Among this year's three honorary doctors is a pioneer in the development and use of digital design in architecture and engineering: Francis Aish, an engineer with a background from one of the world's most influential architectural offices, and a long-standing partner in the Architecture and Engineering education at Chalmers.
Chalmers annually award honorary doctorates “for an outstanding professional contribution within, or associated with, Chalmers’ disciplinary areas of expertise”, and one of 2023’s honorary doctors is Francis Aish. Between 1999 and 2021 he lead the Applied Research and Development (ARD) team at Foster+Partners in London, known for their leading role in the development of digital methods, processes and tools to support architectural design processes. Among the projects of Francis Aish, landmarks as “The Gerkin” in London, and Beijing Capital International Airport stand out.
In Foster + Partners' projects there is often a core of knowledge development, whether it concerns new materials and constructions, design methodology and planning tools or production methods to achieve high precision on the final product. Something that has largely coloured Aish's involvement in the Architecture & Technology program at Chalmers. Morten Lund and Karl-Gunnar Olsson were the ones who nominated Francis Aish:
– Over the years, we have had great joy and benefit from the collaboration with Foster+Partners and Francis Aish. He has employed some of our newly graduated students and enabled them to further develop in one of the world's foremost environments of practical research in architecture. He has hosted our second-year students on Chalmers AT program on their annual study trip to London. Experiencing the environment, seeing the models and sensing the processes behind many of the world's most famous buildings left a mark, inspired and set the bar for many of our students' ambitions in architecture and engineering, says Karl-Gunnar Olsson, Professor in Architecture and Engineering at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering.
ACE alumnus Jens Olsson worked for Francis Aish at Foster+Partners ARD before his PhD in 2022, and Francis Aish is one of his co-authors of his doctoral thesis. Francis Aish has also inspired and lectured students, staff and industry representatives in different events and courses arranged by Chalmers, as in Konstruktionscentrums “The Structural Design Day”.
Chalmers appoints honorary doctors to honour the appointee, and also is to highlight the role of science, technology and architecture in society. Francis Aish participates in an open lecture arranged by the AT students sustainability group on 11 May. On May 12th he holds his honorary doctor’s lecture in the Palmstedtssalen at Chalmers, and accepts his award at the promotion ceremony on Saturday 13 May.