Professor Christopher Tweed is Head of the Welsh School of Architecture (WSA) and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Design of the Built Environment (SuDoBE) at Cardiff University. He has previously been Head of the School of Architecture at Queen’s University of Belfast, a Visiting Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and a Director of the EdCAAD (Edinburgh Computer Aided Architectural Design) research unit at the University of Edinburgh.

Chris studied architecture at the WSA where he also completed his doctorate on energy in buildings. He has conducted research on digital design tools, human interaction with the built environment and its technologies, architectural anthropology, and built cultural heritage. His research crosses the boundaries between architectural science, informatics, design research, architectural theory and social studies. His current research interests lie at the interface between people and the built environment, particularly on issues relating to thermal comfort, building performance (energy and environment) and sustainable design at different scales.

Much of his work addresses people’s responses to solutions developed by others, such as in the development of digital and other design tools, retrofitting of people’s homes, implementation of low carbon policy through building legislation, and the comfort implications arising from new heating technologies. Understanding what happens in the fold between the official and unofficial, designed and realised, is crucial to ensuring high quality environments and user experience. Rather than assuming this to be a straightforward process, this research seeks to catalogue the variety of responses and the reasons why they occur. His work has been funded by industry (British Gas, British Telecom, and the Building Research Establishment), the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the European Commission under multiple framework programmes. Chris also contributes advice and reviews to research funders and was a member of the judging panel for the RIBA President’s Medal for research in 2017.