"Heinz Isler: Form, structure and realisation" John Chilton
MPDA 2023 Open Lecture series
BarcelonaTech UPCSchool Master Programme in Parametric Design in Architecture.
www.mpda.upc.edu/​
John Chilton joins MPDA for an inspiring review in the context of Studio2 building system design.
John is Emeritus Professor of Architecture & Tectonics, in the Department of Architecture & Built Environment, at The University of Nottingham. His research interests span lightweight and non-
conventional structures, sustainable construction and history of engineering construction.
He is a long-standing member of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) - iass-structures.org/, which is based in Madrid. Reflecting his research interests, he is a
member of IASS Working Groups 5: Shell Structures, 15: Structural Morphology and 12: Timber and
Bio-based Spatial Structures, which he chaired from 1998-2015. From 2001 to 2004 he was a Scientific Coordinator for TensiNet, an EU-funded Thematic Network, contributing to the European Design Guide for Tensile Surface Structures (2004). Subsequently, he was Vice-Chair (2006-2017) of the TensiNet Association - www.tensinet.com/, contributing to the Design Recommendations for ETFE Foil Structures (2013). He has published books on Space Grid Structures (1999), Heinz Isler: The Engineer’s Contribution to Contemporary Architecture (2000) and, most recently, with co-author Gabriel Tang, Timber Gridshells: Architecture, Structure and Craft (2016). His latest book, Michael Balz - Shells and Visions, will be published in 2022.