James Forren (he/him) is an Associate Professor of Architecture in Design and Technology at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.  He utilizes computational, fine arts, and anthropological methods in the study of new materials and material technologies in architectural contexts. His research focuses on the production of architectural components and assemblies, concrete and composite technologies, and people’s experiences with materials in industrial, design, and public contexts.

His research has been published in scholarly journals and conferences including the The Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) and The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) and Scroope: The Cambridge Architectural Journal. His exhibited work has received awards at Mongeometrija 2018 and The S.ARCH (Sustainable Architecture) 2019 and 2020.

His current research is supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) New Frontiers in Research Fund Exploration (NFRF-E) program for the transdisciplinary project, “Gesture and Form: A Field-based Approach to New Methods of Architecture and Handcraft in Textiles Using Augmented Reality Technologies”; and through industry collaboration with the Canadian Precast Concrete Institute (CPCI) for the directed research project, “Soft Rock: Artificial Rock Technologies Explored as Soft Systems”.