From Analogue to Automated

FROM ANALOGUE TO AUTOMATED – EARLY STUDIES ON INTEGRATED COMPUTATIONAL SIMULATION AND DESIGN

The building industry is facing great challenges these days because a large part of the building stock dates to the post-war period, for which there are still no model solutions for dealing with it. At the same time, current problems such as the scarcity of resources and energy must be considered, so that great importance is attached to the conservation of embodied energy. This is precisely why there are already forward-looking and innovative approaches to solving these problems in architecture and engineering, such as new digital planning methods, automated manufacturing processes, increased use of renewable building materials, etc. A large part of the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture (IntCDC) at the University of Stuttgart is also dedicated to these solutions, but the architectural practice is bound by the legal framework conditions and standards in the building industry, so implementation is often difficult and innovation in the building industry generally progresses only very slowly.

The demand for a new light architecture in war-damaged and resource-scarce Germany in the middle of the last century can be seen as a parallel to the current necessary changes in construction and architecture. Equally comparable was the endeavour to build material-savingly and efficiently with high architectural standards, as well as the emerging computer application as a design and calculation tool comparable to today's steadily growing digital methods. Accordingly, the investigation of how industrialisation and automation in the post-war period have shaped the profession of architecture and engineering is a research desideratum, the results of which will be examined for potential transferability to current problems.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Christiane Weber
Institute for Architectural History (IFAG), University of Stuttgart

TEAM

Baris Wenzel (IFAG)