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Staff Profile

Professor Ben Bridgens

Professor of Regenerative Architecture

  • Email: ben.bridgens@ncl.ac.uk
  • Address: School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape
    Architecture Building
    The Quadrangle
    缅北禁地
    缅北禁地 upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
    UK
Background

Background

Ben Bridgens is Professor of Regenerative Architecture in the School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape at 缅北禁地, and he is Co-Director of the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE, www.bbe.ac.uk). Ben’s research and teaching is driven by the question: “Can we move beyond ‘sustainability’ and create a built environment which has positive impacts: that is beneficial and enriching to the natural environment, that does not degrade but performs better as it ages, that is a pleasure to construct, and is delightful to inhabit?”

Ben works at the interface of engineering, architecture and design, critically examining ‘sustainable’ technologies and exploring the potential for combining traditional construction practices with biotechnology and natural systems to go beyond sustainability and create a regenerative built environment.

Recent projects include The Living Room, a large-scale freestanding structure made from mycelium, waste materials and wool which is on display in the Farrell Centre in 缅北禁地-upon-Tyne () and RESPIRE, a research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust which aims to develop passive, responsive breathable building skins (). Ben led the design and construction of an experimental house on the 缅北禁地 campus called 'The OME’, creating a unique space for interdisciplinary collaboration and large-scale prototyping.


Qualifications

PhD Structural Engineering (缅北禁地, 2005): “Architectural fabric properties: determination, representation & prediction” 

MEng Civil Engineering (Durham University, 2000)




Research

Research Interests

Ben Bridgens is Professor of Regenerative Architecture in the School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape at 缅北禁地, and Co-Director of the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE, www.bbe.ac.uk). Ben’s work is driven by the question: “Can we move beyond ‘sustainability’ and create a built environment which has positive impacts: that is beneficial and enriching to the natural environment, that does not degrade but performs better as it ages, that is a pleasure to construct, and is delightful to inhabit?”

Ben works at the interface of engineering, architecture and design, critically examining ‘sustainable’ technologies and exploring the potential for combining traditional construction practices with biotechnology and natural systems to go beyond sustainability and create a regenerative built environment.

Google Scholar profile:

Researchgate profile: 


Current projects include:

The Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment www.bbe.ac.uk The Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE) is a joint £8 million initiative between 缅北禁地 and Northumbria University. Our vision is to develop biotechnologies to create a new generation of Living Buildings which are responsible and responsive to their natural environment; grown using living engineered materials to reduce inefficient industrial construction processes; metabolise their own waste, reducing pollution, generate energy and high-value products and modulate their microbiome to benefit human and ecological health and wellbeing. Ben led the design and construction of an experimental house on the 缅北禁地 campus called 'The OME’, creating a unique space for interdisciplinary collaboration and large-scale prototyping.

The Living Room is part of More with Less: Reimagining Architecture for a Changing World , the inaugural exhibition at the Farrell Centre, 缅北禁地-upon-Tyne, which offers new visions for architecture in the face of the climate emergency. The Living Room is a large-scale bio-fabricated architecture that is grown using locally available waste materials. It is composed of Herdwick wool, a breed of sheep native to the Lake District in north-west England, a mix of sawdust and wastepaper from local mills, and mycelium spores. The use of waste materials benefits regional industries and demonstrates a means to dramatically reduce the environmental impact of construction, whilst allowing us to reimagine the spaces that we inhabit. Our work is a reaction to rigid, hard, permanent buildings, instead we have created a soft, cosy, snug internal space with thick sculpted walls, which can be composted when no longer required.

Press coverage

RESPIRE: Passive, Responsive, Variable Porosity Building Skins is a Leverhulme Trust funded research project which seeks to create a new generation of low-cost, low-environmental impact, responsive building skins that moderate internal temperature and humidity by varying their porosity. The transformative approach of the Respire project would improve internal air quality and eliminate the need for energy-intensive, high-maintenance mechanical ventilation systems, enabling fully passive, zero-energy buildings.


