This page summarizes my research work. This includes academic research and research applied in practice. I could also classify much of the design work I have undertaken in my years in engineering practice as research, but for clarity, I have included that in the practice section. Apart from the items highlighted below, I have since 2015 reviewed papers for the following conferences: CAADRIA, eCAADe, ICSA, and UIA 2023.

Since 2022 I perform my research work in a dedicated Kinetic Environment workspace at SDU.

Research

2022 - ongoing
In order to establish a better understanding of the dynamic performance of thin, chemically strenghtened and laminated thin glass, a series of tests have been performed that correlate a mathematical model with the performance of real glass. Various tests have been underaken and a first publication is expected later in 2023.

A grant from the Syddansk Universitets Forskningsfond was awarded in March 2023 to further this work.
2022
For the critical practice track at the ICSA symposium in 2022 an installation was invented and built with dynamically bent thin glass.
For more, see Portfolio.
2022
An investigation into the theory of Material Engagement—proposed by the philosopher Lambros Malafouris at the University of Oxford—led to a rediscovery of sorts of the Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht.
For more, see Portfolio.
2020 - ongoing
Architecture Reimagined is a collaboration with Sarah Stevens from the University of Brighton. The project responds to the immediate climatic threats that ask for radical thought and action. Our collaborative work aims to tease out potential routes forward, opening up radical dynamic architectures as prospective visions of alternative sustainable futures. A website of the project is currently under construction.
2014 - 2018
The thesis of Enactive Architecture proposes a new theoretical position on artificial intelligence in buildings, based on theories of enactive cognition that have roots in the development of embodied robotics. Through a combination of case study analysis and research by design, a framework is presented that interprets movement in buildings as a critical aspect of cognition.
During three months in 2015, Hugo was a visiting researcher at the Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory at RMIT.
For more, see Portfolio.
2012 - 2013
As part of the client's team, Arup AT+R provided expertise in order to continue the operation of the Greater Gabbard windfarm in the North Sea. Hugo coordinated the development, testing and implementation of a novel structural health monitoring system that gave near real-time feedback about the performance of the monopile foundations.
For more, see Portfolio.
2012
Arup Explores was an initiative from Arup's Foresight team and involved a number of mini-conferences and living-lab experiments around themes such as Big Data, Machine Learning, 3D Printing and Prototyping. Hugo helped coordinate two of these events in the London office in 2012.
2009 - 2014
Smartgeometry is a community of designers, practicioners and researchers–architects, engineers and artists that work at the forefront of digital technology in the built environment. A yearly conference is held where the community meets, works together in workshops, discusses pertinent topics and listens to trendsetters. Hugo has been a participant, workshop champion and conference organiser of Smartgeometry.
For more, see Portfolio.
2009
PAMELA is UCL's pededstrian environment laboratory, founded by professor Nick Tyler. A key feature of the lab is a rig of movable platforms that can be configured to afford a wide range of walking surfaces. As part of Arup AT+R, Hugo did a study for the feasibility of measuring impact on the human body by walking across PAMELA.
2006 - 2007
Arup AT+R provided due diligence for a contractor specialising in permanent formwork employed to reduce construction time of concrete building structures. A testing regime was proposed for material and system testing, and steps were taken to develop a digital infrastructure connecting design with manufacturing and installation.

Publications

Stevens, S., Mulder, H., Bonfield, P. (2023). Mist [Competition Submission]. International Garden Festival 2024 Les Jardins de Métis: The Ecology of Possibility. https://projets.festivalinternationaldejardins.ca/fichiers_2024/543--655b75ebf05cc-Proj.pdf

Nguyen, D. C., Moroz, A., McAdams, R., Mulder, H. (2023). Dynamic Bending of Thin Glass to Control Surface Roughness of Building Facades. Paper presented at SIGraDi 2023. Accelerated Landscapes, Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Mulder, H. (2022). Building cognition through material engagement. Frontiers of Architectural Research, 11(4), 642-652.

Mulder, H. (2022). Kinetic Thin Glass [physical prototype, glass, steel, aluminium, motor]. In International Conference on Structures and Architecture.

Mulder, H. (2022). Kinetic Thin Glass Building Envelope. In Structures and Architecture A Viable Urban Perspective? (pp. 297-299). CRC Press.

Mulder, H. (2020). Villa Girasole: A Filter for Movement in Building Cognition. In 25th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, CAADRIA 2020 (pp. 143-152). The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA).

Mulder, H. (2019). A Research Prototype for Kinetic Thin Glass Building Envelopes. In International Conference onEmerging Technologies In Architectural Design (pp. 105-112). Department of Architectural Science of Ryerson University.

Mulder, H. (2018). Prototyping: A Politics of Memory. In Proceedings of SIGraDi conference: XXII Congresso Internacional Da Sociedade Iberoamericana De Gráfica Digital. Blucher Proceedings.

Lenk, P., Mulder, H. (2018). Kinetic Omni-Stable Structural Forms Using Ultra-Thin High-Strength Glass for Envelope Applications. In J. Schneider & B. Weller (Eds.), Engineered Transparency 2018: Glass in Architecture and Structural Engineering (pp. 1-8). Wiley.

Snyder, R., O’Bryan, M., Mulder, H., & Côté, S. (2014). Focus Devices in Hybrid Data: Usefulness in Design Thinking and Communication. In S. Uddin & C. Welty (Eds.), Design Communication Conference Proceedings (pp. 300–305). Atlanta.

Mulder, H., Salim, F. D., & Burry, J. (2011). FORM FOSTERING: A Novel Design Approach For Interaction With Parametric Models In The Embodied Virtuality. Electronic Journal Of Information Technology In Construction.

Salim, F. D., Mulder, H., & Burry, J. (2010). A System For Form Fostering. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia. Hong Kong, China.

Salim, F. D., Mulder, H., & Jaworski, P. (2010). Demonstration of an Open Platform for Tangible and Social Interactions with Responsive Models. In Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA ‘10): LIFE information, On Responsive Information and Variations in Architecture (pp. 21–24). New York, New York, USA.

Salim, F. D., Mulder, H., Jaworski, P., Ransom, J. W., Cutellic, P., Iseki, T., … Köm, Y. (2010). Collaborative Design and Live Interaction with Parametric Models using UbiMash. International Journal of Architectural Computing (IJAC), 8(3), 377–398.

Paul, J., Van Berge Hengouwen, F., Mulder, H. & Tait van der Putten, C. (2008). New Amsterdam Public Library (Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam). In Walraven, J. C., & Stoelhorst, D. Tailor Made Concrete Structures: New Solutions for our Society. CRC Press. Chicago.

Mulder, H., & Wagemans, L. (2004). An Adaptive Structure Controlled By Swarm Behaviour. In Proceedings of International Symposium of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) : Shell and Spatial Structures - from models to realization: Montpellier, France, 20-24 September 2004. Montpellier, France: Editions de l’Espérou.