02.11.2024

Baumeister x Studio Other Spaces: The design edition in May 2023

Building design

Cover photo: Michael Tsegaye

Our B5 was created in collaboration with the renowned architecture firm Studio Other Spaces. How does the office around Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann work? What characterizes their architecture? Find out more in the editorial by editor-in-chief Fabian Peters.

We are celebrating a premiere with this issue: We have decided to add a “little brother” to our annual Curated issue (this year with UN Studio). In B5/2023, Studio Other Spaces from Berlin has designed a 26-page special section. Studio Other Spaces – that’s world-famous artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann. The two have been causing a stir in the architecture scene for more than a decade – with projects such as the Serpentine Pavilion from 2007, the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavik and the Fjordenhus in Vejle, Denmark. These buildings were all launched under the umbrella of Studio Olafur Eliasson. Eliasson and Behmann have been operating as an architecture firm under the new name since 2014.

Studio Other Spaces is one of the most exciting offices of the moment. There are a number of reasons for this. The team around Behmann and Eliasson works with the most ambitious technology, highly situational, interdisciplinary and effortlessly manages the balancing act between experimental geometry and traditional construction methods. The diversity of the results is hardly surprising. What all the projects have in common, however, is the new perspective that Studio Other Spaces aims to open up with its architecture on the environment. Environment – this means the specific building site and its surroundings as well as the world as a whole. Studio Other Spaces documents the very different concepts that the architecture firm has developed in order to achieve this goal, and how important it is to take a close look at the respective local conditions, and not just in the special section they have designed. Sebastian Behmann and Olafur Eliasson also explain it in depth in our big interview starting on page 8. Another first: not only can you read the interview in the magazine, you will soon also be able to watch it online as a video.

The design issue with Studio Other Spaces is now available in the store: B5/23 Design. You can find out more about Studio Other Spaces and their projects here in our big online special.

Our April issue is all about the future of building: what changes and innovations will the future bring to construction? Which technologies will prevail and what upheavals do we need to prepare for? Find out more in the editorial.

27.12.2024

Franken-Schotter takes over the BIM planning office Pronag

Building design

a cultural and congress center in Feldkirch in Vorarlberg, Austria

The natural stone dealer already offers BIM services and intends to expand this area with the acquisition.Franken-Schotter took over Pronag on July 1, 2018 as part of an asset deal and transfer of operations. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Pronag is regarded as a leading German BIM planning office for natural stone work. The reference list is long and includes, for example, the 3D BIM […]

The natural stone dealer already offers BIM services and intends to expand this area with the acquisition.

The Montforthaus, a cultural and congress center in Feldkirch in Vorarlberg, Austria, was planned with BIM and clad with Dietfurt limestone gala. Photo: Franken-Schotter

Marc Aßmann, Managing Director of Pronag (left) and Dr. Torsten Zech, Managing Director of Franken-Schotter. Photo: Franken-Schotter

Franken-Schotter acquired Pronag on July 1, 2018 as part of an asset deal and transfer of operations. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Pronag is regarded as a leading German BIM planning office for natural stone works. The reference list is long and includes, for example, the 3D BIM planning of the Berlin State Library and the redesign of the Rhine promenade in Basel – the latter a collaboration with Franken-Schotter.

Dr. Torsten Zech, Managing Director of Franken-Schotter, comments on the acquisition: “With this takeover, we are addressing the Building Information Modeling megatrend, which will fundamentally and sustainably change the construction industry in the coming years. We are already seeing strong demand, particularly from the English-speaking world. In addition, BIM will provide us with massive support in the digitalization of internal processes and production workflows.”

In a 2017 study , management consultants Roland Berger found that BIM is increasingly becoming the standard for the entire construction industry. And will mark a turning point in the construction industry. Marc Aßmann, master stonemason and Managing Director of Pronag Bauherren, said in an interview in STEIN S02/2018 that BIM should be used as early as possible in the planning process, as the higher the added value. Franken-Schotter is planning to do just that and wants to “be a role model within the industry with our integrated and resource-efficient value chain”. The Pronag brand will be retained and Franken-Schotter will continue to offer external natural stone planning services from its Dresden site.

21.11.2024

Industry news, Profession

New process developed to prevent paper disintegration

Building design

Scientific Director of the European Research Center for Book and Paper Conservation-Restoration. Photo: Danube University Krems

Mag. dr. hab. Patricia Engel is Scientific Director of the European Research Center for Book and Paper Conservation-Restoration at Danube University Krems. In an interdisciplinary research project, she and her team, together with the University of Graz, developed a method to stop acid-induced paper decay. A commentary From the middle of the 19th century, paper was produced from shredded […]

Mag. dr. hab. Patricia Engel is Scientific Director of the European Research Center for Book and Paper Conservation-Restoration at Danube University Krems. In an interdisciplinary research project, she and her team, together with the University of Graz, developed a method to stop acid-induced paper decay. A commentary

From the middle of the 19th century, paper was produced from shredded pieces of wood in order to make it available to the masses at low cost. Until the production of higher quality paper began after 1945, almost everything was printed and written on groundwood paper: books, newspapers and letters. A low pH value of the groundwood pulp paper leads to the destruction of the cellulose chains during longer storage. In addition, alum was used as an auxiliary material in paper production, which leads to the formation of acid, which further promotes paper decay. The paper becomes brittle. An unstoppable ageing spiral develops, which is further accelerated by poor storage, heat, light and humidity. Currently, the holdings of many libraries and archives are affected by acid-induced paper decay to varying degrees.

New procedure for paper deterioration

To ensure the preservation of these documents, we have developed a new process in an interdisciplinary team of conservators and chemists from Danube University Krems and the University of Graz. Based on previous mass deacidification processes and with the help of innovative chemical and nanotechnological methods, it deacidifies the paper, leaves behind an alkaline reserve and makes the paper reusable. And if desired, it can be used to disinfect microorganisms at the same time – or, in a modular way, just to combat microorganisms. The patent is pending. If it is successful, it will close a research gap in Austrian paper restoration.