Shakil Ahmad Shimul is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma. His research and teaching focus on kinetic and responsive architecture, with particular attention to smart materials, digital fabrication, and environmental performance. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from BRAC University in Bangladesh and a Master of Science in Architecture from Texas Tech University, where he specialized in digital design and fabrication. His doctoral research investigates transformative surface systems using electro-responsive polymers to develop adaptive building envelopes.
Shakil’s work explores how advanced materials and emerging technologies can shape more sustainable and resilient built environments. He has developed a responsive building envelope system known as the Smart Breathing Window, designed to improve indoor air quality and reduce HVAC loads by leveraging outdoor air conditions. This innovation has received a published patent, license validation, and multiple awards, including recognition from NSF I-Corps, the GLEAMM Spark Fund, and the TTU Presidential Award. His research introduces new commercial opportunities for kinetic design and proposes novel methods for creating non-planar, transformative structures across engineering applications.
Since 2008, Shakil has practiced architecture internationally, including work with Pritzker Prize laureate B. V. Doshi and as an Associate Architect at Volume Zero Ltd. in Bangladesh. His professional portfolio includes residential and retail projects in Bangladesh, the United States, Spain, and Nigeria. In each project, he integrates principles of sustainability, adaptive design, and environmental responsiveness. In one recent multistory apartment design, he applied fluid dynamics to shape building geometry and surface texture, guiding natural airflow into indoor spaces to support passive ventilation.
His research interests include digital design and fabrication, parametric and kinetic architecture, robotics in design, smart materials, biophilic strategies, artificial intelligence, passive and active ventilation, high-performance building envelopes, and climate-resilient architecture.