Current PhD supervision

Natalia Pynirtzi (responsive materials for breathable facades)


Recently completed PhD students

Aileen Hoenerloh (bio-digital fabrication)

Emily Birch (microbial spore based hygrmorphic materials)

Romy Kaiser-Style (Textile Templating: transdisciplinary knit design strategies for complex large-scale mycofabrication)

Layla van Ellen (Alive: Rhythmic Buildings)

John Naylor (How can architects increase the use of full-culm bamboo to provide adequate urban housing in tropical developing economies?)

Assia Stefanova (Application of living metabolic processes within buildings)

Artem Holstov (Hygromorphic materials for sustainable responsive architecture)

Nicola Bartle (A probabilistic material framework for the analysis of fabric structures)

Alex Colman (A pragmatic approach to determining the mechanical behaviour of structural fabrics)

Chris Iliffe (A predictive model for the design of functional textiles)


Teaching

Ben Bridgens leads a stage 2 undergraduate architectural technology module (ARC2016: Construction in Detail) and, with Anna Czigler, co-leads an M.Arch design studio called "Regen".


Regen: M.Arch Design Studio.

Tutors: Anna Czigler & Ben Bridgens

"When the forest and the city are functionally indistinguishable, then we know we have reached sustainability." ~ Janine Benyus

If we take a step back from the incremental race to net-zero carbon and critically examine current practice and emerging trends in architecture and construction, do we see truly sustainable forms of construction emerging? Do we see materials, processes and assemblies which could continue to be used for hundreds or thousands of years, meeting future generations’ needs and restoring natural ecosystems?

Regen seeks a holistic, regenerative approach to architecture, through an emerging environmental, economic, architectural and social framework to create systems that are not just more efficient than what we have now, but aim to have positive social and environmental impacts. Could we live in what McDonough & Braungart describe as a world of ‘abundance and delight’ rather than a world of limits? Regen works across different scales of systems thinking; it simultaneously considers the large-scale and the tectonic. We explore regional material flows through systems mapping, with a focus on locally grown materials, while understanding that we as designers can influence these systems through material selection and application. We focus on the creative use of grown materials, understood through the analysis of the ecological, technological and social systems that make up the process from material sourcing to use and beyond. We look at strategies to use grown materials in many shapes and forms: historic, local, high-tech, vernacular, repurposed or not-yet-existing.

