Prof. Dr. Robert J. Flatt

Forschungsgebiet

Robert Flatt's research interests span a broad range of areas. Most recently he has engaged in the use of extended reality (XR) in support of the preservation of built heritage. In this highly interdisciplinary area, XR has the potential to facilitate communication among teams of experts from different fields, and also achieve better outreach to society. 

In terms of heritage preservations, Robert’s research is anchored in material science, with a specific aim of developing reliable test methods to replace or repair materials. For this, his group seeks to identify critical weathering events onsite, and then reproduce them at higher frequencies in specially designed weather stations.

In parallel to this, Robert’s group is intensely engaged in digital fabrication with concrete, a term they coined as Digital Concrete, where they launched a series of international conferences on the subject in 2018. In this field, a main interest is the synergy between process engineering and the control of both hydration and rheology. Through the highly interdisciplinary National Centre for Competence in Research on Digital Fabrication in Architecture and Construction (NNCR dfab), Robert’s group contributes to many different forms of digital fabrication, including 3D extrusion printing, Digital Casting Systems and Powder Bed Printing. Robert is particularly interested in bringing these developments to an architectural scale and in practice, something that has been taking place through a variety of demonstrators and collaborations with industry. 

Contributions to digital fabrication build upon the field Robert has probably most contributed to, which is the science and technology of concrete admixtures. On this front, he is interested in elucidating the complex mechanism of admixtures, which added even in very low amounts, can fundamentally change key properties of concrete: Rheology, Hydration, Durability, Processability and Sustainability. A better understanding of these processes is a key to reducing the carbon footprint of the construction sector, a driving objective for much of the above work.