10/08/2026
We have received the sad news of the passing of Professor Tom Maver, an outstanding scholar, a pioneer in the application of computer technologies in architecture, a long-standing friend of the Faculty of Architecture at Warsaw University of Technology, and a member of the Advisory Board of our English-language Master’s program Architecture for Society of Knowledge (ASK).
Tom Maver was Professor Emeritus at the University of Strathclyde and Honorary Professor at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art. He was one of the pioneers of computer-aided architectural design and an unquestioned authority in the field. As early as 1970, at a time when the use of information technologies in architecture still seemed to belong to the distant future, he established ABACUS – the Architecture and Building Aids Computer Unit, Strathclyde. Under his leadership, from 1970 to 2003, ABACUS became one of the world’s leading research groups combining architectural design and research with emerging digital technologies – from computer-aided design and building performance simulation to multimedia, virtual reality, urban modeling, and the application of information technologies to architectural heritage. One of ABACUS’s most visionary initiatives was Virtual Glasgow, developed from the early 1990s – a pioneering application of networked technologies to the documentation, protection, and communication of architectural heritage. The methods of user interaction explored within the project anticipated by many years ideas that would later become associated with Web 2.0.
Professor Maver received numerous honors recognizing his contribution to research and the development of digital methods in architecture. Among them were distinctions from the International Building Performance Simulation Association, the Building Environmental Performance Analysis Club, European and American CAAD organizations, and the Sociedad Iberoamericana de Gráfica Digital. He was also a recipient of the Royal Society Gold Medal and, in 2011, the IBPSA Distinguished Achievement Award. He was a founding member of eCAADe – Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe and of CAADFutures, organizations that played a fundamental role in shaping research and education in computational design.
For our community, however, Tom Maver was much more than an eminent scholar. He was a true friend of our Faculty. For many years, he generously supported our initiatives, shared his experience, and remained in an ongoing intellectual dialogue with us. This relationship included his involvement in the organization of the eCAADe conference in Warsaw in 2002, his support for the original concept and subsequent development of the Architecture for Society of Knowledge program, and a continuous exchange of ideas about the evolving role of digital technologies in architecture.
The photograph accompanying this farewell shows Professor Tom Maver delivering the inaugural lecture for ASK students in 2015. It is one of many moments that remind us of his presence at our Faculty, his intellectual curiosity, and his extraordinary willingness to share his knowledge and experience.
We will miss him greatly. We will remember Tom not only as an exceptional scholar and visionary but also as a warm, generous, and open-minded person, someone who understood the transformative potential of digital technologies for architecture long before they became an inseparable part of our profession.
His fundamental contribution to computer-aided architectural design, architectural education, and digital heritage will remain with us for generations to come.
