SoftMatters

is an inaugural lecture of the ArTeC 2020 international chair  by Prof. Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen, architect and head of the Centre for IT & Architecture (CITA) at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen co-organised on the 16th of November 2020 by Ensadlab, Ecole des Arts Déco and by EUR ArTeC.

This inaugural lecture discuss a bio based material paradigm for architecture. Bio-based materials are fundamentally different to current building materials being characterised by their complex heterogeneity, unpredictable behaviours and limited lifespans. The lecture introduces a framework for thinking bio based materials in architecture, their tradition and future digital practice. By presenting examples from the CITA research group, Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen  exemplifies this framework and unfold future research perspectives. The conference is hold in English and online due to the covid-19 context and will be followed by a time of exchange and questions. It is further extended by the « 3D crafting bioluminescence » workshop organised at Ecole des Arts Déco in the spring 2021.

Speaker bio

• Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen examines the intersections between architecture and new computational design processes. During the last 15 years her focus has been on the profound changes that digital technologies instigate in the way architecture is thought, designed and built. In 2005 she founded the Centre for IT and Architecture research group (CITA) at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Design and Conservation where she has piloted a special research focus on the new digital-material relations that digital technologies bring forth. Investigating advanced computer modelling, digital fabrication and material specification CITA has been central in the forming of an international research field examining the changes to material practice in architecture. This has been led by a series of research investigations developing concepts and technologies as well as strategic projects such as the international Marie Curie ITN network Innochain that fosters interdisciplinary sharing and dissemination of expertise and supports new collaborations in the fields of architecture, engineering and fabrication and the Sapere Aude Advanced Grant Complex Modelling examining new modelling paradigms in computational design.

Moderation

• Aurélie Mosse
• Yves Citton

Funding

• EUR ArTec via the ArTeC international chair 2020