The Art Department is presenting its 14th annual Roland Batten Memorial Lecture on Architecture and Design on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m. in 301 Williams Hall. Swiss-born engineer Matthys Levy will deliver the talk, titled “The Engineering of Architecture.” The event is free and open to the public.
Levy will focus on the intersection of engineering, art and architecture in the 20th century, emphasizing how this collaboration has resulted in many of the most iconic structures we know today. This movement of “structural expression” was first realized in the Renaissance period, and resurfaced in the last century.
Instrumental in this second movement, Levy, a founding principal and chairman emeritus of the consulting firm Weidlinger Associates, has worked with many of the most well known architects of the period. He is the recipient of numerous rewards, including the ASCE Innovation in Civil Engineering Award and the Egleston medal from Columbia University.
Levy is also the founding director of the Salvadori Center, using hands-on, architecturally based learning to teach children math and science. He was the principal designer of the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History and La Plata Stadium in Argentina, using his patented Tenstar Dome. Levy, the author of Why Buildings Fall Down, has also served as an expert in forensic investigations, including the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.
Information: (802) 656-2014.