Staff Profile

Background

His research is informed by five years working at Arup (www.arup.com)  where he carried out concept to detailed structural design of a wide range of structures including the National Tennis Centre Reception Building (London) and an innovative cow shed (http://www.roundhouseltd.co.uk/en/) and gained Chartered Civil Engineer status.

Qualifications

PhD Structural Engineering (Newcastle University, 2005): “Architectural fabric properties: determination, representation & prediction” 

MEng Civil Engineering (Durham University, 2000)

Memberships

CEng MICE Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers

Research Interests

Ben is a Senior Lecturer in Architectural Technology in the School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape at Newcastle University. His research focuses on the role of materials in design, fabrication, and experience. Collaborations with product designers, artists and architects has enabled him to apply his technical expertise in material testing and characterisation, material 'ageing', responsive materials and lightweight tensile structures to broader questions of sustainable design, consumption and the circular economy.

Google Scholar profile: http://tinyurl.com/bridgens-google  

Researchgate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ben_Bridgens

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 Newcastle University and Northumbria University. The Hub will involve the recruitment of 35 new academic staff including Architectural Designers, Bio Scientists and Engineers and development of three new facilities including two new Bio Design Labs and a unique Experimental ‘Living’ House, we call ‘The OME’. The Hub also includes 14 industrial partners including IBM, P&G, RIBA and Arup. Our vision is to develop biotechnologies to create a new generation of Living Buildings which are 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 health and wellbeing.

Hygromorphic Materials for Sustainable Responsive Architecture. Development of responsive wood based composites. https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/responsive-materials/

ENDURE - Enabling Designers to Understand mateRial changE. https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/materialmetamorphosis/. EPSRC funded Impact Acceleration project in collaboration with Loughborough Design School, building on research outcomes from the CLEVER - Closed Loop Emotionally Valuable E-waste Recovery project (http://www.clever-research.com).

Current PhD supervision

Assia Stefanova (Application of living metabolic processes within buildings)

Emily Birch (microbial spore based hygrmorphic materials)

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

Recently completed PhD students

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)

Contribution to Undergraduate Technology modules and Dissertation, and M.Arch Linked Research project.

