Dr Torsten Schröder

Through rigorous exploration and the power of imagination architectural design can play a crucial role to bring more sustainable futures into the present.

Torsten Schröder is an architect, researcher, and Assistant Professor of Sustainability in Architectural Design at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He is co-founder of RAPS and member of the ARENA network. His research projects focus on translating the concepts of sustainability and circular economy into architectural and urban design practices. Torsten’s interdisciplinary ‘theory in practice’ approach helps identify new opportunities and analyses how architects, engineers, clients and others apply the concept of sustainability to their design projects, in their studios and on-site. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies (STS), he shifts attention to the ways design challenges are framed, knowledge is produced, design strategies assembled and how controversies and conflicting priorities are settled. In this way, Torsten aims to develop innovative, comprehensive and compelling design strategies for sustainability in specific architectural and urban design projects. Currently, he is investigating how STS and ‘Research by Design’ can make crucial contributions to the vital question: How or in what kind of a world do we want to live in the future? Torsten has participated in and led diverse research projects, and offers a unique blend of practical and research expertise. He is a thought leader for the sustainability and circularity transition and member of diverse organisations and committees, including the New European Bauhaus Collective, the Dutch Building Technology and Innovation Centre (BTIC), and the Urban Development Initiative (UDI). He obtained his PhD in the LSE Cities Programme, winning the RIBA PhD research award in 2015. Torsten is also a Senior Architect with 10 years of experience in designing and realizing a wide range of outstanding architectural projects for leading design practices, amongst others as project leader for Rem Koolhaas/OMA.

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