As part of the lecture series accompanying the irreguLAB Y project module, Daniela Kröhnert and Lukas Allner will give insight into their artistic research project Conceptual Joining:

In the course of industrialization timber construction changed considerably. The traditional crafted joints were widely replaced by metal connectors. The anisotropic structure of wood was considered a disadvantage and therefore various homogenized timber products were developed, largely eliminating characteristic qualities of wood. We regard it as the better strategy to make use of the material’s natural properties thus capitalizing on nature instead of struggling against it.

Various traditional timber constructions such as Japanese joinery took advantage of wood’s natural structure and behavior but today the time consuming and therefore expensive production makes them uneconomical. CAD/CAM and especially parametric modeling now offer a powerful way of re-interpreting traditional woodworking and open up new horizons for furniture and timber architecture.

By combining the qualities of traditional craftsmanship with the potential of cutting-edge computational techniques a variety of structural configurations and wood joining methods will be developed and tested. Apart from theoretical research our work will be based primarily on practical experimentation. Informed by an in depth understanding of material behavior and correlating joining principles we develop design systems, geometries and structures.

About Daniela Kröhnert
Daniela Kröhnert is an architectural researcher and artist specializing in digital fabrication.
She studied architecture at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany (2004-2008) and graduated with distinction from the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Studio Prix) in 2011. From 2007 to 2014, she gained a wide range of skills, practicing with Coop Himmelb(l)au on international projects.

She has been teaching digital design and making for over a decade at the Technical University of Nuremberg, among others, and currently at the University of Applied Arts Vienna at both the Department for Art Education in Design and Technology / Design, Architecture and Environment, and the Institute of Architecture, besides being responsible for the latter’s Digital Design and Production Lab (ddplab). Additionally, she has been one of the key researchers of the artistic research project Conceptual Joining - Wood Structures from Detail to Utopia, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), PEEK program.

Her love for CNC technologies and the blurring of digital and physical realms extends into her private practice DARK, where she follows her passion for computational drawing and pen plotting, using HP plotters from the ‘80s as well as self-built machines.

About Lukas Allner
Lukas Allner is an architect and researcher. Since 2020, he has been co-directing Circular Strategies together with Prof. Karin Raith, a field in teaching and research at the IoA that addresses the future-oriented use of resources in architecture.

He is the co-curator of the Circular Strategies Symposium series and he leads the Circular Strategies Seminar. As part of the research project Conceptual Joining, funded by the PEEK program of the Austrian Science Fund FWF, he has been working on experimental approaches to wood construction.

In professional practice, research, and teaching, he is interested in exploring the inventive potential of the interplay between material conditions and conceptual thinking in architecture. He studied Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart and at the Angewandte, graduating from Studio Prix in 2010 with distinction. He received the MAK-Schindler scholarship and the TISCHE grant. In addition to working with international practices in Shanghai and Vienna, he has been teaching at the University of Nuremberg, the Welsh School of Architecture and the University of Innsbruck. 

He has co-authored various papers and chapters, and he is co-author and co-editor of the book »Conceptual Joining«, Birkhäuser / edition Angewandte, 2022.

Daniela Kröhnert and Lukas Allner are part of the research project Conceptual Joining. The project explores experimental approaches to wood construction and was funded by the PEEK program of the Austrian Science Fund FWF.

Daniela Kröhnert is an architectural researcher and artist specializing in digital fabrication. She studied in Karlsruhe and Vienna and worked with Coop Himmelb(l)au. She is teaching at the University of Applied Arts Vienna at the Department for Art Education in Design and Technology / Design, Architecture and Environment, as well as the Institute of Architecture, is responsible for the Digital Design and Production Lab (ddplab). 

Lukas Allner is an architect and researcher. He studied in Stuttgart and has worked with international practices in Shanghai and Vienna. Since 2020, he has been co-directing Circular Strategies together with Prof. Karin Raith, a field in teaching and research at the IoA that addresses the future-oriented use of resources in architecture.

Time:
Wednesday, 27 November 2024, 7 p.m.

Location:
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Marienstraße 9, room 203
99423 Weimar

irreguLAB Talks, hosted by the Chair for Emerging Technologies and Design in collaboration with Professur Konstruktives Entwerfen und Tragwerkslehre (A+U)