Outstanding alumnus lectured, participated
in roundtable discussions at April 6-9 visit

Chris Mulder '80, one of South Africa's top environmental designers and planners, lectured and participated in formal roundtable discussions on interdisciplinary education and practice during an April 6-9 visit to the Texas A&M College of Architecture.

Mulder, an outstanding alumnus of the college, returned to his native land after earning a Ph.D. in Environmental Design to launch Chris Mulder and Associates, a multidisciplinary firm employing land and environmental planners, architects, landscape architects and urban designers.

His firm has won multiple international property development awards for its Thesen Islands project in South Africa, which consists of 19 man-made islands surrounded by tidal waterways linked by 21 arched bridges.

Mulder's public appearances included:

• April 6 –- "Educational Implications of Interdisciplinary Design Practice," a roundtable discussion with college faculty at the Wright Gallery, Langford Architecture Center building A;
• April 7 – " Sustainable Development Through Collaborative Design: Thesen Island, a Case Study," a lecture at Preston Geren Auditorium, Langford B;
• April 8 – "Implementation of Interdisciplinary Design Education," a roundtable discussion with college faculty at the Wright Gallery.

Mulder's itinerary also included numerous lectures to classes at the college.

He has lectured extensively in Africa, the U.S. and Russia on multidisciplinary coordination of large-scale property development projects in environmentally sensitive areas, completing such projects in Angola, Kenya, Mozambique and China.

His firm is developing cutting-edge new examples of sustainable rural residential developments with a strong agricultural basis in South Africa.

For more information on Thesen Islands, visit: http://www.thesenisland.co.za/

- Posted: March 02, 2010 -