Pia Fricker holds the Professorship for Computational Methodology in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, linking between the area of large-scale landscape architecture design and urban design. In 2017 she founded and directs the Digital Landscape Architecture Laboratory, which is a teaching and research hub fostering the experimental integration of emerging computational methods and workflows. The hub is actively collaborating with other Departments at Aalto University, as well as with professional partners on a national and international level. Current research projects: Data-driven Design in the Realm of Mixed Reality, Experience Research in Spatial Immersive Data Interaction in VR (collaboration with neuroscience), Data Simulation as Design Tool.
She is a member of the editorial board of the JoDLA (Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture), the Scientific Program Committee of the DLA conference, the Peer Review Committees of ACADIA (Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture) and eCAADe (Education and research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe), as well as expert peer reviewer for the International Journal of Architectural Computing, Landscape and Urban Planning Journal and the Journal of Architecture and Urbanism.
In her teaching, Fricker encourages students enthusiasm for computational experimentation in the design of projects that are sensitive to the qualities of a singular place as well as part of the broader context–be it urban or rural. In 2018 she was awarded at the Digital Landscape Architecture Conference for best contribution to computational education with her journal contribution: The Real Virtual or the Real Real - Entering Mixed Reality.
Previously (since 2007), she was Director of Graduate Studies in Landscape Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich. She studied architecture with a focus on its intertwining with landscape and urban design at the University of Karlsruhe, University of Tampere and University of Helsinki. She received a DAAD scholarship for her postgraduate studies at the ETH Zurich, where she received postgraduate degrees in Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) and in Didactics and Pedagogy.
