Coop Himmelb(l)au is an international practice with a long history in building construction. With its foundation in 1968, the practice has experienced a shift from the 20th to the 21st century that brought a variety of technological advancements along with new design methods.
In this lecture, the design-to-realisation thinking and processes of key projects along that period will be unfolded through an interplay between analog and digital means. Can a pencil sketch be substituted by Artificial Intelligence (AI) design processes? And ultimately; Can architecture with aesthetic values emerge through merely digital workflows?
Karolin Schmidbaur is an Architect and Educator with a wide experience in practice and teaching. In practice internationally with Coop Himmelb(l)au since 1992 she has held key roles in many of their completed projects and became Partner of the firm in 2009. Since 2017 she holds a professorship at the institute of experimental architecture, building design and construction, at the University of Innsbruck and is Design Partner and Head of Research at Coop Himmelb(l)au.
Efilena Baseta is an Architect Engineer, with a Doctorate (Marie-Curie fellowship) in the field of transformable structures, and holds a position as Senior Artist at the Institute of ‘Arts and Design’ at the Vienna University of Technology. Efilena is a co-founding partner at Noumena, a multidisciplinary practice focusing on novel design technologies. Since 2019 she is a computational designer at Coop Himmelb(l)au and part of the research team.
Video by IAAC