IASS 2015

The Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers (KIVI) and the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) are co-organising the yearly IASS symposium. The symposium will take place from 17 to 20 August 2015 in Amsterdam the Netherlands.

Theme: Future Visions
We need Future visions! Humanity and our planet are in distress. We are facing a multitude of crises: financial, ecological, economical, waste, pollution, food, water, and depletion of resources. Many of these crises relate in some way to the built environment, the space people live in, as well as the industry that designs, builds, maintains and operates this space. In most countries the construction industry and related industries have a major involvement and significant impact on these factors. Therefore, we feel that it is our social and moral responsibility to address the future of space:
How are we going to use this space manner that will sustain humanity in the future?
How will we design this space and what will these designs look like?
What technology can help us to improve our space and what technology will need to be developed?
On the other hand, the industries involved in the designing, building and operating the built environment hold the key in their hand for progress, development, an increase in quality of life.
It is clear that we need to act and innovate.

The challenge
The challenge that the conference organisers set for the presenters and attendees is to discuss how we can use the combination of our knowledge, novel ideas and technology to address the challenges and opportunities described above.
The conference will be open to any area in the built environment, on any scale and throughout the entire life cycle.
Special attention will be given to the design of and the technology related to the design, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance of Shell and Spatial Structures, and other novel concepts, as a solution to address the challenges and opportunities mentioned above.