Lehigh University

---

 

WILLIAM PEDERSEN

Founding Design Partner
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Balancing
click here to view video

Friday, February 20th, 2015– 4:30 pm

Location: Sinclair Lab Auditorium, Lehigh University, 7 Asa Drive, Bethlehem, PA

Overview:

I have titled this talk “Balancing” since much of what I do as an architect involves resolving the conflicting objectives of seemingly opposing conditions.
My talk takes one through the journey I have had in architecture beginning with my earliest days as a student at the University of Minnesota and MIT. However, my career really begins with the formation of a partnership with Gene Kohn and Sheldon Fox. The three of us each had very different personalities, came from very different backgrounds and held different aspirations for our careers in architecture. Together we were like the three parts of a sailboat; the keel, the hull, and the sails.

From the beginning of our practice together, circumstances brought us several opportunities to design the high rise urban office building. My greatest contribution to architecture has been my systematic exploration of various strategies which are aimed at making this building type a responsive participant within the city. I have often called the work I am doing for the related Company in Hudson Yards my final exam.

Mies van Der Rohe was famous for saying that a chair is more difficult than a tall building. The end of my talk will discuss my development of my Loop de Loop chairs along with showing examples of my hobby; the balancing of rocks.

MORE DETAILS available on Pedersen's presentation. (PDF)

 

---

 

GLENN R. BELL

Chief Executive Officer
Simpson Gumpertz & Heger

Structural Engineering at Mid-21st Century: Reengineering Our Roles
click here to view video

Friday, March 20th, 2015– 4:30 pm

Location: Sinclair Lab Auditorium, Lehigh University, 7 Asa Drive, Bethlehem, PA

Overview:

Tectonic developments, such as globalization, energy and sustainability imperatives, advances in automation and technology, economic pressures, changes in natural hazards due to climate change, and the dizzying pace of information dissemination are changing the profession of structural engineering as we know it.  The continuation of such developments over the next several decades will create challenges and opportunities that will require that we reengineer our roles if we are to maintain a vibrant profession, to continue to attract the best and brightest practitioners, and to remain relevant in serving society as we have in the past.

The successful structural engineer of the future will be a global practitioner, able to collaborate with team members around the global and with strongly transportable technical skills.  She will be very creative and inventive and a continuous learner, aligned with academia, research, and code development. She will be adaptable, able to manage uncertainty and to help others make sound decisions in the face of it.  This inspiring, reengineered role for structural engineers will result in ever more elegant and higher performing structures.

In this lecture, Glenn Bell will explore this reengineered role for the structural engineering profession, illustrated with examples of projects, strategies, and new capabilities his firm and others are employing to meet this future vision.

MORE DETAILS availalable on Bell's presentation. (PDF)

 

---

 

PETER MARTI

Professor of Structural Engineering
ETH Zurich

Science and Art of Structural Engineering
click here to view video

Friday, April 17th, 2015– 4:30 pm

Location: Sinclair Lab Auditorium, Lehigh University, 7 Asa Drive, Bethlehem, PA

Overview:

The talk reviews the historical background and current practice of structural engineering. Key developments in material and construction technology are highlighted and the related evolution of scientific knowledge is illustrated. Future challenges and implications for code development and education are addressed.

MORE DETAILS available on Marti's presentation. (PDF)

---

 

2015 Fazlur R. Khan Distinguished Lecture Series Announcement Flyer (PDF)