The “Willy Wonka” of the built environment, he pushes engineering limits to produce future developments

Worldwebforum speaker Chris Luebkeman

Chris Luebkeman

Advisor to the President and Board, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Worldwebforum ARUP
Worldwebforum speaker Chris Luebkeman
Worldwebforum speaker Chris Luebkeman
Worldwebforum speaker Chris Luebkeman

Why you should listen

Gaining from a multidisciplinary education, Dr. Chris Luebkman’s body of research deals a lot with how future built worlds must operate and look like. He is a geologist, structural engineer, and architect who was once the protégé of esteemed Spanish Architect Santiago Calatrava.

His architectural practice focuses on low-impact zero-energy homes; his engineering practice on mobile and deployable structures, and his teaching practice on the integration of building systems.

Chris Luebkeman is at present a recognized fellow at Arup, a top global design consulting firm. With a mindset that is “in league with the future”, he is responsible for heading design research dealing in particular with future projects for the world’s leading companies.

He develops future scenarios for them to better understand the opportunities created by future change in the built environment. He is passionate about encouraging companies to constructively think about what the new normal will be as the context of constant change around.

Today, he is Advisor to the President and Board at ETH Zurich where he shares his valuable insights and expertise.

Meet Chris at WORLDWEBFORUM 2020 where he will be Track Moderator.

About Arup

Arup is the creative force at the heart of many of the world’s most prominent projects in the built environment and across industry. The company offers a broad range of professional services that combine to make a real difference to our clients and the communities in which we work.

Arup is truly global. From the company’s 85 offices in 35 countries,12,000 planners, designers, engineers and consultants deliver innovative projects across the world with creativity and passion.

Founded in 1946 with an enduring set of values, Arup’s unique trust ownership fosters a distinctive culture and an intellectual independence that encourages collaborative working. This is reflected in everything employees do, allowing them to develop meaningful ideas, help shape agendas and deliver results that frequently surpass the expectations of clients.

The people at Arup are driven to find a better way and to deliver better solutions.

arup.com

Biography

Chris Luebkeman is director for Global Foresight + Innovation at Arup, a consulting firm of engineers and designers. Educated as a geologist, structural engineer, and architect, Luebkeman now specializes as a generalist.

He has taught at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the University of Oregon, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Luebkeman is currently working with some of the world’s leading companies to develop future scenarios to better understand the opportunities created by change in the built environment.

While at Arup, he has led over 100 workshops exploring the potential impact of key drivers of change within sectors including hotels and leisure, banking, and retail.