Integrative Technologies & Architectural Design Research (ITECH)

The Integrative Technologies & Architectural Design Research MSc programme is a multidisciplinary, research-oriented, experiment-based programme shaped around contemporary aspects of the built environment and practice. The goal of the ITECH programme is to prepare a new generation of students from different disciplines for the continuing advancement of technological and computational processes in development of the built environment through merging the fields of design, engineering, construction and natural sciences. Combining an intensive, critical and analytical approach to computational design simulation and fabrication processes, the ITECH programme is focussing on challenging the design space boundaries of current contemporary architectural and engineering practice. It seeks to provoke a re-examination of techniques, methods and theories of design in relation to the fields of engineering, robotics, digital manufacturing, material science and biology. All programme courses are instructed in English. The modules of the core ITECH programme are taught by researchers at ICD and ITKE with oversight of Professor Menges and Professor Knippers and input from visiting researchers and scientists. Technological progress has always been a catalyst for design innovation in architecture and construction. Today, technological advancements across multiple disciplines suggest a profound transformation of the way the future built environment is conceived, designed and materialised. New alliances are being forged between the fields of design, engineering and natural sciences, leading to novel multidisciplinary and multifaceted design cultures. Design plays a critical role in this transformation: Here, the notion of design is extended beyond the design of space, surface and structure to the design of processes, systems and reciprocities. The ITECH programme investigates the realm of integrative technological advancements as novel potentials in architecture and construction. It seeks to prepare students for the complex contemporary conditions found in the building industry, which is facing stringent environmental and economic challenges while experiencing the emergence of new technical opportunities at an unprecedented speed. Thus, the Master's programme is inquiry-orientated, experiment-based and shaped around contemporary aspects of design research. Students will engage in cutting-edge computational architectural design techniques, structural and climate engineering and advanced fabrication and construction technologies. The interrelation of such topics will be exposed both as a technical and an intellectual venture. The programme offers the opportunity to study with one of the leading teams for technological and computational design research. As a team, the partner institutes strive to present students with a cutting-edge educational experience that fosters the development of one’s individual interests in architectural design, structures, technology and computation. If you are an architect, engineer, materials scientist, biologist, or other with a deep interest in how the design and fabrication of our built environment will develop alongside increasingly powerful computation and fabrication technology, the ITECH MSc programme is for you.