Dr Matyas Gutai

MArch MEng PhD

Pronouns: He/him
  • Lecturer in Architecture and Construction Technology

Research and expertise

I am an architect and engineer, with a background in sustainable construction and design. My research interests are in Advanced Façade Design and Engineering, with a specific focus on hybrid materials.

My areas of expertise are:

  • Water-filled Glass (WFG) technology, as an innovative approach to glass building envelopes
  • Life-Cycle Carbon Assessment of new construction and retrofits
  • Entrepreneurship of innovations in the construction industry
  • Sustainable Design and Construction
  • Energy Simulation and Design of Advanced Façade solutions

Current research activity

  • Water-filled Glass (WFG) patents and publications on energy consumption, thermal comfort and Life-Cycle Carbon of WFG
  • Water-filled Glass (WFG) pilot projects in collaboration with enterprises (located in the UK, US and Europe) and academia (in UK, Germany, Spain and Japan)
  • The Transparency Trilemma (an exploration of changing concepts of architectural transparency in light of the ‘Water/Glass’ prototypes: article in preparation, with Dr. Simon Richards)
  • Life-Cycle Carbon Assessment of high-rise timber structures
  • Life-Cycle Carbon Assessment of building retrofits

Recently completed research projects 

  • Water-Glass panel - Product Development and Market Introduction: Research project in collaboration with enterprises in Europe. Market development and building prototypes of the technology. (Grant: EU Economic Development and Innovation Program – GINOP)
  • Water House 2.0 - Hybrid Structural Prototype and New Sustainable Strategy for Tropical Climates: Research project in collaboration with enterprises and Universities in Taiwan and Japan. Market development, constructing experimental building, and making prototypes of the technology. (Grant: Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan - MOST)
  • Trans-structure - Water building, Fluid Architecture and Liquid engineering: Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Kengo Kuma Lab, The University of Tokyo. Researching Advanced Building Envelopes with ‘embedded responsiveness’ based on material properties. (Grant: Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science – JSPS)
  • Allwater Pavilion - Sustainability, Water House and Fluid Architecture: Research project in collaboration with enterprises and Universities in Europe. Constructing experimental building and making prototypes of the technology. (Grant: EU Economic Development and Innovation Program – GINOP)

PhD Supervision

I welcome research proposals on the areas of expertise outlined above, as well as other aspects of Sustainable Construction, Advanced Façade Design and Engineering and Innovation in Construction. I am supervising PhDs on the following topics: New vertical neighbourhoods and their impact on wellbeing and environmental sustainability (ongoing), Mass customization transformation of the housing industry: methodologies for user engagement, digitalization of customer input, and co-creation through computational design technologies (ongoing).

Recent publications

 

Visit: https://www.waterfilledglass.com to learn more about our work on Water-filled Glass (WFG).

Teaching

I contribute to learning and teaching activities across the Schools programmes including:

Undergraduate

  • CVA055 Design Studio A and CVA102 Professional Practice (RE, School-wide Design week for architecture and engineering students)
  • CVA057 Architectural Tectonics (Lecturer, Introduction to Materials and Construction Technology)
  • CVB077 Advanced Technical Investigations (RE and Lead Tutor, Introduction to Life-Cycle Carbon Assessment, Bridging Technical considerations and Architectural Design)
  • CVC092 Business of Architecture (Lecturer and Tutor, focusing on Entrepreneurship and business side of architecture practice)
  • CVC090 Design Studio C – Graduation Design (RE and Lead Tutor, Bringing together Technical and Design aspects in Architectural Design process)

 

Enterprise

Current projects  

  • Water-filled Glass (WFG) pilot projects in collaboration with enterprises (located in the UK, US and Europe) and academia (in UK, Germany, Spain and Japan)

Recently completed projects

  • Water-Glass panel - Product Development and Market Introduction: Research project in collaboration with enterprises in Europe. Market development and building prototypes of the technology. (Grant: EU Economic Development and Innovation Program – GINOP) with: Jüllich Glas
  • Water House 2.0 - Hybrid Structural Prototype and New Sustainable Strategy for Tropical Climates: Research project in collaboration with enterprises and Universities in Taiwan and Japan. Market development, constructing experimental building and making prototypes of the technology. (Grant: Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan - MOST) with: Hesung Construction
  • Trans-structure - Water building, Fluid Architecture and Liquid engineering: Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Kengo Kuma Lab, The University of Tokyo. Researching Advanced Building Envelopes with ‘embedded responsiveness’ based on material properties. (Grant: Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science – JSPS) with: AGC Glass, Mitsubishi Plastics
  • Allwater Pavilion - Sustainability, Water House and Fluid Architecture: Research project in collaboration with enterprises and Universities in Europe. Constructing experimental building and making prototypes of the technology. (Grant: EU Economic Development and Innovation Program – GINOP) with: Jüllich Glas, KNAUF insulation

 

Profile

I graduated from Budapest Technical University with a degree in Architecture (MArch) and The University of Tokyo with a degree in engineering (MEng and PhD).

I carried out my doctoral research on energy simulation and design of hybrid building envelopes, with a specific focus on Water-filled Glass (WFG). During my studies, I worked on short, project-based contracts at architecture practices in Europe and Japan, including Alvaro Siza, Arata Isozaki and Shigeru Ban.

After graduating in 2010, I started working at Budapest Technical University, where I taught architecture and led an EU research grant on Water-filled Glass. The project was a collaboration of academia and industry and developed the first prototypes of the technology, a manufacturing process and construction method of WFG. The result was a built prototype house titled Water House 1.0. I patented the technology, which is now grated in Japan and Europe (including the UK). Parallel to teaching and research, I founded an architecture practice that worked on projects with various scale and function in Europe and China.

From 2012 I was granted JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship and joined the Laboratory of Prof Kengo Kuma at The University of Tokyo. I worked together with AGC Glass and Mitsubishi Plastics and developed a WFG prototype tailored for hot climates. After completion of the Fellowship in 2014, I joined Feng Chia University in Taiwan. I continued the research with The University of Tokyo and built a second WFG prototype building titled Water House 2.0.

I joined Loughborough when the architecture program started in 2017. Since then, I am supporting our team's effort in developing the program by bridging our technical and design teaching. In terms of research, I extended WFG to other fields of Sustainable Construction, including Advanced Façade Design and Engineering aspects (e.g. simulation and design of envelopes) and Life-Cycle Carbon Assessment of the built environment. 

Professional affiliations

  • The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education (EAUC)

Awards

  • “Highly Commended” for ‘Reaching Higher’ Award of Association of University Directors of Estates /AUDE/ (for Food + Wood Summer School)
  • Finalist for Green Gown Award for Sustainability (for Food + Wood Summer School)
  • Junior Príma Prize (granted for innovation: Water House patent)
  • Hauszman Prize for Graduation Design (awarded by Hauszman Foundation)

External activities

I am a Reviewer for the following journals:

  • Energy and Buildings (Elsevier)
  • Journal of Façade Design and Engineering (TU Delft)
  • Sustainability (MDPI)
  • Energies (MDPI)

Key collaborators

My research and enterprise activities are conducted with a range of academic and stakeholder partners, including:

  • Kengo Kuma Lab, The University of Tokyo
  • Department of Applied Mathematics in Aerospace Engineering, Technical University of Madrid
  • University of Kaiserslautern
  • Budapest University of Technology
  • Jülich Glas