About me
Dr Alberto Urrutia-Moldes is a Chilean-born Construction Manager, Industrial Civil Engineer, and academic whose work bridges design theory, construction practice, and social justice. He holds a PhD in Architecture from the University of Sheffield, where his research focused on how prison design can actively support health and well-being. With over twenty years of professional and academic experience spanning Latin America and the UK, he has led projects in the rehabilitation of prison infrastructure, the management of construction programmes, and the development of policy-informed design frameworks for secure environments.
Now a Lecturer in Applied Management at the University of Westminster, Dr Urrutia-Moldes combines rigorous academic insight with real-world project experience, offering students and researchers a distinctive bridge between design innovation, construction management, and human-centred environmental research. He is the author of Health and Well-Being in Prison Design: A Theory of Prison Systems and a Framework for Evolution (Routledge, 2022), a seminal contribution positioning architecture as a tool for behavioural rehabilitation and public health within correctional contexts.
Across his career, he has collaborated with governments, non-governmental organisations, and international agencies on the reform and modernisation of correctional facilities, including projects in Chile, Honduras, and Bolivia. His interdisciplinary background allows him to supervise research that connects spatial design, building performance, and social outcomes in complex institutional settings.
Teaching
Dr Urrutia-Moldes teaches across the disciplines of Construction Management, Quantity Surveying, and Building Surveying, leading modules on tendering, project planning, procurement, and construction site management. As Course Leader for the Construction Site Supervisor Apprenticeship, he promotes a strong connection between theory and professional practice, ensuring learners acquire both managerial competence and reflective understanding of their site experience.
His pedagogical approach is grounded in active learning and situational learning, where real-life construction scenarios, case-based discussions, and applied problem-solving exercises form the core of student engagement. He encourages students to learn by doing — to analyse, plan, and make decisions as professionals would on-site. This approach develops not only technical proficiency but also critical thinking, teamwork, and ethical awareness.
He has supervised Master’s theses on the MSc in Construction Management, particularly around themes of post-occupancy evaluation, building performance feedback, and the circular economy in construction. These topics reflect his interest in connecting management practices with sustainability and user-centred evaluation of buildings. His teaching philosophy values inclusivity, curiosity, and a shared sense of responsibility for the built environment, preparing graduates to become adaptive, reflective professionals who can lead the construction industry toward more sustainable futures.
Research
Dr Urrutia-Moldes’s research explores the relationship between the built environment, human well-being, and management efficiency in complex building settings. His work sits at the intersection of construction management, architecture, and environmental psychology, focusing on how the design and operation of buildings influence the physical, psychological, and behavioural outcomes of their users.
He is particularly interested in how architectural and environmental factors — such as natural and artificial light, access to nature, sound control, colour schemes and visual patterns, layout configuration, access to privacy, and degrees of normality and security — can be designed and managed to promote healthier, safer, and more supportive environments. These elements are studied not only as aesthetic or functional features but as measurable variables that can enhance user well-being, improve safety, and simplify the management of complex facilities such as prisons, hospitals, and large institutional buildings.
His doctoral and subsequent research have led to a conceptual framework linking design quality, operational management, and human-centred outcomes, arguing that well-designed environments can reduce conflict, support rehabilitation, and improve performance. This integrative perspective bridges the gap between construction management and architectural design, positioning the built environment as an active contributor to organisational effectiveness and user health.
Building on his interdisciplinary background, Dr Urrutia-Moldes also examines how post-occupancy evaluation and circular economy principles can improve long-term building performance and inform more sustainable construction practices. His research seeks to connect evidence-based design with practical management strategies, ensuring that insights from design and environmental studies translate into better decision-making at project and operational levels.
He welcomes postgraduate and doctoral researchers interested in:
- The impact of environmental and architectural factors (light, sound, colour, layout, and access to nature) on well-being and behaviour;
- How design and management approaches can enhance safety and operational efficiency in complex facilities;
- Post-occupancy evaluation and feedback processes for continuous improvement in construction;
- Embedding circular economy and sustainability principles within construction management;
- Developing evidence-based frameworks that link construction processes, spatial design, and human experience.
Dr Urrutia-Moldes’s research philosophy is rooted in the belief that the built environment should actively support both human flourishing and organisational functionality — enabling buildings that are not only efficient and sustainable, but also humane, restorative, and well-managed.
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.