Ana Gatóo is Senior Lecturer in Regenerative Design at the Manchester School of Architecture and a Research Lead at the Centre for Natural Material Innovation (CNMI). Her research develops affordable, low-carbon and adaptable housing and community spaces from bio-based and earth-based materials, combining them with digital fabrication and participatory design. Ana has received funding from UKRI, including the AHRC, EPSRC and Innovate UK. She leads a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with PLP Architecture on timber-based affordable housing and is a partner at Light Earth Designs.
She has a PhD in Architecture from the University of Cambridge, where her thesis on digital timber for flexible housing received the Cambridge Society for the Application of Research Award. She also has an MSc in Architecture from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia, and a BEng in Architectural Engineering from the Universidad de Alcalá, Spain.
She builds her research at full scale through prototypes exhibited at venues such as the London Design Biennale, where Ephemeral: natural flexible living won the 2023 Public Choice Award, and has worked on post-disaster reconstruction and development in several countries. She led the construction of the award-winning Rwanda Cricket Stadium with Light Earth Designs.
At MSA she leads Architectural Integration (Environment and Technologies) for second-year BA students, having previously taught at the University of Westminster and the University of Cambridge. She has been invited to speak around the world, including at the World Urban Forum in Cairo and ReBuilt in Bali, among many other venues.
Teaching
Ana welcomes PhD applications on regenerative design with communities, covering affordable housing and shared spaces, participatory and collaborative approaches, bio-based materials and digital fabrication.