Dr Lidia Badarnah

• Qualifications:Ph.D., B.Arch.(Hons.), FHEA
• Position:Senior Lecturer in Architecture
• Department:FET - Architecture and the Built Environment
• Telephone:+4411732 83177
• Email:Lidia.Badarnah@uwe.ac.uk
• Social media:

About me

Education:

Ph.D. in Architecture, Delft University of Technology (2012)
Bachelor in Architecture (cum laude), Technion (2005)

Dr Lidia Badarnah is a designer, educator, and researcher in architecture working at the intersection of environment, buildings and their services, and natural systems. She joined the University of West of England (UWE) Bristol in September 2018. She received her PhD in Architecture from TU-Delft and carried out her postdoctoral studies at the Building Technology Lab at MIT, and worked at the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University and at the Emergent Technologies & Design Programme (EmTech) at the Architectural Association in London before joining UWE Bristol. She received competitive fellowships and awards, and has been invited to give talks and organise workshops internationally.

Lidia is a core member at the Centre of Architecture and the Built Environment (CABER). Her work contributes to an emerging area that seeks to redefine environmental design in architecture through mimicking natural systems (i.e. biomimetics), changing approaches from conventional separated building systems to adaptive and integrated solutions and methods for enhanced sustainability and resilience in architecture. Throughout her academic career, she has developed a significant experience in teaching and research at the intersection of domains.

Lidia's approach is systematic and multi-disciplinary to solving design problems, tackling global societal and environmental challenges in novel ways. Her work aligns with UWE Beacons ‘creative industries and technologies’ and ‘sustainability and climate change resilience’ and establishes an ambitious and innovative research strand for UWE in biomimetics. 

Current PhD students:

• Sara Jalali, 'Adaptive Design Strategies for Integrated Solar Envelopes', expected year of graduation 2025, UWE. Supervision team: Dr. Lidia Badarnah (DoS, first supervisor) and Dr. Eleonora Nicoletti (second supervisor)
  
• Hope Ameh, 'AMPHI-BIO-TECTURE: sustainable solutions inspired by nature for flood mitigation', expected year of graduation 2024, UWE. Supervision team: Prof. Jessica Lamond (DoS, first supervisor) and Dr. Lidia Badarnah (second supervisor)
  
• Francesco Sommese, 'Biomimetic Adaptive Building Envelopes', expected year of graduation 2024, University of Naples Federico II, Italy. Supervision team: Prof. Gigliola Ausiello (principal supervisor) and Dr. Lidia Badarnah (external supervisor)
  

PhD supervision and funding opportunities are available - please send your CV and research interest to Lidia's E-mail.

Area of expertise

Biomimetics; design research; environmental adaptation; responsive building envelopes.

Research

Lidia has contributed to several projects and secured external and internal funding. Currently she is providing advice to and collaborating with bioSEA on a Biomimicry Toolkit and a design project.

(2022-2024) GLOW: Energy Nested Bio System Flows - From the home to the hub (£586k), EPSRC Digital Economy Sustainable Digital Society (EP/V041770/1). Lidia leads the ambitious biomimetic work package (WP2), which provides a paradigm-shift in energy management. The novel energy management logic inspired by the collective behaviour of animals is a bottom-up logic that informs a new optimisation computational algorithm to manage energy behaviours in homes. PI: S. Oliveira (Strathclyde University); Co-I's: L. Badarnah, M. Barakat, A, Chatzimichali (UWE), and E. Atkins (Bristol University). 

(2020-2022) Design innovation inspired by lizards: a novel approach for harvesting water in buildings (£14,750), VC's Early Career Development Award 2020/21. PI: L. Badarnah from UWE, In collaboration with T. Jorgensen from CFPR, UWE and P. Campbell from Natural History Museum (NHM) London.

(2014-2016) Biomimetic thermal insulation, funded by the MIT-Technion Postdoctoral Fellowship ($63k) and the Postdoctoral Fellowship for Outstanding Minorities ($40k). PI: L. Badarnah; hosted by J. Fernandez, former Director of Building Technology Lab at MIT.

GoogleScholar and ResearchGate

Teaching

Lidia has gained experience from working with leading educators at universities worldwide. Following her passion and commitment to teaching and learning, she received in 2014 the Kaufman Teaching Certificate from MIT, and became in 2020 a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), UK.

Since joining UWE, she has taught across several undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programmes (Architecture and Environmental Engineering, BSc Architecture, Architecture and Planning, MArch, MSc Computational Architecture) in 12 modules, including Design Research [UBLMK-30-M], Crafting Systems [UBLLX1-15-M], Design and Engineering Studio 3 [UBLMRE-45-3], Studio B [UBLM6X-60-M], Research and Design Strategies [UBLMNV-15-2], Design studio 3 [UBLMG-45-3]; supervised UG and PhD dissertations, and been an academic personal tutor for numerous students.

Lidia's approach in teaching is research-led, problem-based and hands-on, exploring environmentally responsive solutions in different climates, triggering interesting investigations, stimulating innovation, and resulting in enjoyable student experiences. She has developed intriguing design briefs for several modules, bringing her expertise in environmental adaptation and biomimetics, that embed ecological, technological, and social interactions.

Publications

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