08.12.2024

Joachim Grüter goes into retirement

Building design

Honorary President Joachim Grüter (left) and Hermann Graser jun.

After 20 years, Joachim Grüter has stepped down as President of the German Natural Stone Association (DNV). At the DNV general meeting in early November 2020, Vice President Hermann Graser was unanimously elected as the new association president. After 20 years, the previous President of the Deutscher Naturwerkstein-Verband e.V. (DNV), Joachim Grüter, has now stepped down. “Joachim Grüter has led the association in […]

After 20 years, Joachim Grüter has stepped down as President of the German Natural Stone Association (DNV). At the DNV general meeting in early November 2020, Vice President Hermann Graser was unanimously elected as the new association president.

After 20 years, the previous President of the German Natural Stone Association (DNV), Joachim Grüter, has now resigned from office. “Joachim Grüter has played a key role in shaping the association over the past 20 years. As a recognized and eloquent entrepreneur, you have rendered great services,” said Heinrich-Georg Hofmann, Chairman of the DNV Technical Commission, in recognition of his outstanding commitment.

It was a great honor for Joachim Grüter to hold this office. “After more than 20 years, however, it is time to hand over this task to younger people,” he added. He thanked all those present for the good cooperation and the trust placed in him over the past years.

Grüter was unanimously elected Honorary President at the DNV General Assembly on November 6, 2020 and will therefore remain actively involved with the DNV. At the online meeting, the Executive Committee and the eleven-member Board also unanimously elected Vice President Hermann Graser as the new Association President on the recommendation of Joachim Grüter.

The 43-year-old is Managing Director of Bamberger Natursteinwerk Hermann Graser GmbH. Only recently, he had also been handed the baton for the presidency of Euroroc, the association of the European natural stone industry, for the next two years by the two current presidents Kristof Callebaut and Stijn Renier.

Karl Tratz, Managing Director of Franken-Schotter GmbH & Co. KG from Treuchtlingen-Dietfurt, is the new Vice President for the construction sector. Josef Kusser, Managing Director of Kusser Granitwerke GmbH based in Aicha vorm Wald, will remain Vice President for the gravestone sector.

20.12.2024

Room of the four elements

Building design

small work

The Chilean architecture collective Grupo Talca created an inexpensive, secluded oasis in the middle of downtown Santiago. The atmospheric installation is reminiscent of naturally occurring elements in central Chile.

The Chilean architecture collective Grupo Talca works at the interface between architecture, sculpture and civic participation. The group often uses whatever they happen to find as building material. The construction costs therefore always remain very low – but do not limit the quality of their work. The “Bosque de Mim-bre” urban space is proof of this.

The project – which translates as “forest of willow barley” – is not intended to be a simulation of a natural island. Rather, it is an atmospheric installation reminiscent of the naturally occurring elements of central Chile: stone, water, willow and sand. The work presents itself as an architectural and therefore deliberately artificial space, created by an enclosure of bundles of willow tied together.

Various clearings open up in the middle of this four-metre-high forest, in which the architects have placed “natural” elements: Water flows through a pipe onto stones placed by Chilean sculptor Vicente Gajardo, wicker benches form the seating areas and there are small mounds of sand here and there. The result is a secluded oasis amidst the high-rise buildings of the Chilean capital Santiago.

You can find out more in Baumeister 2/2016

23.01.2025

Design

Neolith makes waves

Building design