About the speakers
Jonathan Irawan
Computational Design Lead at Hassell
Jonathan Irawan is the Computational Design Lead at Hassell Studio. He applies an evidenced based and data driven approach in design to bridge the gap between Academia and Industry in the implementation of design technology. Currently, he leads various research projects around space architecture and experimental structures – seeking avenues to adopt more sustainable and circular principles within his design practice.
Having previously worked in delivering multidisciplinary projects within Asia, Australia, and the UK, he incorporates a wider perspective in the formulation of design solutions. Innovation and sustainability are in the forefront of his mission, constantly experimenting and prototyping advanced tools and workflows to augment the design process beyond standard conventions.
He has also delivered a TEDx talk in Sydney in 2019 on the subject "How to Design a House on Mars".
Wim Walschap
Partner at Herzog & de Meuron
Wim Walschap joined Herzog & de Meuron in 2007 with extensive experience as an architect, both from independent work as well as from collaborations on residential, commercial, and institutional projects in all phases. In 2010 he became an Associate of the firm, leading various teams on projects ranging from pavilions to high-rises, including The Tate Modern Project in London and Helsinki Dreispitz in Basel. Since being named Partner in 2014, Wim is responsible for the competition-winning M+ museum project in Hong Kong, the One Park Drive residential tower in London, as well as a number of projects of diverse scales and typologies in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
From concept to completion, he works with a hands-on approach and awareness of the fundamentals of construction.
Wim graduated from Hoger Architectuurinstituut Sint-Lucas, Brussels, Belgium in 1993. Amongst others he worked with Robbrecht en Daem Architects in Gent for over 8 years.
Steven Schoenmakers
Partner at Van Rossum Raadgevende Ingenieurs BV
Steven graduated from Eindhoven University of Technology in 2013 with research associated with the modeling of discrete crack formation. His study was nominated for the VABOR study prize and received an honorable mention with the ENCI study prize. During his studies, Steven was Chairman of KOers. At Van Rossum, within 4 years he rose to chief engineer and project manager and has worked on a number of special projects to his name, such as Pontsteiger, and the nhow RAI hotel.
In addition to being a constructor of the year, Steven was awarded the up-and-coming talent of the year 2017. The jury was impressed by the CV of this 27-year-old Van Rossum employee.
Christopher Williams
Professor at Chalmers University
Christopher John Kenneth Williams is a British structural engineer and researcher who has specialised in the relationship between geometry and structural action. He works on a range of building types including thin-shell structures, gridshells and tension structures, as well as bridges and towers.
Williams worked for Ove Arup in the 1970s.[1] While at Arup, he was involved with the Mannheim Multihalle (de), a pioneering timber gridshell designed by Frei Otto (1975).He has since devoted most of his career to academia, conducting research and teaching at the University of Bath (from 1976 and at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden (since 2016). While at Bath, in collaboration with Deborah Greaves, he researched the effect of wind on fabric, and he continues to work on the effect of wind on flexible structures.
His other notable projects include, the British Museum Great Court Roof, the Savill Building, the Gardens by the Bay glasshouses and the Netherlands Maritime Museum.
Eildert Boekholt and Remco van Roestel
Team Leader and Structural Engineer at Arcadis
Eildert Boekholt is a highly skilled and experienced designer of construction in both steel and concrete. He is the Team Leader in Arcadis Constructions Buildings. He also has a vast experience of more than 30 years in this industry.
Remco van Roestel graduated from the TU in Eindhoven in 2018 and immediately started at Arcadis. During this time, as a structural engineer, he was already involved in many different types of projects, from high-tech industry such as ASML to non-residential construction such as the Rachelsmolen project. This mainly includes activities such as making calculations and checking reports and drawings, but also the documents of third parties. In addition, he also works as a project manager, whereby the above responsibilities are expanded with matters such as planning and the financial status of a project.
Eildhert and Remco are notably working on the Fontys building on the Eindhoven University of Technology campus, where they are transforming the campus from a closed-off island in the city to an inspiring educational environment.
Chairperson of the Day
Mariana Popescu
Assistant Professor of Parametric Structural Design and Digital Fabrication at TU Delft
Mariana is a computational architect and structural designer with a strong interest in innovative ways of approaching the fabrication process and use of materials in construction. Her area of expertise is computational and parametric design with a focus on digital fabrication and sustainable design. Her extensive involvement in projects related to promoting sustainability has led to a multilateral development of skills, which combine the fields of architecture, engineering, computational design and digital fabrication. Before joining TU Delft, she was a post-doctoral researcher at the Block Research Group (BRG) at the Institute of Technology in Architecture at ETH Zurich, involved in the NCCR Digital Fabrication, where in 2019 she also obtained her PhD, which was nominated for the ETH Medal for outstanding dissertation.
Her research focuses on the development of KnitCrete, a novel, material-saving, labour-reducing, cost-effective formwork system for casting of doubly-curved geometries in concrete using 3D knitting. She is the main author of the award-winning KnitCandela shell and has been included as a "Pioneer" in the MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 global list in 2019.
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