Heather Ligler is Assistant Professor and Foundations Coordinator of the School of Architecture at Florida Atlantic University.

Heather’s research, teaching, and creative practice are focused on applications of computational and formal methods in architecture. Her expertise is in shape grammars, a procedural system used to define visual algorithms in the context of aesthetics, criticism, and design. Uniquely, shape grammars are defined graphically so that algorithms are represented geometrically rather than symbolically programmed, which allows for the development of accessible, ambiguous rulesets that animate the complex and changing nature of design processes. Her current scholarship explores how shape computation empowers the rewriting and animation of design narratives to formalize design logic, theorize the present past, and catalyze future practice.

She is the author of several peer-reviewed publications, including articles in Automation in Construction, the International Journal of Architectural Computing, Environment and Planning B, and the Nexus Network Journal. She has been invited to present her work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California Berkeley, Emory University, National Chiao Tung University, and National Taiwan Institute of Technology. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the General Services Administration, the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing, the Penn State Materials Research Institute, the President’s Fellowship at Georgia Tech, and the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences Fellowship. 

Heather’s academic background includes teaching and research in the Architecture Department at Penn State, where she was core faculty of the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing; teaching at Georgia Tech, where she was a studio critic in the School of Architecture and lecturer in the Architectonics in Greece + Italy Program; and research at the Shape Computation Lab, where she contributed to the development of the Shape Machine software and the CourtsWeb visual database. Heather’s professional experience is likewise foundational to her work. A registered architect in the states of Georgia and Florida, she has built projects domestically and internationally.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Heather completed her architectural studies in Georgia and Alabama. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Design Computation from the School of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology and her dual Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Interior Architecture degrees from Auburn University.