• Crawford A, In-na P, Caldwell G, Armstrong R, Bridgens B. Clay 3D printing as a bio-design research tool: development of photosynthetic living building components. Architectural Science Review 2022, epub ahead of print.
• Scott J, Kaiser R, Ozkan D, Hoenerloh A, Agraviador A, Elsacker E, Bridgens B. Knitted cultivation: Textiling a multi-kingdom bio architecture. In: ICSA Structures and Architecture. 2022, Aalborg Denmark: CRC press.
• Birch E, Bridgens B, Zhang M, Dade-Robertson M. Bacterial spore-based hygromorphs: A novel active material with potential for architectural applications. Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 4030.
• Scott J, Ozkan D, Hoenerloh A, Birch E, Kaiser R, Agraviador A, Bridgens B, Elsacker E. Bioknit Building: Strategies for living textile architectures. In: International Conference Construction, Energy Environment and Sustainability (CEES 2021). 2021, Coimbra, Portugal: Itecons.
• Stefanova A, In-na P, Caldwell GS, Bridgens B, Armstrong R. Photosynthetic textile biocomposites: using laboratory testing and digital fabrication to develop flexible living building materials. Science and Engineering of Composite Materials 2021, 28(1), 223-236.
• van Ellen LA, Bridgens BN, Burford N, Heidrich O. Rhythmic Buildings - a framework for sustainable adaptable architecture. Building and Environment 2021, 203, 108068.
• Sung K, Singh J, Bridgens B, ed. State-of-the-art upcycling research and practice: proceedings of the international upcycling symposium 2020. Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2021.
• Stefanova A, Bridgens B, In-na P, Caldwell GS, Armstrong R. Architectural laboratory practice for the development of clay and ceramic-based photosynthetic biocomposites. Technology | Architecture + Design 2020, 4(2), 200-210.
• Bridgens B. How biotechnology can transform delivery and operation of the built environment. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engeering 2020, 173(1), 13-13.
• Lilley D, Bridgens B, Davies A, Holstov A. Ageing (dis)gracefully: enabling designers to understand material change. Journal of Cleaner Production 2019, 220, 417-430.
• Heidrich O, Bridgens B. Cafe Waste and Upcycling to reconnect people, materials and places. In: 10th International Conference of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE2019). 2019, Beijing, China: International Society for Industrial Ecology.
• Bridgens B, Hobson K, Lilley D, Lee J, Scott JL, Wilson GT. Closing the Loop on E-waste: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2019, 23(1), 169-181.
• Bridgens B, Lilley D, Zeilig H, Searing C. Skin deep. Perceptions of human and material ageing and opportunities for design. The Design Journal 2019, 22(sup1), 2251-2255.
• Oyebamiji OK, Wilkinson DJ, Pahala-Gedara J, Rushton SP, Li B, Bridgens B, Zuliani P. A Bayesian approach to modelling the impact of hydrodynamic shear stress on biofilm deformation. PLOS ONE 2018, 13(4), e0195484.
• Bridgens B, Powell M, Farmer G, Walsh CL, Reed E, Royapoor M, Gosling P, Hall J, Heidrich O. Creative upcycling: reconnecting people, materials and place through making. Journal of Cleaner Production 2018, 189, 145-154.
• Pedgley O, Şener B, Lilley D, Bridgens B. Embracing Material Surface Imperfections in Product Design. International Journal of Design 2018, 12(3), 21-33.
• 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. A mechanistic individual-based model of microbial communities. PLoS One 2017, 12(8), e0181965.
• Bridgens B, Lilley D. Design for Next… Year. The Challenge of Designing for Material Change. In: Design for Next: 12th European Academy of Design Conference. 2017, Sapienza University of Rome: European Academy of Design.
• Jayathilake P, Jana S, Rushton S, Swailes D, Bridgens B, Curtis T, Chen J. Extracellular Polymeric Substance Production and Aggregated Bacteria Colonization Influence the Competition of Microbes in Biofilms. Frontiers in Microbiology 2017, 8, 1-14.
• Holstovs A, Farmer G, Bridgens B. Sustainable Materialisation of Responsive Architecture. Sustainability 2017, 9(3), 435.
• Lilley D, Smalley G, Bridgens BN, Wilson GT, Balasundaram K. Cosmetic obsolescence? User perceptions of new and artificially aged materials. Materials and Design 2016, 101, 355-365.
• Holstov A, Farmer G, Bridgens B. Implementing hygromorphic wood composites into responsive building skins. In: 11th Conference on Advanced Building Skins. 2016, Bern, Switzerland: Advanced Building Skins GmbH.
• Manley A, Lilley D, Bridgens B, Hurn K, Lofthouse V. Worn in or Worn out?: Cosmetic Wear and Attitudinal Responses to Materials. In: 9th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. 2016, Gothenburg, Sweden: ACM.
• Bridgens BN, Lilley D, Smalley G, Balasundaram K. Ageing gracefully to increase product longevity. In: PLATE: Product Lifetimes and The Environment. 2015, Nottingham, UK: Nottingham Trent University: College of Architecture Design and the Built Environment.
• Holstov A, Bridgens BN, Farmer G. Hygromorphic materials for sustainable responsive architecture. Construction and Building Materials 2015, 98, 570-582.
• Ammar Y, Swailes DC, Bridgens BN, Chen J. Influence of surface roughness on initial formation of biofilm. In: 42nd International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films. 2015, San Diego, CA, USA.
• Ammar Y, Swailes DC, Bridgens BN, Chen J. Influence of surface roughness on the initial formation of biofilm. Surface and Coatings Technology 2015, 284, 410-416.
• Wilson GT, Bridgens BN, Hobson K, Lee J, Lilley D, Scott JL, Suckling J. Single product, multi-lifetime components: challenges for Product-Service System development. In: PLATE: Product Lifetimes and The Environment. 2015, Nottingham, UK: Nottingham Trent University: CADBE.
• Holstov A, Morris P, Farmer G, Bridgens B. Towards sustainable adaptive building skins with embedded hygromorphic responsiveness. In: advanced building skins. 2015, Graz University of Technology, Austria.
• Gosling P, Bartle N, Bridgens BN. Aleatoric & epistemic uncertainty in the analysis of tensile structures. 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.
• Colman AG, Bridgens BN, Gosling PD, Jou GT, Hsu XY. Shear behaviour of architectural fabrics subjected to biaxial tensile loads. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing 2014, 66, 163-174.
• Iliffe CN, Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. A Predictive Model for the Design of Functional Textiles. In: VI International Conference on Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures. 2013, Munich, Germany.
• Iliffe CN, Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. A predictive model for the design of functional textiles structural membranes 2013. 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.
• Gosling PD, Bridgens BN, Zhang L. Adoption of a reliability approach for membrane structure analysis. Structural Safety 2013, 40, 39-50.
• 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. Analysis and design of membrane structures: results of a round robin exercise. Engineering Structures 2012, 48, 313-328.
• Bridgens BN, Birchall MJS. Form and function: the significance of material properties in the design of tensile fabric structures. Engineering Structures 2012, 44, 1-12.
• Bridgens BN, Gosling PD, Jou G-T, Hsu X-Y. Inter-laboratory comparison of biaxial tests for architectural textiles. Journal of the Textile Institute 2012, 103(7), 706-718.
• Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. Interpretation of results from the MSAJ "Testing Method for Elastic Constants of Membrane Materials". 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: International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. 2010, Newcastle, UK: ISPRS.
• 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.
• Gosling PD, Bridgens BN. Specification of a round robin exercise for the design of membrane structures. In: Tensinet Symposium: Tensile Architecture: Connecting Past and Future. 2010, Sofia, Bulgaria: GSP.
• Bridgens B, Gosling P. A predictive model for flexible woven composites. In: International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition. 2009, Baltimore, MD, USA: SAMPE.
• Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. A predictive fabric model for membrane structure design. In: Oñate E; Kröplin B, ed. Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures II. Dordrecht: Springer, 2008, pp.35-50.
• Gosling PD, Bridgens BN. Material testing & computational mechanics: a new philosophy for architectural fabrics. International Journal of Space Structures 2008, 23(4), 215-232.
• Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. A new biaxial test protocol for architectural fabrics. Journal of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures 2004, 45(3), 175-182.
• Bridgens BN, Gosling PD. Direct stress-strain representation for coated woven fabrics. Computers & Structures 2004, 82(23-26), 1913-1927.
• Bridgens BN, Gosling PD, Birchall MJS. Membrane material behaviour: concepts, practice and developments. Structural Engineer 2004, 82(14), 28-33.
• Bridgens BN, Gosling PD, Birchall MJS. Tensile fabric structures: concepts, practice & developments. Structural Engineer 2004, 82(14), 21-27.