Wise, Chris

Spotlight: Chris Wise

Engineering Specialties:
Structural

Chris Wise started his career with Ove Arup and Partners in 1979, and became their youngest ever director in 1992. Many recognize Wise from his work on the Millennium Bridge in London. He has been heavily involved with creative design education since 1998, when he became a professor at Imperial College in London. As a professor, he also co-founded the constructionarium, which emphasizes “building to learn” for undergraduates. Wise’s creative design philosophy led to his co-founding of Expedition Engineering in 1999; the experimental and cutting edge practice has since won many awards for structural engineering and overall sustainability. He has collaborated on projects with world renowned architects including: Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, and Renzo Piano. Wise’s notable projects while at Expedition include the London Velodrome, The Infinity Bridge, and the Las Arenas Barcelona Bullring.


Selected Projects:

Millennium Bridge, London, England (AEWorldMap)
(image source)

Channel 4 TV Headquarters, London, England
(image source)

Other Sources:

Expedition Engineering Website

Chris Wise CV on Expedition Website

“Creation Theory” Article

Expedition Engineering

Main Office:
Hamilton House
1 Temple Avenue
London,  EC4Y 0HA

 

Number of Employees: 48

Engineering Specialties:

Structural
Civil
Environmental
Infrastructure Planning
Transportation

History:

Expedition Engineering was founded in 1999 by Chris Wise and Seán Walsh with the mindset that creativity could be applied to engineering projects. As their website states, “controlled risk for high reward” is also a key component to the company’s philosophy. Expedition does experimental and cutting edge work, and believes that a higher return is yielded because of this. Their first major projects included Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport and The Constructionarium at Imperial College in London; both mainly structural projects in London. Today, the company remains fairly small (40 employees), but has a much wider range of specialties — like infrastructure planning; transportation, environmental, and civil engineering; education, and even artistic and cultural projects. Some of their most notable recent projects are seen above and include the London Velodrome, the Infinity Bridge, and the London Cable Car (below). In 2008, Expeditions shareholders gave away their shares to the company’s employees; they are now protected by the Useful Simple Trust. In 2012, Expedition Engineering was named the Engineering Consultant of the year at the Building Awards.

Selected Projects:

Olympic Velodrome, London, England

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Athens, Greece

Infinity Bridge, Stockton-on-Tees, England

London Cable Car, London, England

 

Milton Keynes University

 

Other Sources:

Expedition Engineering Website

Article on Chris Wise in Ingenia Magazine

“Creation Theory” Article

Updated Feb. 2015 by Meredith Stark