Jan 11th 2019

LECTURE: DAVID CROWELL

Wed, Jan 23, 2019

DAVID CROWELL
6 p.m. | S. R. Crown Hall, Center Core


David Crowell (BARCH '79) will deliver a lecture entitled, "The Purpose Of A Building; Do You Know The Problem You Are Solving?" on Wednesday, January 23 in S. R. Crown Hall.

From commercial buildings to public projects, architects don't always ask themselves a fundamental question: "Do we know what problem we are solving?" Many early- and mid-career architects fail to fully understand the scope of a building project from the client's perspective. This lecture will outline Crowell's experiences observing the outcomes of highly effective projects—where the architects and clients shared a clear intention and a shared solution—and other less-successful projects—where architects (and sometimes the client) didn’t fully grasp the project's intentions, challenges, nor aspirations.

Crowell is the Consulting Director of Cotter Consulting, Inc. He is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in high-rise buildings, and was part of the project management team of the Shard in London and Jeddah Tower, which when completed will be the tallest building in the world.

Crowell is recipient of the 2015 IIT Alumni Service Award, is a member of the Board of Trustees  (Trusteeship and Facilities Committees), and he’s chair of IIT College of Architecture Board of Advisors, where he initiated undergraduate and graduate courses in project management. He is a member of the Mies van der Rohe Society, and he led the architect selection committee for the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship and was on the design committee. Additionally, Crowell is Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University.