Thomas Bo Jensen is professor of architecture and head of research at the Aarhus School of Architecture.
His research unfolds at the intersection between the natural, the cultural and the tectonic and aesthetic aspects of the materials of architecture, investigated through tectonic principles and expressions, as well as through the poetic imagination connected to the material’s presence and origin. From a profound interest in the material of brick, his research has resulted in a Ph.D. dissertation about the structural and ornamental powers of brickwork in the 1920’s, followed by three monographs on some of the most distinguished 20th century Danish masters of brickwork: P.V. Jensen-Klint, Inger & Johannes Exner and Per Kirkeby. TBJ is currently leading the research project Material Imagination – reconnecting with the matter of architecture, counting 7 researchers from Aarhus School of Architecture and material researchers from other universities such as Virginia Tech, University of Michigan, Bartlett School of Architecture and Royal Danish Academy. In bonding our imagination directly with matter, while also confronting new digital technologies, this project challenges overly pragmatic and unreflective solutions within current architectural practice.