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Bechthold is director of the Doctor of Design Program at the GSD, and co-director of the Master in Design Engineering Program at Harvard. He teaches courses in design robotics and material systems, building structures, as well as life-cycle design. Recent courses include CeramicsLab, the TRACES option studio, Analysis and Design of Building Structures I and II, as well as Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing (Cad/Cam).

Bechthold received a Diplom-Ingenieur degree in Architecture from the Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule in Aachen, Germany, and a Doctor of Design Degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is a registered architect in Germany and has practiced in London, Paris, and Hamburg. During this period, he was associated with firms such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Santiago Calatrava and von Gerkan, Marg & Partner.

Bechthold’s research broadly looks at material and fabrication technology as a catalyst of innovation for design practice. In 2010 he founded the GSD’s Design Robotics Group (DRG), a group of faculty, research associates and students that pursues sponsored and other research projects. DRG was merged into the larger MaP+S Group with its current research focuses on integrating robotic technology into fabrication and construction processes, developing advanced material systems in collaboration with industry partners and the Wyss Center for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Bechthold is co-author of “Structures” and “Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing” as well as the author of “Innovative Surface Structures”. His latest book is entitled ‘Ceramic Material Systems’.

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