PhD Courses in Denmark

Course for PhD students within the fields of Architecture, Engineering and Design 

Registration and information:  
Registration no later than 1 June 2025 
Send an e-mail to Charlotte Bruun, cbp@iti.sdu.dk, who can also inform you about the exact time and place for the first day of the course when this is available.
Offered in Odense, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M 

Maximum number of participants: 10 

Suited for PhD-students in the fields of Architecture, Engineering and Design  

Note on pandemic restrictions: 
If a pandemic /force majeure makes it impossible to carry out the course, it will be cancelled. In case this occurs, we will inform you about this as soon as we can. 

Prerequisites 

This PhD course is relevant for students with a master’s degree in the fields of Architecture, Engineering and Design who are interested in or curious about digital design and innovative fabrication methods applied to the built environment. Lecturer may ask for background material to evaluate applicants’ compatibility with course objectives.  

Offered:  04-15 August 2025
 

Duration: 2-week intensive course; runs from 09 to 18.00 on weekdays. Attention:  the weekend in between may involve some laboratory activities on a different schedule.

Learning objectives - Knowledge  

• The emerging digital technologies of fabrication, such as Additive Manufacturing (AM), robotics and CNC Machinery, their characteristics, possibilities and limitations  
• The potential enabled using digital fabrication technologies in the context of design and construction  
• Computational tools for design, engineering and fabrication that allow the integration of material, manufacturing, and performance 

Learning objectives - Skills  

• Design through visual programming and parametric modelling  
• Use digital tools for early-stage analysis and optimization of material, geometrical and mechanical performance within the design process  
• Manufacturing construction systems through digital fabrication processes  
• Fabricate and build full scale prototypes 

Learning objectives – Competences 

• Evaluate the uses of various digital fabrication techniques and the exploration of new design solutions for architectural systems and structures  
• Involve the use of computational workflows to manage the process from design to fabrication of custom construction systems 
   

Content  

Digital Fabrication technologies have the disruptive potential to revolutionize the way we conceive and shape our environment. Using novel fabrication techniques designers and engineers are challenged to explore innovative structures that benefit from the capacity to produce performative and sustainable architecture with, up to now, unreached levels of complexity and strategic material organization.  

The course will focus on exploring ideas and producing design artifacts as answers to some fundamental driving questions: what kind of tectonic configurations can be enabled by means of digital fabrication such as additive and robotic manufacturing? How do we realize high-performance architecture with it? How can we build bespoke architecture in a sustainable way? 

Adopting a design/make approach, catalyzed through tailored computational techniques, various structural configurations will be investigated. The school outcomes will be contributing to the creation of an atlas of digitally fabricated tectonic prototypes: experimental architectural configurations where material/form/structure are developed in a coherent design approach which takes full advantage of the potential of emergent fabrication techniques. 

Teaching Method  

The course is conceived as a highly engaging design to fabrication activity, where students will develop experimental prototypes related to specific design/research topics. 

Multiple forms of instruction will be involved: 

• Theoretical Lectures on the role of digital fabrication in experimental construction 

• Guided tutorials on parametric modelling notions related to a specific course project 
• Introduction and exercises for robotic subtractive fabrication 
• Supervision of group-based design activities 
• Collaborative fabrication of prototypes by students with tutors’ coordination 
• Final review of the project’s development and output with invited guests 

Period of classes: 2 full-time weeks (weekend in between included) in mid-August
Please note: Saturday after the second week has a closing morning session 

Teaching language: English 
 
Form of instruction: Lectures, Digital Exercises, Laboratory experiments   

 
Lecturer: Roberto Naboni  

 
Examination:  

The workload of the course corresponds to 7,5 ECTS, the total workload includes reading material, contribution to the development of design proposals, participation in the digital fabrication and construction activities, documentation and presentation of the work in a final review. 

The course requires the student's presence at 80 % of the lectures.  

The examination is held at the end of the course and consists of a final review where the course work will be discussed in a 30-minute presentation. A specific section of the group’s work will be prepared and presented by the PhD student individually. 10 minutes for critics/question will be following. 

Evaluation form: Passed / Not passed                                                                     ECTS: 7,5 

Comments:                                                                                                                         

Preparation for the class will require reading 5 scientific papers. 

Price: 
No charge for Danish universities PhD students if they are part of the Danish PHD course agreement.
Students from foreign universities must pay 500 euros /3.750 Danish kr.