Nic Goldsmith
“Structural Poetics”
Monday, October 21st, 5:00p.m. est
EMPAC Theater
Steven Ehrlich ’68 Architecture Lecture
Nic Goldsmith is the Founding Director of the Lightweight Structures Group at Silman a TYLin Company. Previously he was the Principal of FTL Design Engineering Studio a leading design firm specializing in membrane construction systems where Mr. Goldsmith has helped pioneer lightweight technologies over the past forty years into an art form. A graduate of Cornell University, Mr. Goldsmith’s work has been greatly influenced by Bucky Fuller, Felix Candela and Pritzker Prize winning Frei Otto with whom he apprenticed in Germany for three years.
Mr. Goldsmith designed FTL’s legacy projects including the Carlos Mosley Pavilion for the Metropolitan Opera, the Rosa Parks Transit Center, ASU Skysong, the DKNY Headquarters, and the Sun Valley Pavilion. He spearheads the firm’s innovation including the Cooper Hewitt’s “Under the Sun” exhibition with the first integrated PV tensile structure; an air lock for NASA’s Space Shuttle and the first wood clad cable net in the US.
Mr. Goldsmith has been a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Design Studio of University of Pennsylvania for fourteen years, an adjunct Professor at Pratt Institute, Cornell, Columbia University and Visiting Professor at Innsbruck, Austria. He has given a wide range of lectures on lightweight structures worldwide and was the Chair of the Fabric Structures Association. He has been featured in innumerable publications including an Architectural Monograph titled: FTL: Softness, Movement & Light, published by Academy Editions and his new book Mass to Membrane published by ORO Editions.
Awards include the 2021 AIA Twenty-five Year award, the Dupont Benedictus Award, the IDEA Bronze Award, over ten Regional and National AIA Design Awards, over 25 IFAI awards, the 28th Bard Award in NY, the Waterfront Center’s Award in Cincinnati and the State of Florida’s Governor’s Design Award.
We look forward to seeing you at this lecture.