School of Engineering Public Lecture - Registration Form

Professor Wanda Lewis

Wanda is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Engineering, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. More information

Innovative Design and Nature - Discussing a concept that takes inspiration from nature to create smarter, more sustainable buildings and bridges.

This lecture, accompanied by stunning model displays and demonstrations, presented Nature-informed designs using a ‘form-finding’ approach that allows buildings to be shaped by forces acting on them. The results were discussed in the context of structural failures and contrasted with famous structures, such as Sydney Opera House, the ‘Nest’, and the O2 Arena - examples of dictated architectural forms.

New, constant stress arch forms were presented. Their response to loading is so good that materials as weak as snow can be used in their construction. Further comparisons with the iconic Gateway Arch in St. Louis provided new design insights. Nature, as a teacher of good design, challenges our belief that… ‘we can build whatever we like’…

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An exhibition of models and interactive displays showed 'form-finding' design, an activity presented by our computer-aided design specialist Martin Millson.

The talk was followed by a Q&A session.

Lecture Recording