Engineering the World: Ove Arup and the Philosophy of Total Design
Surprisingly interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at the life and work of Ove Nyquist Arup including his companies and his philosophy of design. I expected this to be a rather dry exhibition about building but it focused on Arups ideas about total design and the engineer as a creative force. Arup trained as a philosopher and was as interested in the rational of design as in the actual designs themselves. I loved a wall of doodles by him on various agenda’s and sets of minutes. They gave a view of an active creative mind which never seemed to stop. I loved the section on one of his first projects in England, the penguin pool at London Zoo with its wonderful sweeping ramps. The largest section was on the Sydney Opera House where his company was brought it to work out how to build the iconic roof. This fed into Arup’s ideas that engineers should be included from the design stage of projects to work with architects on how to realise their ideas. ...