From Analogue to Automated

Weiße Schrift

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

The building industry today faces major challenges, as much of the building stock dates from the post-war period, for which there are still no model solutions for dealing with it. At the same time, current issues such as resource and energy scarcity need to be considered, making the conservation of embodied energy of great importance. This is precisely why forward-looking and innovative approaches to solving these problems already exist 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 practice of architecture is bound by legal frameworks and standards in the building industry, so implementation is often difficult and innovation in the building industry is generally very slow.

The demand for a new light architecture in war-torn and resource-scarce Germany in the middle of the last century can be seen as a parallel to the necessary changes in construction and architecture today. There is also a similarity between the desire to build in a material-saving manner and to high architectural standards, and the emergence of the computer as a design and calculation tool comparable to today's ever-growing digital methods. Accordingly, the study of how industrialisation and automation in the post-war period have shaped the professions of architecture and engineering is a research desideratum, the results of which will be examined for possible transferability to current problems.

PARTICIPATING RESEARCHER

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

TEAM

tba.