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SUMMARY:HONORARY LECTURE Professor Thomas Keller
DTSTART:20250507T174500
DTEND:20250507T190000
DTSTAMP:20260317T095435Z
UID:0ee26dcb34cb886145b3e743e48b4031495f053f3d0933fa366bf8f0
CATEGORIES:Inaugural lectures - Honorary Lecture
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Thomas Keller\nDate: 07 may 2025\nTime: 17:45\n\nIntrodu
 ction by the Dean Katrin Beyer\, IIC Director Dimitrios Lignos and Prof. J
 oão Correia\, Lisbon University. \nLecture by Prof. Thomas Keller.\nConc
 lusion by AVP-E Prof. Nicolas Grandjean\n\nFollowed by an Apero at Piano.\
 n\nPlace: EPFL\, SG1\nLive stream: Link\n\nTitle: Novel structural materi
 als: how to build with and opportunities in the context of climate change\
 n\nAbstract:\nAs history shows\, progress in the development of the built 
 environment was repeatedly linked to the appearance of novel structural ma
 terials\, such as Roman concrete\, iron (later steel)\, prestressed concre
 te and\, recently\, fibre-polymer composites. Crucial material properties 
 in this context are the strength-to-weight ratio and the degree of functio
 nality. The transition from heavy to lightweight monofunctional constructi
 on initiated the division of the master builder profession into that of an
  engineer and an architect in the 18th century\, while today’s lightweig
 ht multifunctional composites reunite them in a required integrated design
 . To fully benefit from the capacity of novel materials and meet sustainab
 ility requirements\, equally important is the transition from the usually 
 initial phase of material substitution towards a material-tailored use –
  a transition that generally lasts several decades.\nAfter illuminating su
 ch cross-material aspects\, the lecture content will be deepened taking th
 e example of composites\, whose material-tailored and sustainable use in s
 tructural engineering and architecture was the subject of research and tec
 hnology transfer at the Composite Construction Laboratory (CCLab) for almo
 st 30 years. The transition from early composite bridges and buildings\, c
 onstructed in the 1990s by mimicking monofunctional and one-dimensional st
 eel\, towards material-tailored multifunctional sandwich construction of p
 ossible complex shapes will be discussed. Significant achievements in rese
 arch that supported this transition will be highlighted such as adhesive b
 onding\, and the integration of building physics and transparency. An outl
 ook will be given on the use of composites for coastline protection\, wher
 e they can efficiently and sustainably contribute to mitigating disastrous
  effects of climate change such as significant sea level rises and increas
 ed storm surges.\n\nBiography:\nAlways interested in engineering structure
 s\, Thomas Keller studied civil engineering at ETH Zurich\, before working
  several years at the architecture and engineering firm of Santiago Calatr
 ava. In 1996\, he was appointed as part-time Assistant Professor at the De
 partment of Architecture at ETH\, in 1998 as part-time Associate\, and in 
 2007 as Full Professor of Structural Engineering at EPFL. In parallel\, he
  worked as a practical engineer and co-owner of an engineering firm in the
  structural engineering field.\nIn 2000\, Thomas created the Composite Con
 struction Laboratory (CCLab) at EPFL. His research focused on the developm
 ent of material-tailored use of composites in structural engineering and a
 rchitecture. He was a founding member of the International Institute for F
 RP (composites) in Construction (IIFC)\, and a Project Team member of the 
 European Technical Specification “Design of fibre-polymer composite stru
 cturesˮ (CEN/TS 19101)\, published in 2022. The TS is intended to be conv
 erted into Eurocode 11 in 2026.\nAs a practical engineer\, he designed the
  Pontresina Bridge in 1997\, which is one of the first composite bridges i
 n Europe. Furthermore\, he performed the structural design of the five-sto
 ry mobile Eyecatcher Building (Basel\, 1998)\, which is still the tallest 
 building in the world with a primary composite structure. He also contribu
 ted to the design of the free-form multifunctional composite sandwich roof
  of the Novartis Campus Entrance Building (Basel\, 2006) and the hybrid Av
 ançon (vehicular) Bridge with an adhesively bonded composite-balsa wood s
 andwich deck (Bex\, 2012). Currently\, he is involved in the design of the
  1K pedestrian bridge in the Ticino Alps\, a one-kilometre suspension brid
 ge composed of 50 bending-active composite modules.\n 
LOCATION:SG 1138 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SG%201138
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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