Mike Christenson, AIA, NCARB, Professor of Architecture, is a registered architect in the states of North Dakota and Minnesota.

I am interested in questions of architectural epistemology: how knowledge about architecture is structured, organized, and disseminated. These questions are grounded in my assumption that a tactical identity exists between architectural analysis and architectural design. Despite their strategic aims being different, the tactics of architectural analysis and design are identical, consisting of the persistent, iterative production of mediating artifacts such as drawings, text, photographs, and models. My research is thus aimed at developing media-based strategies and tools suited for both analytic and design-generative purposes.

Link: Published Research

My research is published nationally and internationally. Selections from my published research can be viewed at http://ndsu.academia.edu/MikeChristenson. My book titled Beginning Design Technology was published by Routledge early in 2016. I am a member of several national organizations, including the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture, for which I serve as an elected Member of the Board of Directors and as appointed Treasurer. I serve as Associate Editor for Architectural Computing on the Editorial Board of the Architectural Science Review. I regularly participate as an invited guest reviewer at regional universities, including recent invitations to the University of Minnesota, South Dakota State University, and the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

My teaching responsibilities at NDSU include graduate-level architectural design studios, required undergraduate courses in digital technologies and structures, and graduate seminars addressing theories and practices of architectural representation. Prior to joining NDSU, I worked full-time as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota, teaching design studios and courses in building construction and digital technology. Some of the tutorials I've prepared for digital technology can be viewed at www.architecturalsoftware.org.

My professional experience includes over ten years in industry. While employed at Alliiance in Minneapolis, I worked on teams in collaboration with Jean Nouvel on the design of the Guthrie Theater on the River, and in collaboration with Cesar Pelli on the design of the Minneapolis Central Library. While employed at Stageberg Beyer Sachs Architects, I helped to lead the project team for the renovation and conversion of Minneapolis's historic Walter Library into the Digital Technology Center. Currently, on a part-time consulting basis, I am a Principal in Design and Energy Laboratory, LLC ("DandELab"), based in Fargo, North Dakota. The firm specializes in affordable, energy-efficient architectural designs, and is a 2014 recipient of an AIA North Dakota Honor Award for residential architectural design.