Publications

  • Articles

    • Lilley D, Bridgens B. . Circular Economy and Sustainability 2026, 6, 124.
    • Debnath KB, Pynirtzi N, Scott J, Davie C, Bridgens B. . Energy & Buildings 2026, 358, 117192.
    • Hoenerloh A, Bridgens B, Dade-Robertson M. Designing with Emergence: A Methodology for Speculative Biodesign Applied to Bacterial Cellulose. Design Studies 2026. Submitted.
    • Debnath KB, Pynirtzi N, Scott J, Davie C, Bridgens B. . Energy & Buildings 2026, 357, 117104.
    • Birch E, Bridgens B, Zhang M, Dade-Robertson M. . Bioinspiration & Biomimetics 2024, 19(3), 036018.
    • Debnath KB, Jenkins D, Patidar S, Peacock A, Bridgens B. . Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities 2023, 4(4), 041006.
    • Kaiser R, Bridgens B, Elsacker E, Scott J. . Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 2023, 11, 1229693.
    • van Ellen L, Bridgens B, Burford N, Crown M, Heidrich O. . Acta Astronautica 2023, 211, 764-780.
    • Crawford A, In-na P, Caldwell G, Armstrong R, Bridgens B. . Architectural Science Review 2022, 65(3), 185-195.
    • van Ellen LA, Bridgens BN, Burford N, Heidrich O. . Building and Environment 2021, 203, 108068.
    • Stefanova A, In-na P, Caldwell GS, Bridgens B, Armstrong R. . Science and Engineering of Composite Materials 2021, 28(1), 223-236.
    • Birch E, Bridgens B, Zhang M, Dade-Robertson M. . Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 4030.
    • Bridgens B. . Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engeering 2020, 173(1), 13-13.
    • Stefanova A, Bridgens B, In-na P, Caldwell GS, Armstrong R. . Technology | Architecture + Design 2020, 4(2), 200-210.
    • Bridgens B, Lilley D, Zeilig H, Searing C. . The Design Journal 2019, 22(sup1), 2251-2255.
    • Bridgens B, Hobson K, Lilley D, Lee J, Scott JL, Wilson GT. . Journal of Industrial Ecology 2019, 23(1), 169-181.
    • Lilley D, Bridgens B, Davies A, Holstov A. . Journal of Cleaner Production 2019, 220, 417-430.
    • Pedgley O, Şener B, Lilley D, Bridgens B. . International Journal of Design 2018, 12(3), 21-33.
    • Bridgens B, Powell M, Farmer G, Walsh CL, Reed E, Royapoor M, Gosling P, Hall J, Heidrich O. . Journal of Cleaner Production 2018, 189, 145-154.
    • Oyebamiji OK, Wilkinson DJ, Pahala-Gedara J, Rushton SP, Li B, Bridgens B, Zuliani P. . PLOS ONE 2018, 13(4), e0195484.
    • Holstovs A, Farmer G, Bridgens B. . Sustainability 2017, 9(3), 435.
    • Jayathilake P, Jana S, Rushton S, Swailes D, Bridgens B, Curtis T, Chen J. . Frontiers in Microbiology 2017, 8, 1-14.
    • Jayathilake PG, Gupta P, Li B, Madsen C, Oyebamiji O, Gonzalez-Cabaleiro R, Rushton S, Bridgens B, Swailes D, Allen B, McGough AS, Zuliani P, Ofiteru ID, Wilkinson DJ, Chen J, Curtis TP. . PLoS One 2017, 12(8), e0181965.
    • Lilley D, Smalley G, Bridgens BN, Wilson GT, Balasundaram K. . Materials and Design 2016, 101, 355-365.
    • Ammar Y, Swailes DC, Bridgens BN, Chen J. . Surface and Coatings Technology 2015, 284, 410-416.
    • Holstov A, Bridgens BN, Farmer G. . Construction and Building Materials 2015, 98, 570-582.
    • Colman AG, Bridgens BN, Gosling PD, Jou GT, Hsu XY. . Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing 2014, 66, 163-174.
    • Gosling PD, Bridgens BN, Zhang L. . Structural Safety 2013, 40, 39-50.
    • Bridgens BN, Gosling PD, Jou G-T, Hsu X-Y. . Journal of the Textile Institute 2012, 103(7), 706-718.
    • Bridgens BN, Birchall MJS. . Engineering Structures 2012, 44, 1-12.
    • Gosling PD, Bridgens BN, Albrecht A, Alpermann H, Angeleri A, Barnes M, Bartle N, Canobbio R, Dieringer F, Gellin S, Lewis W, Mageau N, Mahadevan R, Marion J-M, Marsden P, Milligan E, Phang YP, Sahlin K, Stimpfle B, Suire O, Uhlemann J. . Engineering Structures 2012, 48, 313-328.
    • Gosling PD, Bridgens BN. . International Journal of Space Structures 2008, 23(4), 215-232.
    • Bridgens BN, Gosling PD, Birchall MJS. . Structural Engineer 2004, 82(14), 21-27.
    • Bridgens BN, Gosling PD, Birchall MJS. . Structural Engineer 2004, 82(14), 28-33.
    • Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. . Computers & Structures 2004, 82(23-26), 1913-1927.
    • Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. . Journal of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures 2004, 45(3), 175-182.

