Cynthia Öttchen is a registered architect, published author and educator. She served as the Manager of Internal Affairs at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, working directly with the founder Rem Koolhaas, CEO Victor van der Chijs, and other OMA partners to oversee and staff projects in the office on a daily basis. She also developed and directed OMA’s Research and Innovation cell for exploring new design methodologies (including parametrics and sustainability), and for forming strategic technological collaborations for the office. This role followed a brief period in Zaha Hadid’s London office where she helped implement new protocols.

Her research in digital methodologies and her peer-reviewed published articles on the subject led to a role as the 2008 Gerald Sheff Visiting Professor at McGill University SOA, teaching a studio and seminar in New Computational Design Strategies. She developed parametric approaches for rapid UAE urbanization in Dubai, was a Visiting Design Critic at Harvard GSD, and has worked for a broad range of high profile architectural practices. Professor Öttchen holds the Master of Architecture from Rice University, Houston TX and has completed post-graduate studies in the History and Philosophy of Architecture at the University of Cambridge, England. Se is the co-author of best-selling books on Shakespeare and language, published by Random House, and the designer of related merchandise.