Isak Worre Foged

CV

About

I am a Professor at the Institute of Architecture and Space at The Royal Danish Academy, Center leader and founder of CEMAS - Center for Material Studies, currently building a new exciting research environment including architects, designers, and engineers with affiliated material and computational scientists and psychologists. The research group investigates across material and structural scales, focusing on material compositions through qualitative and quantitative methods.

Trained as an Architect (MAA) and Civil Engineer (IDA), I have held positions as Associate Professor in Environmental Tectonics at Aalborg University (2018-2020) and Assistant Professor at Aalborg University (2015-2018). I hold a PhD from Aalborg University (2015) with visiting scholar studies at Columbia University (2014), a M.Arch. from the School of Architecture, UIC, Barcelona (2009) and MSc.Eng.Arch. from Aalborg University (2008).  

Research

My research aims to understand natural and constructed relations between materials, environments and humans, with a particular focus on analysing and characterising fast-growing wood species for thermal and acoustic phenomena and performances. Through these investigations, I have made contributions through experimental studies with material composites, thermal-active material structures, algorithmic models and methods for analysing, characterizing and organizing complex fibrous materials, paired with theoretical studies in tectonics, and my theoretical concepts of environmental tectonics, acoustic tectonics and thermal tectonics. My experimental and applied research has led to patents in architecture and design based on novel material structures. The research draws theory, concepts and techniques from architecture, design, engineering, computer science and material science.

Teaching

My teaching is focused on experiment-driven projects, with a focus on material properties and emergent design, analysis and fabrication technologies, across Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD levels. Concretely, this includes lectures, seminars, studios and tutoring on material design, computational design, academic writing and review, design methods and architecture and design theory.

Industry

Research projects with industry partners are consistently in development, with the aim to accelerate the development and transfer of knowledge and concepts between practice and academia. These projects are supported by dissemination activities by dedicated seminars and conference formats that increase these relations. I am a frequently invited speaker to industry-oriented conferences and seminars, and an elected member of the Danish Association of Architects’ board on quality and qualifications that oversee the relations between graduates' competencies in relation to industry requirements.