bastian beyer
architecture / research
about
architecture is an inherently interdisciplinary, dynamic and dialectic field, constantly evolving through advances of society, science and politics. the contemporary unprecedented challenges of petrochemical dependency and environmental issues fundamentally changed the architect’s role. this condition calls for an extension of architecture’s repertoire beyond formal and autotelic design towards an awareness for the intrinsic interdependency between material, environment and society. concomitantly, this presses for taking responsibility for the impact of design decisions in order to respond to imperative and global challenges.
engaging with new toolsets and methods such as computational design and manufacturing systems, advanced materials or contemporary biotechnology transcends the classic approach to architectural design hence generates an impetus for new aesthetics to unfold.
bastian beyer is a london based architect and researcher. he holds a B.A in architecture from the university of applied sciences munich and an architectural engineering diploma from the university of the arts berlin.
as a marie-curie H2020/EU research fellow (2015-19) he explored interdisciplinary design strategies between architecture, textiles, biotechnology at the royal college of art london and got awarded his phd in 2019.
as a researcher he worked, amongst others, with heatherwick studio london on process- and production design for parametric façade elements using local resources. for his research, he collaborated with the geoengineering company soletanche bachy (paris) and the textile research institute EURECAT (barcelona).
his phd project was awarded the autodesk/ACADIA emergent research award 2018 in mexico city.
his work addresses and reflects the role of materials and manufacturing processes in the context of architecture and design. the specific focus of his work is on fibre-based composite structures and their distinct manufacture. through the projects, he extends the notion of performance beyond mere quantitative engineering characteristics towards holistic and integrated material systems.
his installations harness the aesthetic and performative momentum of manufacturing processes and material transitions which become an integral and interactive part of the work.
his research is centred around the design of textile microbiomes which allow for biologically triggered material transitions on a micro-scale.
bastian beyer is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the cluster of excellence - matters of activity at the alexander von humboldt university berlin and a visiting lecturer at the royal college of art london.
press
dezeen, springwise, treehugger, materialdistrict, archi.ru
exhibitions / prizes / grants / residencies
2018 autodesk / ACADIA emerging research award
2018 exhibiton bow arts trust / studio ian kiaer, london
2017 a.r.t fellowship robotic fabrication / university of westminster, London
2017 wip exhibition / royal college of art, london
2016 exhibition „wolpertinger“ galerija „academija“ vilnius, lithuania
2016 research secondment vilnius academy of arts, lithuania
2016 artist residency, nida art colony, lithuania
2016 wip exhibition / royal college of art
2015 - 18 marie skłodowska-curie actions eu fellowship / H2020, ArcInTex / royal college of art, london
2015 exhibition dgi bauwerk, academy of arts, berlin
2015 exhibition ‚art and construction‘ karl hofer society, leinemann foundation, westraum berlin
2015 max taut prize of the university of the arts, berlin
2014 bda showroom exhibition / gallery of the association of german architects (bda), berlin
2012 solo exhibition / installation „aal“ / locht43, berlin
2012 member of jury committee for the paul baumgarten grant of the udk
2012 group exhibition „showroom“ / locht43, berlin
2012 - 13 bernd tibes fellowship of the association of german architects (bda)
2011 paul baumgarten grant of the university of arts berlin
2011 second prize art-in-architecture / max dellbrueck center for molecular medicine, berlin
2010 - 13 locht43 exhibition, event and co-workspace, berlin / founding, management, curatorial practice
2009 project installation ' unvollendete tatsache' / grünwald, munich
selected lectures / presentations
royal college of Art london
heatherwick studio london
universidad iberoamericana mexico city (ACADIA conference)
ecole des ponts paris, design by data program
university of bologna
haus der berliner festspiele (BDA prize)
swedish school of textiles boras
bow arts trust London
delvendahl martin architects london
vilnius art academy
nida artist residency, lithuania
academy of the arts berlin
publications
Beyer, B., and Suárez, D. (2018). “Bioactive Knits: Fiber-based bio-receptive architectural composite materials for augmented knitted tectonics with graded material distribution.” ACADIA // 2018: Recalibration. On imprecision and infidelity.
Beyer, B., and Suárez, D. Fibre-based bio-receptive architectural composite materials for augmented knitted tectonics with graded material distribution. A: International Con- ference on Composite Structures. “21st International Conference on Composite Struc- tures”. 2018, p. 21.
Beyer, B. 2015. Sehnsuchtsorte. Protocol Magazin, 7(7).