15.04.2021

The STEIN and Ceramics Trade Association Endows a Professorship at Graz University of Technology

Building design

Research in the field of sustainable systems at Graz University of Technology. The photo shows a facade structure. Photo: Lunghammer – Graz University of Technology

The Trade Association of the Stone and Ceramics Industry is supporting an endowed professorship in Sustainable Construction at Graz University of Technology, with a focus on life-cycle-based sustainability assessment as well as greenhouse gas-free and climate-resilient construction projects. The position will be filled in the summer of 2021

Forschung im Bereich Sustainable Systems an der TU Graz. Im Bild zu sehen ist eine Fassadenstruktur. Foto: Lunghammer - TU Graz — Research in the field of Sustainable Systems at Graz University of Technology. The photo shows a facade structure. Photo: Lunghammer – Graz University of Technology

Climate Change and Construction

Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) and the Trade Association of the Stone and Ceramics Industry have recently reached a contractual agreement to establish an endowed professorship in “Sustainable Construction.” The trade association will fund the professorship in accordance with Section 99 of the University Act for a term of three years, with an option to extend. Graz University of Technology will provide academic positions, administrative support, and infrastructure for research and teaching.

The research will focus on further developing methods for life-cycle-based sustainability assessment and on implementing construction projects that are largely greenhouse gas-free and climate-resilient. The professorship is thus intended to make a significant contribution to achieving the Paris Climate Goals and, consequently, to implementing the UN’s 2030 Agenda.

From the perspective of both contracting parties, the topic of the circular economy—that is, the reuse or recycling of building components and materials—is a top priority for the sustainability of buildings. “The goal is to view buildings as material resources for the future and to construct them in a way that enables both long service lives for the buildings and the reuse of materials at the end of a building’s life cycle (recycling, upcycling). This offers great opportunities for innovation, particularly for mineral building materials such as brick and concrete—whether as storage for renewable energy during the building’s operational phase or as pioneers in recycling. As a trade association, we want to continue driving this forward, and we have found a competent research partner in Graz University of Technology,” says Robert Schmid, Chairman of the Stone and Ceramics Trade Association.

“One thing is clear: climate protection will not work without the involvement of the construction industry,” says Harald Kainz, Rector of Graz University of Technology, and continues: “This sector is doubly affected by climate change—on the one hand, as a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and on the other, because buildings themselves must be adapted to the effects of climate change. This requires an interdisciplinary pooling of all resources, ranging from materials and energy research to architecture and civil engineering. In light of global climate trends, we at Graz University of Technology are very aware of our role as a forward-thinking think tank for society, and we are committed to using all our scientific expertise to develop future-proof solutions in the spirit of sustainable development. We do not exempt ourselves from this commitment and aim to operate as a climate-neutral university starting in 2030. We are therefore all the more pleased about the establishment of the Endowed Chair for Sustainable Construction.”

Graz University of Technology is already deeply engaged with this topic, for example through the Working Group for Sustainable Construction at the Institute for Technology and Testing of Building Materials, or through the part-time university course “Sustainable Construction,” offered in collaboration with the Vienna University of Technology. Several research groups are addressing pressing sustainability issues in the construction sector and are working, for example, on eco-friendly materials, self-sufficient energy systems, and the reduction of the carbon footprint or water consumption. The establishment of the endowed professorship in “Sustainable Construction” now underscores the importance of building sustainability as a distinct academic discipline and is intended to provide strong impetus in the area of knowledge transfer for both teaching and construction practice.

Point of Contact for the Building Materials and Construction Industries

The new professorship in the field of “Sustainable Construction” is intended to create a central point of contact for the building materials and construction industries at Graz University of Technology. By consolidating research activities on sustainable construction, climate protection technologies, and climate change adaptation, these new challenges will be addressed. In terms of teaching, the central task of the Chair of “Sustainable Construction” will be to integrate the fundamentals of sustainability into civil engineering education. Specifically, the goal is to embed this topic in all relevant curricula at Graz University of Technology.

About the Stone and Ceramics Trade Association

The Stone and Ceramics Trade Association represents companies in the Austrian building materials industry and has been actively involved in the field of “Sustainable Construction” for more than 15 years. The development of modern, low-carbon production technologies is just as much a core task as advancing climate-neutral construction technologies and methods, in order to make sustainable, climate-neutral, and future-proof construction possible in the first place. The funding of a dedicated endowed professorship at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) is therefore a logical next step in this direction. Further information can be found here.

