Dr David Morton

Associate Professor

School: Architecture and Built Environment

David qualified as an Architect at Newcastle School of Architecture, gaining a First Class Degree with one of the highest grades awarded in the history of the School. He was awarded the School of Architecture Student of the Year Award, Building Magazine Student Prize and Gradus Student Prize.

His architectural career is both national and international and has been wide and varied, from the design of Micro Chip Factories for major manufacturers, to listed building projects for English Heritage. These included church buildings and a number of award winning visitors’ centres, such as Rievaulx Abbey and Richmond Castle.

David's PhD focused on the use of digital methods and their impact on the design process, specifically the architectural design process. This research now spans over 40 publications, including journal papers, Special Edition Journal publications, books and book chapters. His research has led to him to becoming invited guest speaker and keynote speaker at both national, international conferences and European Summits. He is also visiting Professor at L'école d'ingénieurs El.Cesi, Paris and Visiting Professor Formación y Consultoría BIM, Barcelona. He has also been a member of the RIBA North East Regional Council since 2008.

David's design research has stemmed from his practice from which he gained an International IFSEC Award for Innovative security Award for a City wide scheme in the North East on which David was lead consultant amongst the RIBA, LABC (Building Excellence Award) and other architectural awards.

Prior to joining the Architecture & Built Environment Team at Northumbria, David spent 11 years in the housing industry working both in the UK and Sweden. In the UK David was Senior Architect for a major housing provider and the Lead Architect for BoKlok UK and BoKlok AB (the housing arm of IKEA) in the UK and Sweden.

Research with IKEA and Skanska into the use of MMC (Modern Methods of Construction) and timber framed systems to create affordable and environmentally considerate housing has been David’s focus culminating in an award winning timber framed system for BoKlok (IKEA) used for affordable housing construction in the UK and European market.
David is a founding member of the BIM Academy (based at Northumbria University) and was part of the Team for Build Qatar Live 2012, the overall winner in a 48 hour virtual design collaboration to design a Museum of Architecture in Doha. This competition included teams from across the world competing for the title in the openBIM event.

His pedagogic research into design process, digital exploration in design and teaching has led to him being invited onto the Community for Innovation in Teaching and Education (CITE) at Northumbria University.

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Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
The digital paradox in architectural design: The avoidance of a process of imitation or mimicry, gestures, or make-believe, Morton, D., Charlton, J. 1 Mar 2025, In: AMPS Proceedings
BIM and Teaching in Architecture: Current thinking and approaches, Morton, D., Ahmed, T., Humphrey, R. 30 Nov 2023, eCAADe RIS 2023: Regenerating the City Performance-driven and Simulation-based Computational Design for Sustainable Cities and Communities, Tallin, Estonia, Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe)
The effect of digital exploration in the mimetics of the design process – a new curricula?, Morton, D., Charlton, J. 30 Aug 2023, AMPS PROCEEDINGS SERIES 31, AMPS - Architecture_Media_Politics_Society
Changing learning landscape: from CAD to BIM and beyond, Morton, D., Pérez Arnal, I. 17 Nov 2021, Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Design, Construction and Operations IV, Southampton, WIT Press
BIM: The Creative Agent of Change, Morton, D. 12 Feb 2015, European BIM Summit 2015
Curiosity and Cognition: In the digital learning journey, Morton, D. 18 Feb 2015, RIBA Design Through Production
Learning outside the lecture space, Morton, D. 17 Apr 2015, Build it with your eyes closed
Mapping the use of digital tools within learning in the architectural studio, Morton, D. 3 Sep 2015, Innovation in Built Environment Education

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Invited talk: Digital Capturing of Existing Environments - Digital Heritage 2016
Oral presentation: Digital Praxis: From Abstraction to Simulation in Learning 2016
Oral presentation: The BIM Model as the investigative landscape: Roaming in the digital age of pedagogy 2016
Oral presentation: Curiosity and Cognition: In the digital learning journey 2015