tutor
email:
phone:
Julian Edelmann
Student Tutor, Assistant at REX|LAB
email:
phone:
Jasmin Zangerle
Student Tutor Project
email:
phone:
