The Centre for Design Research was established in 2003 and has as its objective to strengthen research within the field of design in Denmark in general and in particular to contribute to the construction of a strong design research environment crosswise of the architectural and design schools, and to develop the collaboration with other institutions and with the business community.

The Department of Design at the Aarhus School of Architecture cooperates with the Centre for Design Research on a number of research projects.

Information technology becomes still more integrated in our everyday life. Many of the things with which we surround ourselves have microprocessors; they are omnipresent and can be connected crisscross in the wireless network and create new functions called 'Mixed-media-devices'. How designers can use these possibilities has been subject to a number of research projects that the Department of Design has carried out with support from the Centre for Design Research. Of these, a number has been made in collaboration with international research institutions and business enterprises.

This applies to among others PalCom where the aim has been to develop ‘the interactive hospital'. The research project has also given rise to a PhD-thesis on exactly ‘Mixed-media-devices'. The cross-disciplinary research centre Interactive Spaces is likewise working on creating new concepts for the interactive spaces of the future; this is done by uniting architecture, engineering work and computer science with research.

At the same time, design is gaining still larger strategic importance; design thinking, competences and methods are involved when private companies and public institutions develop innovative strategies. Design is here given the character of process rather than product. This development is illustrated in the research project ‘Strategic design'.

The mentioned development tendencies mean that the traditional concept of research is changing. The PhD thesis ‘Det udvidede designbegreb' (the Extended Concept of Design) deals with this complex of problems and what it means to instruction within the field of design.

Finally, a PhD project entitled ‘Morgendagens solceller - form, teknik og funktion' (Tomorrow's solar cells - form, technique and function). The starting point is that solar cell should be considered not only as an energy source, but be made an integrated part of a building façade.