On April 19th 2005 the U-Dispuut, in co-operation with The Dutch Council on Tall Buildings and ING Real Estate, organized its largest event till date: the lecture series “The Value of Design”. This event brought some of the world’s best-known architects and structural engineers to Delft and was attended by over 500 spectators. With this event, the U-Dispuut tried to introduce Civil Engineering students into the world of architecture and to create a better understanding between architects and engineers in the future. As a secondary goal this event hoped to show engineering students that the art of design is a responsibility of the structural engineer as well as the architect, and not just of the architect alone. In this article, we will therefore from now on speak of structural designers, rather than structural engineers.
Lecturers from all over the world, including the structural engineers of for instance the World Trade Center, the Millennium Dome and the China Bank and the architects of the Rodin Museum, Mahler 4 tower and the Erasmus Bridge shared their thoughts and views on design with the audience. The event was hosted by Mick Eekhout, professor at the Delft faculty of Architecture. After the lectures, the audience got the unique opportunity to start a discussion with the lecturers, accompanied by Jaco Meuwissen (managing director of ING Real Estate Development the Netherlands) and professor Vamberský (Delft faculty of Civil Engineering). The discussion was fed with statements like “Everybody can become an architect”.
After the lecture series, a select group of students joined the lecturers and the organizing comitee for diner in the center of Delft, where they could have an informal discussion on how to become succesfull architects and engineers.
Speakers:
Raphael Vinoly
Philip Dilley
Leslie Robertson
Kevin Kennon
Ian Liddell
Ben van Berkel
Main sponsor: ING Real Estate