PhD supervision
Interested in supervising students studying:
- Archtectural and structural geometry
- Shell and gridshell structures
- Dynamic fluid/structure interaction
Dr Chris Williams
MA, PhD
Profile
Chris Williams has a particular interest in the relationship between geometrical form and structural action of bridges, shells, tension structures and tall buildings. His work has been applied by architects and engineers including Foster + Partners, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Buro Happold.
Chris Williams is a structural engineer who worked for Ove Arup and Partners prior to joining the Department.
Chris has a particular interest in the relationship between geometrical form and structural action as applied to bridges, shells, tension structures and tall buildings. This leads to the use of specially written computer programs to generate complex, often organic, forms for architectural and structural applications. His work has been applied in practice with architects and engineers including Foster + Partners, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Branson Coates Architecture, Shigeru Ban Architects, Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Edward Cullinan Architects, Atelier One and Buro Happold.
Chris's teaching interests include design project work with students of both architecture and engineering, structural analysis, computer programming and continuum mechanics.
Recent achievements include:
- Invited speaker at: Architectural Association, London; Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Columbia University, New York; University of Pennsylvania School of Design, Philadelphia; National Technical University of Athens; Civil Engineering Department, TU Delft, Netherlands; Architecture Department, HTW Chur, Switzerland; Cambridge University Engineering Department; Departmento de Matemática, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal; Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto, Portugal; Martin Centre, Architectural Research, Cambridge University; Foster and Partners; Arup Associates, London; Fielden Clegg Bradley, London
- Smartgeometry Tutor
- Visiting Professor at the School of Architecture, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen
- Defined geometry and performed non-linear structural analysis of: British Museum Great Court roof (Foster and Partners, Buro Happold, Waagner-Biro); Weald and Downland Museum gridshell (Edward Cullinan Architects, Buro Happold, Green Oak Carpentry); Savill Gardens gridshell (Glenn Howells Architects, Buro Happold, Green Oak Carpentry)
Research
The use of computers and the introduction of a wider range of shapes for bridges and buildings have lead to a renewed interest in geometry and structural behaviour. Chris is involved in both the geometrical aspect of design, but also, more importantly, in structural behaviour and the dynamic interaction of fluids and structures.
Publications
Book/s
Leach, N., Turnbull, D. and Williams, C. J. K., 2004. Digital Tectonics. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
Book Sections
Williams, C. J. K. and Hudson, R., 2011. Distributed intelligence or a simple coherent mental model? In: Kocatürk, T. and Medjdoub, B., eds. Distributed Intelligence In Design. Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 27-35.
Shepherd, P. and Williams, C. J. K., 2010. British Museum Great Court. In: Burry, J. and Burry, M., eds. The New Mathematics of Architecture. New York: Thames & Hudson, pp. 122-125.
Westphalen, J., Greaves, D. M., Hunt-Raby, A., Williams, C. J. K., Stansby, P. K. and Stallard, T., 2010. Numerical simulation of a floating body in multible degrees of freedom. In: RINA, Royal Institution of Naval Architects - Marine Renewable and Offshore Wind Energy - Papers. The Royal Institution of Naval Architects, pp. 81-88.
Westphalen, J., Greaves, D. M., Hunt-Raby, A., Williams, C. J. K., Taylor, P. H., Hu, Z. Z., Omidvar, P., Causon, D. M., Mingham, C. G., Stansby, P. K. and Rogers, B. D., 2010. Numerical simulation of wave energy converters using Eulerian and Lagrangian CFD methods. In: Proceedings of the 20th (2010) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, ISOPE-2010. Vol. 3. International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers, pp. 737-744. (Proceedings of the International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference)
Williams, C. J. K. and Kontovourkis, O., 2008. Practical emergence. In: Littlefield, D., ed. Space craft: developments in architectural computing. RIBA Publishing, pp. 68-81.
Williams, C., 2005. Computers and the Design and Construction Process. In: Voyatzaki, M., ed. Visions for the Future of Construction Education: Teaching Construction in a Changing World. European Network of Heads of Schools of Architecture.
Williams, C., 2004. Design by algorithm. In: Leach, N., Turnbull, D. and Williams, C., eds. Digital tectonics. Chichester, UK.: Wiley, pp. 78-85.
Williams, C. J. K., 2001. The analytic and numerical definition of the geometry of the British Museum Great Court Roof. In: Burry, M., Datta, S., Dawson, A. and Rollo, A. J., eds. Mathematics & design 2001. Geelong, Victoria, Australia: Deakin University, pp. 434-440.
Williams, C., 2000. The definiton of curved geometry for widespan structures. In: Barnes, M. and Dickson, M., eds. Widespan roof structures. London: Thomas Telford, pp. 41-49.
