Daniel Baerlecken
Associate Professor, Associate Chair; Director, Bachelor of Science in Architecture program
Contact
Daniel Baerlecken
Associate Professor, Associate Chair; Director, Bachelor of Science in Architecture program
Education
Diploma in Engineering/Architecture with honors, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, 2003;
Master Class with Professor Zaha Hadid, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria, 2001-2003;
Vordiplom (prediploma) in Engineering/Architecture, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, 1998
Keywords
Design + Build; Prototyping; Pattern Systems; Digital Craft.
Biography
Daniel Baerlecken is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology and founding principal of BFR lab, office for architecture, design, and research. His research integrates pattern morphologies and material systems in digital design research to design, develop, and build locally responsive, articulated constructions. His recent work in South Africa and Ghana investigates how pattern system prototypes can be deployed as a way to make “poor” materials “rich” in the context of underserved communities.
He has significant professional experience as a project designer and design architect for Zaha Hadid Architects. He received his diploma in Architecture with honors from Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen University, Germany, and from the University of Applied Sciences Vienna, Austria, in the master class of Zaha Hadid.
Statement of Teaching Interest
My teaching integrates digital design technologies and fabrication processes into architectural education at multiple levels, from undergraduate and graduate design studios to courses in parametric design and fabrication at the Digital Fabrication Lab. I founded the Design.Develop.Build. program in Africa at Georgia Tech, which aims to provide low-cost architecture to serve unmet community needs while teaching students the creative exploitation of parametric modeling and scripting within real construction processes. Students engage in architectural problems from pre-design and conceptualization to on-site construction—engaging materials, production schedules, financing, and working as part of interdisciplinary teams.
Statement of Research Interest
My research integrates pattern morphologies and material systems in digital design to create locally responsive, articulated constructions with social impact. As founding principal of BFR lab and through the Design.Develop.Build. program at Georgia Tech, I investigate how pattern system prototypes can transform "poor" materials into "rich" materials in the context of underserved communities across Africa.
My work in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Ghana develops neo-vernacular design approaches that combine digital design methodologies with vernacular and recycled materials. Projects including the Guga S'Thebe Children's Theater (Cape Town), Have Midwives Quarters (Ghana), and Mbare Art Space (Harare) demonstrate how parametric modeling, scripting, and digital fabrication can improve local materials in terms of aesthetics, thermal and structural performance, while foregrounding regional building practices and skill training.
This research has been recognized through 24 awards including the DAM Award (German Architecture Museum), Architizer A+Awards, and the JAE Best Design as Scholarship Article Award. Work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Biennale (2010, 2016) and the Architecture Museum Munich, and published in peer-reviewed journals including the International Journal of Architectural Computing and the Journal of Architectural Education.
My pattern system prototype research examines how the structuring of surfaces through physical and virtual prototypes reveals structural, behavioral, and aesthetic parameters—drawing from sources ranging from John Ruskin's geological studies to biological folding systems and historical ornamental traditions.
Baerlecken, D., Wright, K., Reitz, J., Mueller, N., & Heiermann, B. (2016). Performative Agency of Materials: Matter Agency of Vernacular African Pattern Systems. Living Systems and Micro-Utopias: Towards Continuous Designing: Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia.
Baerlecken, D., Reitz, J., Wright, K., Mueller, N., & Heiermann, B. (2016). Agency of Materials. Shaping New Knowledges: Project Proceedings of the 104th Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Annual Meeting.
Baerlecken, D., Reitz, J., & Gokmen, S. (2016). Ver Sacrum. Shaping New Knowledges: Project Proceedings of the 104th Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Annual Meeting.
Baerlecken, D., & Gokmen, S. (2015). Osteotectonics: Trabecular Bone Structures and Their Adaptation for Customized Structural Nodes Using Additive Manufacturing Techniques. In B. Martens, G. Wurzer, T. Grasl, W. E. Lorenz, & R. Schaffranek, (Eds.), Real Time: Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe.
Baerlecken, D., Gentry, R., Swarts, M., & Wonoto, N. (2014). Structural, Deployable Folds - Design and Simulation of Biological Inspired Folded Structures. International Journal of Architectural Computing, 12(3), 243-262. Special Issue: Design Agency: Pluri-disciplinary Models in Design Research and Architecture.
