Werner Lorenz

 

Biografia

Werner Lorenz was born in Osnabrück, Germany. 1980 he graduated in Structural Engineering at the Technische Universität Berlin with a degree dissertation about a Finite Element Problem (Best Diploma the Year). 1992 he passed his doctorate at the faculty of architecture of the TU Berlin (“with distinction”). A revised version of his thesis Building with iron and steel in the Berlin area, 1797-1850 was published 1995 under the title Konstruktion als Kunstwerk.

 

Since he finished his studies in 1980 Werner Lorenz has been working between structural engineering – mainly in the field of historic buildings – and construction history. After few years of practical experience in an engineering office in Berlin (1980-84) he returned to the Technische Universität Berlin where he taught different courses on construction and started first seminars on construction history (1984-1989). 1988 he spent a regularly research period as visiting professor at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris. Up to 1992 he finished his dissertation. In the same year he was appointed to the newly-created Chair of Construction History (since 2003: Construction History and Structural Preservation) at the Brandenburgische Technische Universität (BTU) Cottbus (www.tu-cottbus.de/bautechnikgeschichte ). As head of the chair he established a system of consecutive courses in construction history and structural preservation for undergraduates in civil engineering and architecture as well as for the interdisciplinary Science and Technology Studies (STS) Program. Since 2003 he has been working as dean of the university’s Bachelor-Master-Study-Program in Civil and Structural Engineering.

 

In 1996 he founded his own consulting office for structural engineering and –assessment, now Prof. Dr. Lorenz & Co. Bauingenieure GmbH, Berlin (www.lorenz-und-co.de) which is specialised in the field of structural rehabilitation of historic buildings and bridges. Exemplarily the strategic and technically detailed planning for the general rehabilitation of a lot of listed steel viaducts of the Berlin transport system from the beginning of the 20th century can be pointed out. Close cooperation with conservation officials in Berlin and Germany is well established; in the course of declaration of UNESCO World Heritage Sites Werner Lorenz is working as Technical Expert of ICOMOS.

 

The main fields of his historic research are analysis and assessment of construction history with regard to the interrelation between construction, science, architecture and arts as well as to history and change of self awareness and the philosophies of approach of civil engineers. From a historic point of view he aims to establish a historically founded discussion of nowadays methods of construction. Research is concentrated on the industrially characterised construction and building history of the 19th and 20th centuries, and from the material’s point of view on iron, steel and reinforced concrete structures. In the field of structural preservation he works on structural analysis, assessment and strengthening of historical buildings and the development of methods of conserving historical load bearing structures with fatigue problems.

 

Werner Lorenz has been member of different advisory boards as for example since 2002 of the Plattform Baukultur established by the German government to prepare the newly-created Bundesstiftung Baukultur, since 2005 of the Fachbeirat transdisziplinäre Wissenschaften der Guardini-Stiftung or in 2005 and 2006 of the Petersburger Dialog, an interdisciplinary German-Russian discussion forum established by the two governments in 2003. He has been member of scientific committees of international congresses as for the 6th International Congress on Structural Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Historical Buildings (STREMAH, Dresden, 1999) or the 2nd International Congress on Construction History (Cambridge, 2006). In 1999 he was awarded with the Literaturpreis für Baukultur which is conferred biennially bythe umbrella organisation of German Architects and Engineers Associations (DAI - Verband Deutscher Architekten- und Ingenieurvereine e.V.).

 

He has organised different conferences; just some may be pointed out: The colloquium Bauen für ein neues Reich - Ingenieurkultur der Bismarckära zwischen Wissenschaft, Normierung und Kreativität (BTU Cottbus, 1994), the conference Stählerne Hochbahnviadukte - Technische Verkehrsbauten oder lebendige Denkmale? (TU Berlin,1996) or the workshop Technik und Verantwortung im NS-Staat - kein aktuelles Problem?(BTU Cottbus, 1999). Actually his chair under the guidance of Volker Wetzk and him is preparing the 3rd International Congress on Construction History (Cottbus, 20th -24th May 2009).

Bibliografia

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Opere

Archäologie des Konstruierens - Eremitage, Walhalla, Neues Museum Berlin, in Bundesingenieurkammer (ed.), Ingenieurbaukunst in Deutschland - Jahrbuch 2005, Junius, Hamburg 2005, pp. 172-181.

 

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Von mancherlei Schwierigkeit, einer historischen Konstruktion gerecht zu werden. Anmerkungen zu neueren Äußerungen über die Schutzkuppel von St. Nikolai, in H. Dorgerloh (ed.), Jahrbuch 2003 der Stiftung preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin Brandenburg, Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2005, pp. 127-149.

 

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From Stories to History, from History to Histories: What Can Construction History Do?, “Construction History”, Vol. 21, 2006, pp. 31-42.

 

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Von Geschichten zur Geschichte, von Geschichte zu Geschichten: Was kann Bautechnikgeschichte?, in T. Meyer, M. Popplow (eds.), Technik, Arbeit und Umwelt in der Geschichte. Günter Bayerl zum 60. Geburtstag, Waxmann, Münster 2006, pp. 221-237.

 

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Iterative system identification for the assessment and retrofitting of a historical pre-stressed concrete bridge in Berlin, in P.B. Lourenço, P. Roca, C. Modena, S. Agrawal (eds.), Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions, New Delhi 2006, Vol. 11, pp. 617-624.

 

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‚Kunst’ lässt sich verkaufen. Oder geht es um mehr bei den ‚Wahrzeichen der Ingenieurbaukunst’?, in Bundesingenieurkammer (ed.), Ingenieurbaukunst in Deutschland - Jahrbuch 2007, Junius, Hamburg 2007  (in press).

 

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