Chris Wise
Engineer Chris Wise co-founded Expedition in 1999, after a successful career with Arup during which he became their youngest director. Expedition has a trail-blazing ethos and runs as part of the Useful Simple Trust, an employee-benefit trust without human shareholders, which Chris chairs. Either as design lead or with many of the world’s leading architects including Rogers, Foster, Hopkins and Renzo Piano, his is the guiding hand on the engineering of many projects including the 2012 Olympic Velodrome; American Air Museum, Duxford; Barcelona Bullring; London Millennium Bridge; Barcelona Communications Tower; Channel 4 HQ, London, Las Arenas Barcelona. His approach to projects was captured by Richard Rogers, who said said “Chris thinks like an artist and acts like an engineer”. In 2009, under Chris’ leadership, Expedition won the IStructE’s Supreme Award for the Infinity Bridge over the River Tees, and in 2011 won the Supreme Award again for the Velodrome. In academia, he has been design professor first at Imperial College, London, where he co-founded the Constructionarium, then Yale, and since September 2012, at UCL, London. He served for nine years as a trustee for the Design Council. He was master (president) of the RSA’s Royal Designers from 2007 to 2009, a position once held by Barnes Wallis. He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA. In October 2012 he was awarded an unprecedented double, winning Gold Medals for his outstanding contribution to the engineering profession from both the IStructE and the ICE.
CommentWet behind the ears
It turns out that the problem of flood protection, which has flummoxed generations of politicians, can be solved in an afternoon by some engineering undergraduates. But will the government listen?
CommentA riff on the luxury of time
The Royal Designers Summer School inspires Chris Wise to reflect on the civilising quality of time and buy a flamenco guitar
CommentDesigner's putty
Interactive design tools offer architects and engineers accurate, fast control of the materials they work with and allow their clients to see the building responding before their eyes
CommentA moving experience
Why wasn’t construction at the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Global Grand Challenges Summit?
CommentSustainability is for sharing
Establishing a new educational model for sustainable building design could be a smart idea, but only if the whole industry works on it together, says Chris Wise
CommentRecycling materials: The great recovery
Some of the core materials construction uses have become scarce - eventually everything we use will be. We have to stop jettisoning materials and design so they can all be recycled
CommentNissan's supercar: Time to test-drive some buildings
Nissan’s new supercar, the Delta Wing, will be subject to public scrutiny and objective testing at Le Mans. Why don’t we have more ‘test-drives’ for buildings?
CommentUK education standards: Move over Mr Gove
With the UK falling down the world rankings at an alarming rate, we can’t leave the education of our recruits to the government - it’s time for our industry to step in
CommentUrban design for developing countries: The art of mastery
Urban designs for developing countries demand the perspective and foresight of one of today’s great minds - not the clumsy first attempt of a novice
CommentWe need small engineering companies
Small engineering companies have been pushed to the edge of extinction by the conforming imperatives of big business. But we need their talent and guts for our own survival
CommentArchitectual competitions: Judgement day
Those judging architectural competitions need to be wise, ethical and very well informed. That’s why the tittle-tattle of public opinion should be ignored
CommentInfrastructure: A thing of beauty?
Infrastructure can be seen everywhere so it’s a shame it’s often so ugly. Let’s hope for some inspired entries in the energy department’s competition to update the UK’s pylons
CommentCAD images: Where have all the humans gone?
There’s nothing so seductive as a CAD image of your dream project, computer-generated visualisations of how we want the world to be. Trouble is, they’re divorced from reality
CommentUnderstanding nature
The Japanese earthquake and tsunami have reminded us that the environment is core to contemporary architecture. The pity is, we needed reminding
CommentA fine romance: Cabe and the Design Council
Some may grumble about the match but bringing Cabe and the Design Council together might be the best thing to have happened to design for 60 years
CommentLow-carbon: A trillion miles begins with a single step
Paul Morrell’s ideas for getting construction to help deliver a low carbon future are light on design, says Chris Wise. Odd, because in fact we can design out much of our carbon footprint
CommentAcademia isn’t up to the job
University research consistently fails to address the practical realities of construction. What we need is industry people in academic posts controlling the purse strings
CommentWhat the pooping man told us
Engineers’ wizardry is beyond question, but they still suffer from a cultural cringe when it comes to the question of creativity. Luckily, Chris Wise met someone who explained the whole thing
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Take it to the bridge: Where engineering meets music
If only our ears were as big as parachutes, we’d be able to hear the built environment, says Chris Wise, and then we’d discover that a building can be every bit as musical as a violin
CommentWhat if everything we did was wrong?
For example, we use much more material than we need to keep a building up, and we follow codes that make absurd demands on design. Fortunately, there’s a simple remedy