Research Projects

Mike Christenson, Professor of Architecture

My research explores the field of architectural epistemology, that is, the study of how knowledge about architecture is produced, structured, and disseminated. In a contemporary context, this field is intimately related to digital technology and design computing, and consequently it is both dynamic and rapidly expanding, rich with cross-disciplinary implications. In my work -- spanning service, research, and teaching -- I continue to promote the value of traditional architectural techniques and media (e. g., photography, line drawing, oblique projection) in the context of rapidly expanding technologies. Furthermore, in recognizing that the persistent novelty of any technology often causes goals to obscure the wonders of the journey, I always look to maximize the potential of serendipity, accident, and discovery.

As an academic and a researcher, my philosophy follows from the assumption that a tactical identity exists between the analysis of existing buildings and the design of new buildings (i. e., despite their strategic aims being different, their tactics are the same: both rely on the persistent, iterative production of representational artifacts such as drawings, text, photographs, and models.) The primary task of my research is to explore this assumption with regard to diverse ways of knowing, both traditional and digital.

Selections from my published research can be viewed at https://spanalumni.academia.edu/MikeChristenson.

Note to Undergraduate Students: The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) provides current University of Minnesota undergraduates with $1,800 for 120 hours of research, paid through financial aid. The first $900 will be awarded at the beginning of your project and the final $900 will be awarded once all four ending requirements are met. The program enables undergrads to explore academic and career interests, apply classroom learning to real-time research, and prepares them for a career or graduate school while working closely with a U of M faculty member.

Visit https://ugresearch.umn.edu/opportunities/urop for more information, and application links.

New Projects

The following projects are currently accepting expressions of interest. To indicate your interest in participating on any of these projects, contact me (mike001@umn.edu) with a brief summary of your interests, qualifications, and your goals for learning.

Project title: Parametric Reading of the Built Environment

This project is funded in part by the Digital Design Center, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in the College of Design and the College of Science and Engineering. In this project, we will develop a method for parametrically "reading" an urban site, a method that does not aim to represent appearance, but rather seeks to represent the site's internal logics and latent qualities.

Research question: How can a method of "parametric reading" disclose attributes of the built environment in unique ways?

email me at mike001@umn.edu to express your interest in joining this project.

Project title: Developing Techniques for Meta-Representation

This project is funded in part by the Digital Design Center, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in the College of Design and the College of Science and Engineering.

In this project, we will develop techniques for effectively representing representations of existing buildings. Stated somewhat more precisely, we will identify and examine a collection of images, and represent them in ways that highlight their differences and commonalities.

Research question: How can meta-representation reveal unique architectural qualities of an existing building?

email me at mike001@umn.edu to express your interest in joining this project.

Ongoing Projects

The following projects are underway in Spring 2025. Contact me (mike001@umn.edu) if you have questions about any of these projects.

Project title: Embodied and Operational Carbon Analysis: A Grasshopper-Based Method for Visually Comparing Impacts of Material Choices

Project participants: Robert Gay, Mike Christenson, Malini Srivastava

This project is funded in part by the Digital Design Center, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in the College of Design and the College of Science and Engineering.

In this project, we describe and evaluate a parametric method for enabling embodied carbon analysis early in architectural design. The method utilizes Grasshopper, within Rhino, to convert volumes of modeled materials into equivalent volumes of carbon dioxide, providing a means to visualize and compare embodied carbon impacts.

Research question: How can we determine the relevance of embodied-carbon visualization and analysis to early-stage design decisions?

Project title: Multi-Point Perspective Restitution

Project participants: Kallie Self, Mike Christenson

This project is funded in part by the Digital Design Center, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in the College of Design and the College of Science and Engineering.

In this project, we are developing techniques for conducting "perspective restitution" of multiple-vanishing-point images.

Research question: How are methods for "perspective restitution" of multi-point perspectives different from, and similar to, methods for single-point perspectives?

Project title: Occlusion Map Plan Variations

Project participants: Joy Quach, Mike Christenson

This project is funded in part by the Digital Design Center, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in the College of Design and the College of Science and Engineering.

Using Grasshopper, we examine the significance of parametric variations in the generation of occlusion maps (i. e., maps of isovists distributed in a field).

Research question: What are the semantically relevant parameters in the generation of occlusion maps?

Project title: Subjective Analysis of Urban Street Scenes with Manual Tracing

Project participants (Spring 2024): Ciera Hanson, Mike Christenson

This project is funded in part by the Digital Design Center, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in the College of Design and the College of Science and Engineering.

