Course Description
This course delves into environmental sustainability in architecture by looking at the Werner Sobek firm’s most important projects. The German architectural practice’s design approach is very much influenced by seeking the highest standards of environmental sustainability in architectural design, with caring for the environment and energy savings the most important issues in its constructions. Closely examining the firm’s flagship past designs and future projects, the course provides valuable examples and offers useful tools for analysis that the firm has developed during its years of success. Werner Sobek offers a comprehensive analysis of critical issues in construction industry production processes, and the measures the team has come up with to reduce global pollution. The course offers an opportunity for debate and a significant study opportunity for all architects keen to hone their skills at assessing their own projects’ environmental impact.
About the Architect
Werner Sobek
Professor of Engineering, degree and Ph.D. honoris causa.
Werner Sobek was born in 1953 in Aalen, Germany. He currently lives and works between Stuttgart and Vienna. An architect and engineer, he directs the Institute for Lightweight Structure and Conceptual Design at the University of Stuttgart. From 2008 to 2014, he was a professor in Mies van der Rohe’s department at the Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. He teaches at several universities in Germany and abroad, including Graz (Austria), Singapore and Harvard (USA). Since 2017, he has been Director of the “SFB 1244” DFG - Collaborative Research Centre in the “Adaptive Building Skins and Structures” sector. In 2003, he founded the AED, Architecture Engineering and Design Group, in Stuttgart. In 2007, with other architects and engineers he founded the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), of which he was a board member until 2013, and Chairman from 2008 to 2010. In 2011, he co-founded the Stuttgart Institute of Sustainability (SIS) and became its Chairman. From 2006 to 2010, he was Chairman of the board of the HafenCity University of Hamburg, and a Technology and Research consultant at the Technical University of Graz. From 2012 to 2017, he was a member of the Supervisory Board at Harvard University. Since 2013, he has been a member of the Governing Board of the International Center for Culture and Technology Research (IZKT). He has received numerous national and international awards and recognitions.