Adriaenssens, S., Barnes, M. and Williams, C., 1999. A new analytic and numerical basis for the form-finding and analysis of spline and gridshell structures. In: Kumar, B. and Topping, B. H. V., eds. Computing Developments in Civil and Structural Engineering. Edinburgh: Civil-Comp Press, pp. 83-91.
Mabon, L. and Williams, C., 1999. Wind generated waves on fabric structures. In: Sajjadi, S. G., Thomas, N. H. and Hunt, J. C. R., eds. Wind-over-wave Couplings: Perspectives and Prospects. Oxford University Press, pp. 119-125.
Articles
Adriaenssens, S., Ney, L., Bodarwe, E. and Williams, C. J. K., 2012. Finding the form of an irregular meshed steel and glass shell based on construction constraints. Journal of Architectural Engineering, 18 (3), 206–213.
Westphalen, J., Greaves, D. M., Williams, C. J. K., Hunt-Raby, A. C. and Zang, J., 2012. Focused waves and wave-structure interaction in a numerical wave tank. Ocean Engineering, 45, pp. 9-21.
Evins, R., Joyce, S.C., Pointer, P., Sharma, S., Vaidyanathan, R. and Williams, C., 2012. Multi-objective design optimisation : Getting more for less. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering, 165 (5), pp. 5-10.
Williams, C. J. K., 2011. Patterns on a surface: the reconciliation of the circle and the square. Nexus Network Journal, 13 (2), pp. 281-295.
Matthews, L. A., Greaves, D. M. and Williams, C. J. K., 2008. Numerical simulation of viscous flow interaction with an elastic membrane. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, 57 (11), pp. 1577-1602.
Williams, C. J. K., 2007. Leonard de Vinci, Gustave Eiffel, Le Corbusier et l'hydrodynamique de particules lissees. L'architecture d'aujourd'hui, 369, 88--95.
Gale, L., Ibell, T. J. and Williams, C., 2006. Analysis of doubly loaded end blocks in FRP-prestressed concrete. Magazine of Concrete Research, 58, 547--563.
Nsugbe, E. and Williams, C. J. K., 2001. The generation of bone-like forms using analytic functions of a complex variable. Engineering Structures, 23, 22--28.
Nsugbe, E. and Williams, C., 1999. Robert LeRicolais - Visions and Paradox. AA Files, 39, pp. 55-60.
Conference or Workshop Items
Lewin, C., Thorman, M., Waterson, T., Williams, C. and Willis, P., 2013. Forthcoming. Rod constraints for simplified ragdolls. In: Symposium on Computer Animation 2013, 2013-07-19, Anaheim, California.
Harding, J., Joyce, S., Shepherd, P. and Williams, C., 2012. Thinking Topologically at Early Stage Parametric Design. In: Advances in Architectural Geometry 2012, 2012-09-27 - 2012-09-30, Paris.
Adriaenssens, S., Ney, L., Bodarwe, E. and Williams, C. J. K., 2009. Dutch Maritime Museum: Form-finding of an irregular faceted skeletal shell – Part a. In: International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Symposium 2009: Evolution and Trends in Design, Analysis and Construction of Shell and Spatial Structures, 2009-09-28 - 2009-10-02, Valencia.
Adriaenssens, S., Ney, L., Bodarwe, E. and Williams, C. J. K., 2009. Dutch Maritime Museum: Form-finding of an irregular faceted skeletal shell – Part b. In: International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Symposium 2009: Evolution and Trends in Design, Analysis and Construction of Shell and Spatial Structures, 2009-09-28 - 2009-10-02, Valencia.
Westphalen, J., Greaves, D., Williams, C., Zang, J. and Taylor, P. H., 2008. Numerical Simulation of Extreme Free Surface Waves. In: 18th International Offshore (Ocean) and Polar Engineering Conference & Exhibition, 2008-07-01, Vancouver.
Matthews, L. A., Greaves, D. M. and Williams, C. J. K., 2006. Numerical simulation of separated flow over flexible structural membranes. In: European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics, ECCOMAS CFD 2006, 2006-09-01, Delft, The Netherlands.
Nsugbe, E. and Williams, C., 1998. The analogy of natural form in architecture and engineering. In: Engineering a New Architecture, 1998-01-01, Aarhus School of Architecture.
Nsugbe, E. and Williams, C., 1997. The generation of bone-like forms using analytic functions of a complex variable. In: Innovation in Civil and Structural Engineering, 1997-01-01.
Voyatzaki, M. and Williams, C., 1996. The collaboration between architects and engineers in the design of unconventional structures. In: Institut fur Konstrukton und Entwurf II, 1996-01-01, Universitat Stuttgrart.