Baerlecken, D., & Wright, K. B. (2014). Nominalized Matter: Agency of Material. International Journal of Architectural Computing, 12(3), 339-356. Special Issue: Design Agency: Pluri-disciplinary Models in Design Research and Architecture.
Baerlecken, D., Reitz, J., Mueller, N., & Heiermann, B. (2014). Re-Materializations: Prototypical Exploration of Neovernacular Structures in South Africa, Journal of Architectural Education, 68(2), 246-254.
Gokmen, S. & Baerlecken, D. (2014). Digital Wallpaper: Tiles of Proliferation and Continuity. In D. Gerber, A. Huang, & J. Sanchez (Eds.), Acadia 2014 Design Agency: Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture.
Baerlecken, D. & Gokmen, S. (2014). Emphatic Lines: Surface Structuring Based on Walter Crane's Pattern Making Methods. In M. E. Thompson (Ed.), Fusion: Proceedings of the 32nd International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe.
Baerlecken, D., & Gokmen, S. (2014). Vitalized Geometry. In A. Kimm, & J. Choi (Co-Chairs), Open Cities, The New Post-Industrial World Order: Project Proceedings of the 2014 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture / Architectural Institute of Korea International Conference.
Baerlecken, D. & Gokmen, S. (2013). Gemming: Architectonics of Facets. SIGraDi 2013: Proceedings of the 17th Conference of the Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics.
Baerlecken, D., & Johnson, K. (2013). Nominalized Matter: Generative Textiles Procedures. SIGraDi 2013: Proceedings of the 17th Conference of the Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics.
Baerlecken, D., Johnson, K., & Vialard, A. (2013). Mobilized Materials: Textile Constructs. Open Systems: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia.
4th prize - Bridge Competition in Ratingen Jubiläumsbrücke, 2025
Honorable Mention - Bridge and Landscape Design Competition, Brückenschlag, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler (2-stage competition) 2024
Nominated for DAM Award 2021 (German Architecture Museum, Frankfurt, Germany).
Gold Prize in Architectural Education, Design that Educates Awards 2020
Category: International
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)
Emerging Designers Award, Design that Educates Awards 2020, Emerging Designers
Category: International
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)
Honorable Mention in Responsive Design, Design that Educates Awards 2020
Category: International
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)
Honorable Mention in Architectural Design, Design that Educates Awards 2020
Category: International
Project: Midwives Quarters Have (Have, Ghana)
AIT Award, Best in Interior and Architecture 2020 by Architecture Interior Technical Solutions (AIT), Hamburg and Cologne, Germany.
Category (14): Social Design and Participatory Architecture – International;
Project: Midwives Quarters Have (Have, Ghana)
Social Design Award 2019 (awarded by the magazine Spiegel online).
Project: Midwives Quarters Have (Have, Ghana)
DAM Award 2018 (German Architecture Museum, Frankfurt, Germany).
Category: Foreign Countries.
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)
1st Prize – 2017 Architizer A+Awards: Guga S'Thebe Children's Theatre - Jury Winner in Architecture + Collaboration.
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)
1st Prize – 2017 Architizer A+Awards: Guga S'Thebe Children's Theatre - Jury Winner in Architecture +Learning.
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)
Finalist – 2017 Architizer A+Awards: Guga S'Thebe Children's Theatre - Finalist in Hall / Theater.
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)
1st Prize – DesignBuildXchange Award 2017, in Recognition of Excellence in Public Interest Design.
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)
Honorable Mention - 2016 Innovation by Design Awards by Fast Company, New York, USA.
Category: Social Good; international and multi-disciplinary;
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)
1st Prize – AIT Award, Best in Interior and Architecture 2016 by Architecture Interior Technical Solutions (AIT), Hamburg and Cologne, Germany.
Category (1 of 11): Newcomer – International;
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)
1st Prize – 2016 Best Worldwide Prize, AIT Award, Best in Interior and Architecture 2016 by Architecture Interior Technical Solutions (AIT), Hamburg and Cologne, Germany.
Categories (1 of 11): Special Award – International;
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s
JAE Best Design as Scholarship Article Award, 2016. Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) & Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) for “Rematerializations: Prototypical Exploration of Neovernacular Structures in South Africa.”
Honorable Mention – AIT Award, Best in Interior and Architecture 2016 by Architecture Interior Technical Solutions (AIT), Hamburg and Cologne, Germany.
Project: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theater (Cape Town, South Africa)