Professor of Timber Architecture
Founding director dRMM
As founding director of the London based firm dRMM and as a teacher at some of the best schools for architecture De Rijke(1960) has pioneered the development and application of engineered timber in public structures, cross-laminated timber (CLT) in particular. His appointment ensues from the faculty’s ambition to further the worldwide utilisation of timber together with other bio-based and recycled building materials.
An obvious reason to use timber on a wider scale is that, if re-used rather than incinerated, it hoards carbon. Furthermore, bio-based resources are regenerative, not extracted from limited natural resources. Processing and applying regenerative materials also offers considerable environmental advantages compared with the production and application of steel and concrete.