Maya Przybylski

O'Donovan Director

Associate Professor

Maya Przybylski is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto where she was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute Medal for her thesis work. She previously earned a degree with a specialization in Software Engineering at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto. Through her teaching, research and design work Maya is exploring the complex intersection of architectural design, data and computation. She is developing methods for achieving a more complete engagement, including sociocultural agency as well as technical capacity, with the computational components embedded within data-driven design work. Maya is the director of the DATALab research group at the School of Architecture.

Awards & Distinctions

2020 Outstanding Performance Award
Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo

2018 Teaching Excellence Award
Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo

2015 Outstanding Performance Award
Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo

2014 Distinguished Performance Award
Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo

2012 Faculty Design Award
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
with N. Bhatia, L. Sheppard and M. White
Next North: Architecture in Shifting Terrain

2009 Pamphlet Architecture
Princeton Architectural Press
with N. Bhatia, L. Sheppard and M. White
Coupling: Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism

Publications

M. Przybylski, "Recoupling Soft and Hard: Engaging Data as an Immaterial Practice" in Architecture and the Smart City. eds Sergio M. Figueiredo, Sukanya Krishnamurthy, Torsten Schroeder. Routledge, 2020. pp. 197-209

M.Przybylski, C. Parkin. "New Material Anatomies" in On Site review 36: architecture’s material future. 2020. pp 12-15

M. Przybylski, "Soft Materials: Confronting the Socio-Cultural Effects of SoftwareEmbedded-Design in Shaping an Inclusive Built Environment" in Critical Practices in Architecture: The Unexamined. eds Jonathan Bean, Susannah Dickinson and Aletheia Ida. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2020. pp 275-296.

M. Przybylski, C. Parkin, "MATERIAL RECALIBRATION: Exposing the complex interplay between physical materials, computational elements and real-world outcomes in Software-Embedded Design" in RESPONSIVE CITIES: DISRUPTING THROUGH CIRCULAR DESIGN SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS 2019. ed Areti Markoupoulou. Institut d’Arquitectura Avançada de Catalunya (IAAC) 2019. pp 156-169.

M. Przybylski, “Critical Computation: A Call for the Development of Socially-Aware, Ethically-Minded Computational Literacy within ACADIA” in ACADIA // 2018: Recalibration. On imprecisionand infidelity. [Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) ISBN 978-0-692-17729-7] Mexico City, Mexico 18-20 October, 2018, pp. 30-35

M.Przybylski, “A Framework to Establish Data Quality for Software Embedded Design” in Learning, Adapting and Prototyping, Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) 2018, eds T. Fukada, W. Huang, P. Janssen, K. Crolla, S. Alhadidi. (The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong): 2-267 276

M.Przybylski, “Soft Materials: Assessing Architects’ Roles as Ethical Producers of Digital Technology.” in
The Ethical Imperative: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of
Architecture (ACSA), eds. A. Ameri, R. O’Neal Dagg (Washington DC: ACSA Press). 2018.

C. O’Grady, S. Shahi, M. Przybylski, “Field Guide” as a Catalyst for Student-Initiated Design-Build Research” in
Working Out: Thinking While Building, Proceedings of the 2014 Fall Conference of the Association of Collegiate
Schools of Architecture (ACSA), eds. Ted Cavanagh, Ursula Hartig & Sergio Palleroni (Washington DC: ACSA
Press). 2014

M. Przybylski, “Bootstrapping a Computational Discourse” in Digital Aptitudes: Proceedings of the 100th
Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), eds. M. Goulthorpe, A. Murphy
(Washington DC: ACSA Press). 2012

M. Przybylski, D. Malka, “From Metaphor to Model: Expanding Ecologically-Informed Design” in Open Cities: The
New Post-Industrial Order: Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference of the Association of Collegiate
Schools of Architecture (ACSA), eds. A. Kimm, J. Choi (Washington DC: ACSA Press): 2014