Lecture: Funicular Forms by John Ochsendorf, MIT

This lecture presents ongoing research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the design of innovative structures and the engineering analysis of existing buildings. By collaborating with engineers, architects, historians, and computer scientists, it is possible to achieve a better understanding of historical monuments, and to discover new forms for the future.  The lecture will present new approaches developed by the Structural Design Lab at MIT, as well as recently built structures demonstrating the deployment of research into design practice. 

 

 

John Ochsendorf is the Class of 1942 Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture at MIT, where he directs a research group at the intersection of structural engineering and architecture. He studied structural engineering at Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Cambridge. His work has been supported by numerous grants, including a Fulbright Scholarship to Spain, a Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, and a MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He is the author of Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile (2010) and is a founding partner in the consulting firm Ochsendorf, DeJong, and Block Engineering (ODB).