Rate My Professor Despina Linaraki

Dr. Despina Linaraki serves as a Lecturer in Architecture, Design & Technology within the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Griffith University. Her academic qualifications include a PhD in Architecture from Griffith University completed in 2024, a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University in 2015, and a Master in Architectural Engineering awarded with high honours from the Technical University of Crete in 2013. As a registered architect in Greece since 2014, she established her own architecture office and gained professional experience at Purcell Architects from 2015 to 2017, focusing on educational and commercial projects, and at Hill West Architects thereafter, contributing to concept design, massing, façade design, and material selection for high-rise condominiums and rental towers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Currently, she maintains her architecture studio in Greece handling small and medium-scale projects while advancing her academic career at Griffith.

Linaraki's research centers on climate change adaptation strategies through innovative architectural design, with a focus on growing living islands, bio-enhancing surfaces for coral settlement, and integrating architecture with ecology and coastal engineering to combat sea-level rise, erosion, and overpopulation in vulnerable coastal and island environments. Affiliated with the SeaCities lab at Griffith's Cities Research Institute, her PhD research developed an architectural toolbox for coral island growth using aquatic organisms like corals, algae, molluscs, and foraminifera, applied to case studies in the Maldives. She has authored key publications such as "Design and Fabrication of Bio-Enhancing Surfaces for Coral Settlement" (2025), "Integrating Architectural, Geomorphic, and Benthic Elements to Define Parameters for Positioning Artificial Islands on Coral Reef Environments" (2025), "SeaCities: Aquatic Urbanism" (2023), "Cities+1m: Urban Development Solutions for Sea Level Rise" (2022), and "The Design Concept of Living Islands" (2021). Earlier works include "Architectural Design of a Research Space Station in the Venusian Clouds" (2013). Her contributions extend to collaborations like the Lo-TEK publication on underwater nature-based technologies and the establishment of the Living Islands research lab. At Griffith, she convenes courses such as 1902ENG Design Studio 2 and promotes sustainable, ecological design and climate adaptation strategies in teaching.