IAAC Fall Lecture Series 2014
Tuesday 18th of November 2014
Jan Knippers
Lecture: Biological Design Strategies for Integrative Structures
@ 19.30, IAAC Auditorium
Open to the Public
JAN KNIPPERS
Jan Knippers specialises in complex parametrical generated structures for roofs and façades, as well as the use of innovative materials such as glass-fibre reinforced polymers. Since 2000 Jan Knippers is head of the Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (itke) at the faculty for architecture and urban design at the University of Stuttgart and involved in many research projects on fiber based materials and biomimetics in architecture. Since 2014 he is coordinator of the collaborative research center ‘Biological Design and Integrative Structures’ that aims to contribute to the conceptualization of biomimetics as a scientific discipline in the context of architecture.
Jan Knippers is also partner and co-founder of Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering with offices in Stuttgart, New York City (since 2009) and Berlin (since 2014). The focus of their work is on efficient structural design for international and architecturally demanding projects, as the Peek and Cloppenburg flagship store in Cologne with Renzo Piano (2006) or the Shenzhen International Airport with Massimilano Fuksas in 2013. Jan Knippers completed his studies of civil engineering at the Technical University of Berlin in 1992 with the award of a PhD.
Image Credits: Research Pavillon 2013-2014. ICD (Prof. Achim Menges) and ITKE (Prof. Jan Knippers), University of Stuttgart (credit: ICD/ITKE)