History and Values

Ove Arup started the practice bearing his name in 1946, at the age of 51, hoping to realize his dream of “achieving the perfect union of design and construction”.

Despite the firm's remarkable growth after Ove's passing in 1988, his personal goals - the achievement of quality and excellence - continue to drive the firm today.

Holistic design is the cornerstone of Arup, the reason for the firm’s existence, the heart of all we do. Ove started and built the firm based on this philosophy of holistic design and total architecture, adding disciplines over the decades, and creating new offices around the world with partners who shared his views.

According to Ove, “The term ‘Total Architecture’ implies that all relevant design decisions have been considered together and have been integrated into a whole by a well-organized team empowered to fix priorities. This is an ideal which can never – or only very rarely – be fully realized in practice, but which is well worth striving for, for artistic wholeness or excellence depends on it, and for our own sake we need the stimulation produced by excellence.”

As he grew older and the staff grew more diverse, Ove realized that he needed to reflect and provide long-term guidance for the leadership if the company was to survive after he was gone. Out of this reflection, in 1970 Ove presented ‘The Key Speech’ in which he laid out the firm’s aims, to guide it in to the future:

The Key Speech by Sir Ove Arup is the philosophical underpinning of the management of the firm. We would encourage you to read the Key Speech so that you can understand not only what Arup does in the world, but also the principles that guide our actions.

Click here to read the Key Speech