Werner Lorenz - Böcker

Spurred by the development of new building materials such as steel and reinforced concrete, and facilitated by ever more reliable structural engineering models, designers in the high modernity (around 1880-1970) strove as never before to increase buildings' width and height while minimising their use of materials. This exploration of structural boundaries at the limit of what was possible contrasted with an increase in confining, codified limits to what was permitted by growing systems of regulation. This volume brings together various contributions examining the practices, thought patterns and attitudes of designers and builders in the tension between these contrasting facets of high-modern construction. This novel approach to recent construction history is complemented by exploration of continuities and breaks between high-modern notions of efficiency and today's building industry.Building and construction in the high modernityA new approach to the recent history of construction with contributions by recognized expertsResults of the DFG priority program "Construction as cultural heritage"

Since the publication of the Venice Charter, authenticity has been a central guiding principle of heritage conservation. Originally referring almost exclusively to tangible substance, the concept has recently been extended to include intangible values as an expression of cultural significance. However, the term is still far from being well defined: Authenticity is a fragile construction that is constantly being renegotiated. Focusing on the High Modern period, this volume examines in particular the authenticity of a monument's technical nature. What are the specific communicators of cultural significance to be preserved in such a case, and what does this mean for the treatment of a building's structure, envelope and interior installations? And shouldn't even the typical defects of the period or an ingenious structural system be considered as expressions of their time's art of engineering, worthy of protection?

The art of making things fit for use again goes back to the beginnings of human construction. In modernism's focus on progress and new constructions, this tradition was at best only marginally considered. Since then, the guiding principles for construction have undergone another radical shift. Sustainability, preservation and upgrading have become key concepts of the construction sector's retrofit turn, and the built heritage of the high modern era itself now requires structural and energy efficiency upgrades. From a variety of perspectives, this volume explores the specific challenges this poses for conservation and explores the sophisticated strategies and methods now available for close-to-reality assessment and retrofitting measures appropriate for the built heritage from the high modern times.

Im Dezember 1837 zerstört ein verheerender Großbrand das Machtzentrum des russischen Reichs, den Winterpalast in St. Petersburg. Der von Zar Nikolaus I. forcierte umgehende Wiederaufbau bildet den Auftakt eines groß angelegten Um- und Neubauprogramms für nahezu sämtliche Bauten der kaiserlichen Residenz, die heute umgangssprachlich unter dem Namen Eremitage zusammengefasst werden. Vermeintlich "feuersichere" Eisenkonstruktionen modernster Bauart ersetzen in den Dächern und Decken die traditionellen Holztragwerke. Bis 1852 entsteht in beispiellosen Ausmaßen, erstaunlicher Vielfalt und unterschiedlichen konstruktiven Handschriften das größte Ensemble eiserner Tragwerke der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts - die Eiserne Eremitage.Errichtet in einer technologisch noch offenen Zeit, in der Europa gerade erst daran arbeitet, die Möglichkeiten des Bauens mit Eisen zu erkunden und erste Regeln und Praktiken dafür zu formulieren, bilden die hinter den Fassaden und abgehängten Decken der Eremitage verborgenen Eisenkonstruktionen heute ein einzigartiges Zeugnis aus der Frühzeit des europäischen Stahlbaus.Im Ergebnis eines langjährigen Forschungsprojekts eröffnet die zweibändige Monographie eine gänzlich neue Sichtweise auf diesen Gebäudekomplex von Weltrang: Nie zuvor ist eine historische Eisenkonstruktion in derartiger Tiefe und Weite erfasst, dokumentiert und interpretiert worden. Exemplarisch zeigt die Untersuchung dabei das Potenzial einer Bauforschung mit ingenieurwissenschaftlichem Schwerpunkt, die nicht nur die Auswertung umfangreicher Archivbestände, handnahe In-situ-Untersuchungen, Laboranalysen und statisch-konstruktive Analysen umfasst, sondern auch die kompetente Verortung und Bewertung im zeitgenössischen bautechnikgeschichtlichen Kontext. In einem eigenen Tafelband werden aus der Fülle des Materials Archivalien, detaillierte Konstruktionszeichnungen und Visualisierungen der eisernen Tragwerke präsentiert und kommentiert.Auf der Suche nach Erklärungen verfolgen die Autoren in ihrer detaillierten Aufbereitung der Bau- und Konstruktionsgeschichte den langen Weg des Eisens zurück bis zu den Wurzeln im Ural, dem Abbau und der Verhüttung des Erzes. Die Spurensuche entfaltet die Folie, vor der sich der Bau der Eisernen Eremitage überhaupt erst vollziehen konnte - die beeindruckende Geschichte der russischen Eisenproduktion und bislang nahezu unbekannter Pionierleistungen des Bauens mit Eisen im 18. und frühen 19. Jahrhundert. Das Ergebnis verändert unseren Blick auf die Frühgeschichte des Stahlbaus - im Verständnis der Entwurfs-, Konstruktions- und Bauprozesse eines solchen Großprojekts, vor allem aber auch hinsichtlich der bereits weit zurückreichenden Traditionslinien des russischen Eisenbaus.

Physical models have been, and continue to be used by engineers when faced with unprecedented challenges, when engineering science has been non-existent or inadequate, and in any other situation when the engineer has needed to raise their confidence in a design proposal to a sufficient level to begin construction. For this reason, models have mostly been used by designers and constructors of highly innovative projects, when previous experience has not been available.The book covers the history of using of physical models in the design and development of civil and building engineering projects including bridges in the mid-18th century, William Fairbairn?s Britannia bridge in the 1840s, the masonry Aswan Dam in the 1890s, concrete dams in the 1920s, thin concrete shell roofs and the dynamic behaviour of tall buildings in earthquakes from the 1930s, tidal flow in estuaries and the acoustics of concert halls from the 1950s, and cable-net and membrane structures in the 1960s.Traditionally, progress in engineering has been attributed to the creation and use of engineering science, the understanding materials properties and the development of new construction methods. The book argues that the use of reduced scale models have played an equally important part in the development of civil and building engineering. However, like the history of engineering design itself, this crucial contribution has not been widely reported or celebrated. The book concludes with reviews of the current use of physical models alongside computer models, for example, in boundary layer wind tunnels, room acoustics, seismic engineering, hydrology, and air flow in buildings.

Physical models have been, and continue to be used by engineers when faced with unprecedented challenges, when engineering science has been non-existent or inadequate, and in any other situation when the engineer has needed to raise their confidence in a design proposal to a sufficient level to begin construction. For this reason, models have mostly been used by designers and constructors of highly innovative projects, when previous experience has not been available.The book covers the history of using of physical models in the design and development of civil and building engineering projects including bridges in the mid-18th century, William Fairbairn?s Britannia bridge in the 1840s, the masonry Aswan Dam in the 1890s, concrete dams in the 1920s, thin concrete shell roofs and the dynamic behaviour of tall buildings in earthquakes from the 1930s, tidal flow in estuaries and the acoustics of concert halls from the 1950s, and cable-net and membrane structures in the 1960s.Traditionally, progress in engineering has been attributed to the creation and use of engineering science, the understanding materials properties and the development of new construction methods. The book argues that the use of reduced scale models have played an equally important part in the development of civil and building engineering. However, like the history of engineering design itself, this crucial contribution has not been widely reported or celebrated. The book concludes with reviews of the current use of physical models alongside computer models, for example, in boundary layer wind tunnels, room acoustics, seismic engineering, hydrology, and air flow in buildings.