Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen

Research areas

RESEARCH AREA

My research centres on the changing relationship between architecture, technology and material practice. It investigates how computational design, modelling and digital fabrication change the ways materials are understood, designed and made, and how these transformations reshape architectural practice.

A central concern is the relationship between computation and material behaviour. My work on digital material practice examines how computational methods enable architects to engage material properties, variability and performance directly within design and fabrication.

My current research extends these questions into bio based and ecological design. It investigates the heterogeneous, dynamic and environmentally responsive properties of biological materials and how computational methods can engage these through fabrication, maintenance, repair and adaptation. This positions architecture within larger material and ecological systems and examines buildings as processes of continued transformation and renewal.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Computational design and modelling; digital fabrication; digital material practice; bio based materials; material heterogeneity and behaviour; environmentally responsive materials; ecological design; continual construction; maintenance, repair and adaptation.

Teaching experience

TEACHING

My teaching integrates research, design and technology, with a particular focus on computational methods, material experimentation and sustainability in architectural education. At the Royal Danish Academy, I founded and led CITA Studio, a research based Master's programme in Computation in Architecture connecting architectural education with computation, digital fabrication and material practice.

Doctoral education is central to my teaching. I have supervised more than twenty PhD projects and developed interdisciplinary doctoral training through programmes including the InnoChain doctoral network and Sustainable Futures. My teaching creates shared learning environments connecting individual research with collective experimentation, interdisciplinary exchange and different methodological approaches.