  • Book Chapters

    • Scott J, Bridgens B, Ozkan D, Kaiser R, Agraviador A. . In: Ayres P; Ramsgaard Thomsen M; Shiel B; Skavara M, ed. Fabricate 2024: Creating Resourceful Futures. London: UCL Press, 2024, pp.32-39.
    • Holstovs A, Bridgens B, Farmer G. . In: Mitra Kanaani, ed. The Routledge Companion to Ecological Design Thinking: Healthful Ecotopian Visions for Architecture and Urbanism. London: Routledge, 2023, pp.285-292.
    • Scott J, Elsacker E, Kaiser R, Agraviador A, Bridgens B, Topcu A, Ozkan D, Birch E, Perry O. . In: Morrow R; Bridgens B; Mackenzie L, ed. Bioprotopia : Designing the Built Environment With Living Organisms. Basel: Birkhauser, 2023, pp.60-75.
    • Bridgens B. . In: Morrow R; Bridgens B; Mackenzie L, ed. Bioprotopia: Designing the Built Environment with Living Organisms. Basel, Switzerland: Birkhauser, 2023, pp.18-33.
    • Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. . In: Oñate E; Kröplin B, ed. Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures II. Dordrecht: Springer, 2008, pp.35-50.

  • Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

    • Margariti E, Claisse C, Nabil S, Bridgens B, Durrant A, Kirk D. . In: ACM Designing Interactive Systems. 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark: Association for Computing Machinery.
    • Scott J, Agraviador A, Bridgens B, Kaiser R, Perry O, Orkan D. . In: ACADIA 2024: Designing change. 2024, University of Calgary: ACADIA.
    • Scott J, Bridgens B, Ozkan D, Kaiser R. . In: CEES 2nd International conference on Construction Energy, Environment and Sustainability. 2023, Funchal, Portugal.
    • Scott J, Bridgens B, Ozkan D, Kaiser R, Agraviador A. . In: ACADIA 2023 Habits of the Anthropocene. 2023, Denver, Colorado, USA: ACADIA.
    • Debnath KB, Pynirtzi N, Scott J, Davie C, Bridgens B. . In: CEES 2023 | 2nd International Conference on Construction, Energy, Environment & Sustainability. 2023, Funchal (Madeira Island), Portugal: Itecons (Institute for Research and Technological Development for Construction, Energy, Environment and Sustainability).
    • Pynirtzi N, Debnath KB, Lantzanakis G, Bloch K, Scott J, Davie C, Bridgens B. . In: International Conference on Bio-Based Building Materials (ICBBM 2023). 2023, Vienna, Austria: Springer.
    • Debnath KB, Pynirtzi N, Scott J, Davie C, Bridgens B. . In: Proceedings of Building Simulation 2023: 18th Conference of IBPSA. 2023, Shanghai, China: International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA).
    • Scott J, Kaiser R, Ozkan D, Hoenerloh A, Agraviador A, Elsacker E, Bridgens B. . In: ICSA Structures and Architecture. 2022, Aalborg Denmark: CRC press.
    • Debnath KB, Jenkins DP, Patidar S, Peacock A, Bridgens B, Mitrani H. . In: 36th PLEA Conference 2022: Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design. 2022, Santiago, Chile: PLEA.
    • Agraviador A, Scott J, Kaiser R, Elsacker E, Hoenerloh A, Topcu A, Bridgens B. BioKnit: Computation and material investigation in the design of biohybrid textiles towards architectural integration. In: ACADIA 2022 Hybrids and Haeccites. 2022, University of Pennsylvania: ACADIA. In Preparation.
    • Morrow R, Bloch K, Zhang M, Jiang Y, Loh J, Bridgens B. . In: CEES 2021 - 1st International Conference on Construction, Energy, Environment and Sustainability. 2021, Coimbra, Portugal.
    • Scott J, Ozkan D, Hoenerloh A, Birch E, Kaiser R, Agraviador A, Bridgens B, Elsacker E. . In: International Conference Construction, Energy Environment and Sustainability (CEES 2021). 2021, Coimbra, Portugal: Itecons.
