Martin Bechthold

Martin Bechthold is the Kumagai Professor of Architectural Technology in the GSD’s Department of Architecture. He currently serves as the GSD’s Academic Dean. Bechthold is the founding Co-Director of the Master in Design Engineering Program and Associate Faculty at the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at Harvard. He is also affiliated with the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. He teaches courses in design and research methods, material systems, and building structures. Recent courses include ‘Towards a New Science of Design?’, ‘Nano, Micro, Macro: BioFabrication’, ‘Faux: Design, Performance and Perception of Fake Materials’ as well as ‘Structural Design II’.

Bechthold received a Diplom-Ingenieur degree in architecture from the Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule in Aachen, Germany, and a Doctor of Design Degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is a registered architect in Germany and has practiced in London, Paris, and Hamburg. During this period he was associated with firms such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Santiago Calatrava and von Gerkan, Marg & Partner.

In 2010 Bechthold founded the GSD’s Design Robotics Group and more recently merged it into the Material Processes and Systems (MaP+S) Group, a collaboration of faculty, post-doctoral fellows, research associates, and students that pursues sponsored and other research projects. MaP+S’s current research focuses on multi-material 3D printing, structural and material innovation in architectural ceramics, carbon negative building materials, and on quantifying and predicting the perception of building products and of building interiors. In 2018 Bechthold initiated the creation of the Laboratory for Design Technology as a collaborative platform that connects Harvard Faculty and researchers with forward looking thought leaders from industry.

Bechthold is co-author of ‘Structures’ and ‘Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing’, as well as the author of ‘Innovative Surface Structures’. His most recent book is ‘Ceramic Material Systems’. Bechthold’s peer reviewed journal papers have been published in widely read journals including Nature Reviews, Advanced Functional Materials, and Energy and Buildings. He holds multiple patents on material innovations.