Postdoc in Resource driven design and fabrication practices

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.

Centre for Information Technology and Architecture

CITA is an innovative research environment that explores the intersections emerging between architecture and digital technologies. By exploring central research questions of how space and technology affect one another, CITA aims to identify how the current emergence of a digital practice impacts architectural thinking and design. CITA places special focus on the use of IT as a tool for the design, production and communication of architecture with particular attention placed on material performance. CITA employs a practice-based research method focussing on design-led physical experimentation and full-scale prototyping. The physical experiments act as material research inquiries by which the concepts and technologies of the investigations are tested and evaluated. The centre has an international profile, extensive experience of running funded research projects and has initiated numerous international collaborations, exhibitions, conference presentations and workshop exchanges. CITA consists of 20 researchers working across a broad spectre of research projects in advanced computational modelling, robotic fabrication, responsive systems, sensing and bio-design. Read more about CITA and Institute of Architecture and Technology here: https://royaldanishacademy.com/en/CITA / https://royaldanishacademy.com/en/group/4.

The position

The postdoc position will consist of research and/or artistic research in addition to a certain amount of research-based teaching within the context of RAW and a small amount of administrative work.

Your duties will include:

• 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 bodies

In addition, you will be expected to participate in interdisciplinary teaching and research collaborations with the Royal Danish Academy’s other institutes and staff, including contributing to the content and development of interdisciplinary joint teaching at the Royal Danish Academy, as well as other tasks as required.

Your research is linked to the aim of the RAW project to overcome current limitations in design and fabrication with bio-based materials and focuses on the development of a new class of Resource driven non-prescriptive design and fabrication practices with a focus on textile systems.

The aim is to develop novel understandings and methods in design and fabrication with bio-based and waste sourced materials in architecture, especially regarding their inherent variability and availability. This position seeks to explore and exemplify these within textile systems – especially CNC knit. Material specific design and material probes and prototypes from this and other material strands of the RAW project are compared to investigate and formulate a novel common computational resource driven design and data framework. This is implemented, tested and disseminated within the RAW project.

As such the position will operate on three levels:

1. Future Design and Data-practices

Within the position and in collaboration with other partners in RAW a design framework for designing biomaterial-based building elements with specific performance and properties that consider the variability and availability of biomaterials through the utilisation of material data will be defined. This task includes the definition and prototypical implementation of a data model able to interface characterisation, design and fabrication of bio-based materials.

2. Material and design focus: CNC knit with bio-based fibres

The position finds it focus in design and CNC-knit with bio-based fibres. On material level a collaboration with material scientist will explore the variability of hemp fibre based materials in different steps of processing. On design level it is foreseen to develop CNC knit specific material and design systems, that can react, adapt and exploit the variability and properties of bio-based fibres. Such an adaptive system would e.g. be able to evaluate the effect of fibre variability within simulation and deploy adaptation strategies to adjust the target geometry and fabrication data according to material properties sensed or verified in the CNC knitting machine.

3. Lead and collaboration on consortium level

The position includes moments of coordination and leadership, e.g. for the coordination of prototyping and demonstrator in the consortium, or the development of joint evaluation methods and future resource scenarios with other partners in RAW. Some tasks take place in collaboration with the partners from the 8 partner projects, which have been - like RAW - selected by the EIC to work on the AEC challenge. This includes the development of a common understanding within the portfolio members of the existing and developing regulatory environment or to collaborate on common scenarios and strategies for commercialization and exploitation.

The teaching will take primarily place within the RAW collaboration. Herein material and digital solutions emerging from research will be tested and further developed towards future industrial and societal perspectives in science fiction prototyping workshops. The resulting science fiction prototypes will be translated into futures-scenarios and tested and further developed in Master level Design Studios.

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.

What we offer

We offer a creative, dedicated, stimulating and visionary educational and research environment. The successful candidate will enjoy contributory influence, responsibility and an opportunity to shape the Royal Danish Academy’s research and teaching. We value good collegial relationships conducive to mutual inspiration and discourse.

Salary and terms of employment

The terms of pay and employment will be in accordance with the agreement in force between the Danish Ministry of Finance and a number of organisations under the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) for academic staff in public service. A qualification allowance will be negotiable, depending on your skills and experience.

The position will also be filled in accordance with the applicable job structure for artistic and scientific staff at the Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation; Aarhus School of Architecture and Design School Kolding – Executive Order No. 1190 of 21 August 2023.

This is a full-time position with an average of 37 working hours per week and includes research and teaching duties, as well as a limited amount of administrative work. The distribution of your duties may differ as deemed necessary by the Royal Danish Academy, and you may be required to undertake other job-related duties.

The position is a fixed-term appointment that will cease without further notice on 31 October 2027. Any secondary occupation is acceptable provided it is compatible with the duties of a postdoc.

Application

Please submit a letter of motivation, an up-to-date CV, academic diplomas and certificates, documentation of your qualifications as listed above, a description of your research plans and a list of your published works, preferably including copies of works you wish to highlight (maximum five works). Finally, you should attach material that attests to your teaching qualifications in a teaching portfolio. Any assessment(s) of previous postdoc positions held should also be enclosed.

You should submit your application with attachments online via the “Apply for position” button, to reach the Royal Danish Academy no later than 11 August 2024.

Attachments that cannot be submitted online with the application should be sent by post in triplicate to Philip de Langes Allé 10, 1435 Copenhagen K Att. Ellen Kruse Jacobsen and must be received by the Royal Danish Academy before the application. Applications and application documents received after the application deadline will not be considered.

Please note that the position is being advertised and will be filled in accordance with the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science’s “Executive Order of 12 April 2019 on the employment of artistic and scientific staff at the higher artistic educational institutions within the remit of the Ministry of Higher Education and Science”.

After the application deadline, in consultation with the appointments committee, the head of the institute will select applicants for assessment. Applicants will be selected according to an overall assessment of which applicants best meet the criteria set out in this call for applications based on the application documents submitted. In your application, including attachments, please therefore provide evidence that you meet the qualification requirements described in the call for applications. All applicants will then be informed as to whether or not their application will proceed to the next stage of the selection procedure, and those selected will be informed of the composition of the committee. An expert assessment committee will then assess the selected applicants for the given position. Each applicant will be sent their assessment, with an option to submit comments.

Further information

Information regarding qualification requirements, the application process and the e-recruitment system can be obtained on request from HR Employee Ellen Kruse Jacobsen, e-mail [email protected], tel. +45 4170 1539.

Details about the academic content of the position can be obtained on request from Associate Professor Martin Tamke, e-mail address [email protected], tel. +45 41701731.

General information about the Royal Danish Academy and the Institute of Architecture and Technology can be found at www.royaldanishacademy.com.

The Royal Danish Academy is an inclusive workplace that considers diversity a strength. We therefore encourage all qualified and interested applicants to apply for the position.

About the Royal Danish Academy

The Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design and Conservation is an internationally recognised academy that educates professionally creative graduates to the highest level and develops new knowledge that creates value for society and the labour market. The Royal Danish Academy is a public institution under the Ministry of Higher Education and Science and has approximately 1,700 students and 350 full-time staff equivalents. Read more about the Royal Danish Academy on our website www.royaldanishacademy.com.