Climate change, resource conservation, reduction of CO2 emissions and the sustainable growth of cities are central issues in urban development and building in the city of today. Building with wood is an urgent and relevant topic in the context of the climate crisis. Architecture with timber can make a significant contribution to bringing about a change towards resource efficiency with high architectural and building-cultural qualities in the building industry. In order to give future wooden structures their uniqueness compared to conventional construction, it is necessary to develop new forms, images and methods, which can create a radiance of the material wood beyond bare technology. Competent knowledge in all relevant specialist areas from timber engineering to building physics and fire protection is indispensable, but the shaping, dependent on sensible construction, must be “draft-based” in an interdisciplinary manner in order to combine the individual technical disciplines into a larger whole. Therefore, the establishment of a professorship in wood construction and design - “Design and construction with wood in an urban context” at the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning is a self-evident choice. 

The professorship proposed here will focus on the application possibilities of modern timber construction methods in an urban context and, as a communicator, initiate strategic collaborations within and outside the TU Vienna and independently research new research questions in close cooperation with industry and administration. In research, the central question is what contribution biogenic building materials can make to the issues of resource optimization in construction and the creation of healthy living environments with high architectural and building-cultural qualities. The overarching goal of the professorship is to produce trained architects who focus on resilient building with the renewable building material wood in an urban context. Well-trained architects who understand the design and construction principles of wood as a material are not only the key to good architecture, they are also crucial for successful planning and implementation processes and are therefore important for meeting the increasing social demand for building with renewable raw materials. The Vienna University of Technology is aware of these challenges and, with this professorship, wants to actively shape systematic research on building with wood in an urban context at an early stage. In addition to research, the second pillar of this professorship is to offer university education at the highest level in Austria, in order to train the specialists required in the planning and implementation process, business, research and administration.