“We should plant an olive tree for our grandchildren!“ This phrase Prof. Werner Sobek, Head of the Institute of Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design at the University of Stuttgart (ILEK), liked to use often sums up in its simplicity the quintessence of his mindset: never do anything with short-term goals but always think of the future. The engineer and architect Werner Sobek, who had been educated in an interdisciplinary way, is equally visionary, critic, driving force and source of inspiration. Werner Sobek’s way of thinking and acting is thereby characterised by one central question: how can we shape our built environment in such a way that it satisfies our requirements just as much as those of the coming generations – whilst at the same time being breathtakingly beautiful!?
Numerous projects by Werner Sobek, who was born in Aalen, have attracted worldwide attention. He is considered to be a “master of daring glass structures“ and “a new German avant-garde star“ (Spiegel), as a “coryphaei of sustainable building” (FTD) or as a “visionary designer” (Welt am Sonntag). What attracted a great deal of attention to him in public is, however, something different again: it is his ability to foresee things and to identify the connections. In this respect social themes also always play a significant role in his plans just like the development of urban structures. In his arguments Werner Sobek always goes one step further with these themes, polarises, inspires and impels.
Through his many years of commitment to sustainable building, Prof. Dr. Dr. E.h. Werner Sobek made a significant contribution towards the development of new technologies and a new planning culture – a commitment for which he was not only honoured with the German Solar Prize but also with the Order of Merit from the State of Baden-Württemberg as well as receiving numerous other awards.
Building houses that “are able to disappear graciously from the earth“ – this is the aim of Werner Sobek. Groundbreaking contributions towards architecture, for example his houses that generate more energy than they consume, that generate no emissions whatsoever and that are 100 % recyclable – a vision he already implemented for the first time in exemplary built reality in 2000 with his completely glazed residential house R128, characterise his work. His works stand for close cooperation between architects and engineers as well as for a holistic approach covering the entire life cycle. Werner Sobek correspondingly also describes his work as an “Implementation of the ecological imperative in daily actions“.
Werner Sobek is an architect and consulting engineer. As the successor of both chairs of Frei Otto and Jörg Schlaich, he manages the Institute of Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design at the University of Stuttgart (ILEK). At the same time he is Mies van der Rohe professor at the IIT in Chicago. Moreover, he is the founder and chairman of a renowned initiative to promote Architecture, Engineering and Design (aed) as well as being the co-founder of the German Association for Sustainable Building (DGNB). In 2011 he founded the Stuttgart Institute of Sustainability (SIS), which he has presided over as president ever since.
The group of companies Werner Sobek founded in 1992 and named after him stands for Engineering, Design and Sustainability; it has branches in Stuttgart, Dubai, Frankfurt, London, Moscow, New York and Sao Paulo. All projects for which Werner Sobek is responsible are characterised by high-quality design on the basis of top class engineering and ingenious concepts to minimise energy and material consumption. The company has over 200 employees.
Contact:
Dr. Hans-Herwig Geyer, University of Stuttgart, University Communication,
Tel. 0711/685-82555, Email: hans-herwig.geyer (at) hkom.uni-stuttgart.de
Dr. Frank Heinlein, Tel.: +49-711-76750-38, frank.heinlein@wernersobek.com
Andrea Scheufler, Tel.: +49-711-76750-927, andrea.scheufler@wernersobek.com
con:text Communication, Heike Bering Tel.: + 49-711-7451759-5,
heike.bering@context-kommunikation.de
