Design, Practice, Materials and Making
Research related to design, practice, materials and making
Members of the Design, Practice, Materials and Making (DPMM) research group engage in traditional, practice-based and practice-led research, with a collective focus on design, practice, materials and making.
Aims
Group members seek to understand material and making cultures, affect processes and products in industry and practice, and explore the intersection of academic and professional domains.
The group supports original, rigorous research through collaboration and knowledge sharing, and connects research within the school to relevant activities outside.
Group leads
- Conducting design-based research projects
- Reflection on (and evaluation of) built projects
- Research with a focus on material performance and properties
- Development and evaluation of construction techniques
- Research with a focus on making or prototyping
- Practice-based research
This year's projects
- Homes of today for tomorrow: Decarbonising Welsh housing between 2020 and 2050
- Homes for Future Generations – seven essays and six case studies
- Barnhaus (built project, Bridgend)
- Euro-Mediterranean Urban Voids Ecology (EMUVE)
Last year's projects
- Peter Salter’s Walmer Yard
- Actions to Decarbonise Existing Homes in Wales
Academic staff

Dr Steve Coombs
Director of Undergraduate Teaching | Year 5 chair
- coombss@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 5972

Professor Mhairi McVicar
Project Lead of Community Gateway
- mcvicarm@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 4634

Dr Federico Wulff
Senior Lecturer of Architecture and Urban Design
MA AD Course Director
- wulfff@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 0307

Dr Julie Gwilliam
Dean of Postgraduate Studies College of Physical Sciences & Engineering
- gwilliamja@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 5977
Postgraduate students
Ad-hoc research group meetings (approximately quarterly, but recently on hold due to COVID-19).