    • Yang H, Morrow R, Bridgens B, Zhang M, Loh J, Dade-Robinson M. . In: Resilient Materials 4 LIFE International Conference (RM4L2020). 2021, Online and Cardiff: Cardiff University.
    • Sung K, Singh J, Bridgens B, Cooper T. . In: International Upcycling Symposium 2020. 2020, Virtual: Springer Nature.
    • Heidrich O, Bridgens B. . In: 10th International Conference of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE2019). 2019, Beijing, China: International Society for Industrial Ecology.
    • Bridgens B, Lilley D. . In: Design for Next: 12th European Academy of Design Conference. 2017, Sapienza University of Rome: European Academy of Design.
    • Manley A, Lilley D, Bridgens B, Hurn K, Lofthouse V. . In: 9th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. 2016, Gothenburg, Sweden: ACM.
    • Holstov A, Farmer G, Bridgens B. . In: 11th Conference on Advanced Building Skins. 2016, Bern, Switzerland: Advanced Building Skins GmbH.
    • Holstov A, Morris P, Farmer G, Bridgens B. . In: advanced building skins. 2015, Graz University of Technology, Austria.
    • Wilson GT, Bridgens BN, Hobson K, Lee J, Lilley D, Scott JL, Suckling J. . In: PLATE: Product Lifetimes and The Environment. 2015, Nottingham, UK: Nottingham Trent University: CADBE.
    • Ammar Y, Swailes DC, Bridgens BN, Chen J. . In: 42nd International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films. 2015, San Diego, CA, USA.
    • Bridgens BN, Lilley D, Smalley G, Balasundaram K. . In: PLATE: Product Lifetimes and The Environment. 2015, Nottingham, UK: Nottingham Trent University: College of Architecture Design and the Built Environment.
    • Gosling P, Bartle N, Bridgens BN. . In: 11th World Congress on Computational Mechanics (WCCM XI) 5th European Conference on Computational Mechanics (ECCM V) 6th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD VI). 2014, Barcelona, Spain.
    • Iliffe CN, Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. . In: Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures VI - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures, Structures Membranes 2013. 2013, Munich, Germany.
    • Iliffe CN, Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. . In: VI International Conference on Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures. 2013, Munich, Germany.
    • Gosling PD, Bridgens BN. . In: Tensinet Symposium: Tensile Architecture: Connecting Past and Future. 2010, Sofia, Bulgaria: GSP.
    • Wang CH, Mills JP, Gosling PD, Bridgens B, Grisdale RJ. MONITORING THE TESTING, CONSTRUCTION AND AS-BUILT CONDITION OF MEMBRANE STRUCTURES BY CLOSE RANGE PHOTOGRAMMETRY. In: PROCEEDINGS OF THE ISPRS COMMISSION V MID-TERM SYMPOSIUM CLOSE RANGE IMAGE MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES. 2010, BAHNHOFSALLE 1E, GOTTINGEN, 37081, GERMANY: COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH.
    • Wang CH, Mills JP, Gosling PD, Bridgens B, Grisdale RJ. . In: International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. 2010, 缅北禁地, UK: ISPRS.
    • Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. . In: Tensinet Symposium: Tensile Architecture: Connecting Past and Future. 2010, Sofia, Bulgaria: GSP.
    • Gosling PD, Zhang L. . In: Tensinet Symposium: Tensile Architecture: Connecting Past and Future. 2010, Sofia, Bulgaria: GSP.
    • Bridgens B, Gosling P. . In: International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition. 2009, Baltimore, MD, USA: SAMPE.

  • Edited Books

    • Morrow R, Bridgens B, Mackenzie L, ed. . Basel, Switzerland: Birkhäuser, 2023.
    • Sung K, Singh J, Bridgens B, ed. . Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2021.