Postdoc in Resource driven design and fabrication practices

at  Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademis Skoler for Arkitektur Design og Konservering

The Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation invites applications for a fixed-term full-time position as a postdoc in the context of the EU EIC Project “RAW: Computation for A New Age of Resource Aware Architecture: Waste-Sourced and Fast-Growing Bio-Based Materials”, funded by the European Union as part of Horizon Europe’s EIC Pathfinder program. A particular focus in the position will be on Resource driven non-prescriptive design and fabrication practices with a focus on textile systems.
The vacant position is affiliated with the CITA (Centre for Information Technology and Architecture) research group at the Institute of Architecture and Technology at Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation. The position is a fixed-term appointment that will cease without further notice on 31 October 2027. We hope to fill the position by 1 February 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

PROJECT SUMMARY

RAW proposes a breakthrough resource model for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) fostering a steep change in the way we design and fabricate our built environment, overcoming the fundamental limits that the natural variability sets within bio-based material streams for the green transformation of the industry. With a central focus on the alternative materials of waste-sourced and fast-growing materials, RAW assembles world-leading researchers and entrepreneurs in material sourcing, non-destructive material characterisation, non-prescriptive computational design, and adaptive fabrication in a unique consortium to establish the foundation of a novel new resource model for AEC linking design, analysis and fabrication through a novel computational infrastructure and embracing the variability of resources, with the ambition to minimise waste, enable circularity, increase carbon storage in building and allow uptake of currently disregarded classes of bio-based materials and pave the way for novel aesthetic expressions and tectonics in architecture. The research takes place in an interdisciplinary and international consortium consisting of several collaboration partners.

QUALIFICATIONS

As a minimum, you hold a relevant master’s level degree and a PhD or PhD-level scientific qualifications.

We also expect you to demonstrate:

• Competence in conceptualisation and set-up of complex digital design to fabrication workflows
• Competence in relevant programming and scripting languages.
• Evidence of competence in design, simulation, optimisation and fabrication of textile systems on architectural scale, especially CNC knit. Experience with fibre winding would be beneficial,
• Experience with Machine Learning and related practices of data collection.

Emphasis will also be placed on the candidate’s ability to work in teams and collaborate with external partners from disciplines conventionally distant from architectural concerns.
As the Royal Danish Academy focuses on research and teaching collaborations both internally and externally with industry, public institutions and other institutions of higher education, it will be an advantage to have proven experience in developing, funding and implementing externally funded research projects as well as projects involving industry collaborations.
Documented experience in teaching at bachelor’s and master’s level will also count in an applicant’s favour, as will experience in curriculum planning and development. In particular, you should be able to demonstrate an interest in actively contributing to research-based teaching at the Institute in collaboration with the other teaching staff. In the overall assessment of the candidates for this position, particular importance will therefore be attached to a proven track record in innovative teaching.

• Research and/or artistic research in the focus area of the position, in collaboration with relevant external institutions, enterprises and networks nationally and internationally, as well as with the other R&D areas at the Institute and the Royal Danish Academy as a whole
• Visionary and productive teamwork when planning future R&D projects, including actively participating in applying for external funding and fund-raising for the Institute’s activities
• Teaching, curriculum planning and the associated administration related to the Royal Danish Academy’s programmes and interdisciplinary teaching.
• Participation in a number of Royal Danish Academy committees and, where appropriate, collegiate bodie