In this project, we are developing and critiquing a visual research method aimed at discerning culturally-specific attributes of urban streets. The comparative study involves streets in Jaipur, India, and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Research question: In what ways can manual tracing produce a visual transformation of photographs, such that the transformation can disrupt normative ways of seeing, drawing attention to taken-for-granted aspects of the built environment?

Project title: Testing Free Alternatives to Proprietary Software in Architectural Education

Project participants (Spring 2024): Xiaotong Liu, Mike Christenson

Project participants (Spring 2023): Abigail Green, Kallie Self, Mike Christenson

In this project, we are identifying "core functions" within conventional architectural software and mapping those functions to freeware alternatives. We are developing and implementing several tests to gauge the effectiveness and usefulness of free software.

Research question: How can we advocate for a shift towards cost-effective software, acknowledging challenges in adoption and interoperability while underscoring potential benefits for students?

Project title: Ways of Knowing Digital Models

Project participants: Xiaotong Liu, Mike Christenson

This project is funded in part by the Digital Design Center, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in the College of Design and the College of Science and Engineering.

In this project, we are considering how BIM provides a platform that both limits and enables reciprocal relationships between and among models and other representations of existing buildings.

Research question: In what ways can problematizing reciprocal relationships between digital models and other representations lead to epistemological gaps that invite knowledge production?

Project title: Sectional Isovists, Occlusion Maps, and Patterns of Perception

Project participants: Joy Quach, Mike Christenson

This project is funded in part by the Digital Design Center, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in the College of Design and the College of Science and Engineering.

Most isovist research is interested in quantifiable metrics for isovists deployed in a field. There is comparatively little research concerning the knowledge-generating potential of isovists graphically deployed on a path.

Research question: Relative to the generation of new knowledge, what parameters are relevant to the production of sectional isovists deployed on a path?

Project title: Perspective Restitution of Historical Photographs

Project participants: Kallie Self, Mike Christenson

This project is funded in part by the Digital Design Center, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in the College of Design and the College of Science and Engineering.

In this project, we are interested in developing and critically examining the act of "perspective restitution" for historical photographs. This could also be called the "reverse-engineering" of a digitally-modeled 3D space on the basis of systematically examining 2D images.

Research question: What capabilities and limitations are present in the act of "perspective restitution" for historic photographs?

Project title: Digital Twins in Existing-Building Applications

Project participants (Spring 2024): Wincy Gerard Perez, Mike Christenson

This project is funded in part by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.

In this project, we are examining the phenomenon of the digital twin, considering how the relationships between built structures and digital twins may inform the production of architecturally specific knowledge. Our focus is on examining an existing building as a test environment.

Research question: What level of detail should be represented in a digital twin if it is used to ‘expand or challenge’ architectural knowledge about existing buildings?

Past Projects

The projects described below represent a selection of past research projects completed collaboratively with students. Contact me (mike001@umn.edu) if you have questions about any of these projects.

Project title: Differentiation as a form of knowledge production in architecture

Project participants: Brad Benke, Mike Christenson

This project was funded in part by the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at North Dakota State University.

In this project, we questioned how tools may facilitate forms of knowledge production historically essential to architectural epistemology but often overlooked in a contemporary discourse dominated by hyperaccurate models, predictive simulations, and photorealistic renderings.

Published here: https://arcc-journal.org/index.php/repository/article/view/145

email me at mike001@umn.edu with questions about this project

Project title: Spherical mapping of a perforated-wall model

Project participants: Malini Foobalan, Mike Christenson

This project was funded in part by the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at North Dakota State University.

We considered the general problem in visibility analysis of mapping a building envelope, i. e., the physical membrane separating a building’s interior from its exterior, onto a hollow sphere.

Published here: http://ww.ccaasmag.org/arch_2012/vol1/Christenson_spherical-mapping.pdf

email me at mike001@umn.edu with questions about this project

Project title: Energy Analysis of Public School Buildings Through Visualization

Project participants: Noor Abdelhamid, Ben Dalton, Mike Christenson, Malini Srivastava

This project was funded in part by the North Dakota Department of Commerce State Energy Program.

As part of a multi-year research effort, our research group developed a methodology for energy-use analysis of existing public school buildings, with the goal of augmenting existing datasets (e. g., metering). Our effort focuses on the role of the building envelope in energy efficiency, through an integration of digital photography, photogrammetry, and digital modeling with existing and newly-collected energy-use data.

Published and presented at the 2018 Conference of the Design Communication Association.

email me at mike001@umn.edu with questions about this project

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