Events

Gallery Talk
Architectural Design and Structural Innovation:
Past Directions, Future Perspectives

Monday, September 24, Noon

With the backdrop of the current Kibel Gallery exhibit, which features the work of noted structural engineer Waclaw Zalewski, this panel discussion will focus on the historic relationships between architectural form and structural design.

In step with the ever-expanding base of scientific knowledge since the Industrial Revolution, there has been a progressively refined understanding of the behavior of structural systems and a continuing innovation in their design. This, coupled with the emergence of the historically-new materials of structural steel and reinforced concrete, has resulted in long-span and high-rise structures that have utterly transformed the physical landscape of modern society.

What are the threads connecting structural design with architecture through this timeframe? How have progressive developments in analytical methodologies brought about striking structural forms never before seen? What might the future bring with the wide availability of advanced computational methods heretofore the domain of only the most high-profile projects? Current developments are making possible the complete integration of a comprehensive computational model for entire projects in the form of Building Information Modeling. Is this 3D computer modeling of complex architectural designs—tightly linked with advanced structural analytical methods—setting the stage for a potentially new revolution in structural form? What place does the notion of “structural efficiency” or “structural poetics” have in the face of this?

Please joing us for a complimentary serving of lunchtime pizza and soda as we invite the audience to share in a spirited discussion of questions at the heart of architecture's most fundamental and intimate partner, structural engineering.

This event is free and open to the public. Call 301.405.8000 for more information. Directions to the School

Panelists

Deborah Oakley, RA, PE, University of Maryland

With education, professional experience and licensure in both engineering and architecture, Deborah Oakley brings a unique insight into bridging the traditional gap between architecture and engineering. Her professional structural engineering experience has covered the range from highway structures to mid-rise office towers. As an architect she worked primarily on institutional and public sector projects that included laboratory buildings, facility renovations, and adaptive reuse. Joining the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation as a tenure track faculty member in 2003, she teaches structural technology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She also teaches the graduate-level Advanced Technology class, which is paired with the Comprehensive Studio to provide a rich, quasi-real project learning experience. She was previously on the faculty in the School of Architecture and Design at Philadelphia University, where she taught and coordinated classes in building technology and structures. She is a founding member of the Building Technology Educators’ Society, whose mission is to promote and publish the best pedagogic practices that facilitate student learning and enhance the status of the building technology disciplines in the profession at large. She is chair of the 2007 lecture series for the School, and is the organizer of this Gallery Talk.

Matthew Daw, PE, LEED AP, Managing Principal, Keast & Hood, Inc., Washington, DC Office

Mr. Daw directs the Keast & Hood Washington, DC office. As a LEED® accredited professional, Mr. Daw plays an active role in the collaborative design process and has been honored to work with some of our industry’s leading designers on a wide variety of important new construction and historic renovation projects. An energetic and involved member of the design community, Mr. Daw has served as guest lecturer and visiting critic at several universities including the Comprehensive Studio in the UM Architecture Program, and is a volunteer for Baltimore’s Neighborhood Design Center. He earned separate degrees in Architectural Engineering and Civil Engineering from Drexel University in 1992 and 1993. He is registered in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Wyoming, and nationally through NCEES. Among his current projects are a 72-story tower in Baltimore, which will be the city's tallest upon completion, an automated robotic parking structure in Baltimore that will fit 390 cars in a mere 6,000 square-foot footprint, and evaluation and rehabilitation of the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, which has the country’s oldest wrought/cast iron screwpile foundation system.

Zachary Kates, PE, Senior Project Engineer, Thornton Tomasetti, Washington, DC Office

Zachary Kates is a practicing structural engineer with the world-recognized firm Thornton Tomasetti, where he has worked on numerous high-profile projects. Mr. Kates joined Thornton Tomasetti after three years working in California, where he gained experience in earthquake-resistant design. Since joining the firm, Mr. Kates has performed structural design for both new buildings and the renovation of existing and historic structures, as well as participating in structural investigations and peer reviews. Passionate about sharing his depth of structural knowledge with architects, he has been a guest critic to the Comprehensive Studio in the UM Architecture Program, and has taught structures classes at the School of Architecture and Planning at The Catholic University of America. His office is currently working on a complex structural system for the Brooklyn Arena project by Gehry Partners, Architects and—using BIM technology—performed structural design in record time for the Washington Nationals Baseball stadium, slated to open in spring 2008.

David Foxe, MIT & Boston Architectural College

Marshall Scholar, architect, and urbanist David M. Foxe trained in design, history, and music composition at MIT and Clare College, Cambridge. He was a primary designer of the 2006 exhibit "Waclaw Zalewski: Shaping Structures," currently on loan to the Kibel Gallery from MIT. Since the completion of this exhibit he has continued to work with the team of Dr. Zalewski, Edward Allen FAIA, and Jeff Anderson on a forthcoming structural design textbook. He has guest-lectured on structure, design and history at the universities of Nottingham and Cambridge, Harvard, Columbia, and MIT. He currently directs research and teaches architecture and urban history at Boston Architectural College, and works at EYP/ Architecture and Engineering in Boston.