About Graz University of Technology

Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) is Austria’s oldest technical and scientific research and educational institution and has played a central role in the international research and education network for over 200 years. In its five focus areas—the Fields of Expertise—TU Graz achieves world-class results and relies on intensive collaboration with other research and educational institutions as well as with business and industry worldwide. Graz University of Technology has seven faculties with approximately 100 institutes and employs about 3,600 staff members. 13,500 students from around 100 countries are enrolled at Graz University of Technology. Building on scientific bachelor’s degree programs, Graz University of Technology focuses on research-oriented master’s degree programs—which are increasingly offered in English—and PhD programs. The area of “Sustainable Construction” is anchored in the Field of Expertise “Sustainable Systems.”

03.01.2025

Event

City heat hotspot

Building design

We spoke to urban planner and climatologist Sebastian Kupski about materials that have a positive impact on the climate in urban areas and what climate-conscious urban development can look like.

May 3 is the day of the sun. Without the sun, there would be no life on earth – a good reason to dedicate a day to it and become aware of it. However, as climate change progresses, the darker side of the star is coming to the fore: the heat is increasingly causing problems for cities. This creates problems that challenge landscape architects and urban planners.

The urban space promotes heat islands, which are intensifying in the course of climate change. This leads to overheating. The buildings themselves, the sealing of the ground, the lack of greenery and artificial materials such as concrete and asphalt are responsible for this. We spoke to urban planner and climatologist Sebastian Kupski about materials that have a positive effect on the climate in urban areas and what climate-conscious urban development can look like.

You can find the full interview here as a PDF.

To mark the Day of the Sun, we dug through our archives and pulled out G+L 07/2017: the issue focused on natural technology: new materials that defy climate change. A topic that is still relevant today.

05.11.2024

Event

5 questions for Christoph Ingenhoven

Building design

Christoph Ingenhoven photographed by Jim Rakete.

For Christoph Ingenhoven, the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic mercilessly expose the failures of recent years. Nevertheless, he remains optimistic.

Too long supply chains, too much consumption, too little substance, too little solidarity, too little Europe, too much populism, too little work, too much life: for Christoph Ingenhoven, the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic mercilessly expose the failings of recent years. But he is far from losing his optimism as a result. We had a chat with him.

Christoph Ingenhoven photographed by Jim Rakete.

Christoph Ingenhoven, how are you and your office experiencing these days?
As I was traveling in the Engadin and London, trips to Cannes and Riyadh were cancelled at short notice and I was unable to return to Switzerland, I finally ended up in Düsseldorf, where the majority of our extended family from London, New York and Munich had also arrived in the meantime. My partner stayed in London with her children and one of my daughters was unavoidably deployed in hospital, so it’s a good thing the houses are big enough for that… The office has 45 percent of employees working from home, 45 percent still in the office, 5 percent on sick leave and 5 percent on vacation. We are all trying very hard to do our work with video and telephone conferences, which we are doing well together.

So almost half of your employees are working from home. How quickly was that possible and: Is everything continuing as usual?
We managed the switch within a few days. Everyone can take their computer and screen with them. For everyone else, it’s a new situation, but you get used to it after a few days – especially with the right discipline when preparing for conference calls. This is not a permanent solution and in normal times it is not good for the team and the quality of our work, which thrives on thinking, drawing and talking together. For the moment, however, it secures our ability to act. It’s a good thing that the internationalization of our projects in many very different countries means that we have always been used to working virtually to some extent in different time zones.

What challenges are you and your team currently facing?
Meeting deadlines and commitments to our clients, keeping in touch with clients, prioritizing paid work over unpaid work, carefully pushing projects over the finish line in the final decision-making phase, realistically assessing how the year will continue, running stress tests, reducing costs, motivating employees, holding your nerve, keeping quality high, not losing your sense of humour, finding new orders for the time during and after the crisis, winning competitions …

“You’re all more grown up after the crisis.”

You also have offices in Sydney and Singapore. How is the situation there?
Singapore is continuing to operate relatively normally and, as a large proportion of our Australian projects in Sydney and Melbourne are currently being processed there in addition to the Singaporean projects, capacity utilization is also very good. The opening of our Toranomon Hills project in Tokyo has been postponed, although the project has been completed. A second high-rise there is under construction and will probably open for the postponed Olympics next year.

Architecture students are asking themselves how they should complete their assignments in a team despite the initial restrictions. What advice would you give them?
That shouldn’t be a problem for this generation, Face Time, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype …, they can do it. The crisis is an opportunity, it mercilessly exposes our failings and shortcomings: too long supply chains, too much consumption, too much marketing, too little substance, too little vertical integration, too little solidarity, too little Europe, too much populism, too little work, too much life, the world is much nicer without emissions, fewer cars are not a mistake, childcare is difficult to replace, our small businesses are poorly financed.

Everyone tries to get rid of their problems first and foremost with the state, not only those who are really in need, but also those who have always taken all the profit out of the company in a timely manner for years. If we learn anything from this, it may have been very good and when we have the crisis behind us, you will all be much more grown up, stay alive!