Keynote Address by Prof. AA Dipl. (Hons) Achim Menges, Member of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Class

"Rethinking Architecture: Bio-based and Bio-inspired Construction"

Observing nature allows us to rethink architectural design. Biology offers a seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of principles of form, function, and process. Many of these principles challenge existing approaches in construction technology in surprising ways or even point to entirely new possibilities.

Achim Menges, who was awarded thePrize the DFG in 2023 for his scientific work, discusses in his lecture how a bionic approach in architecture enables scientific, interdisciplinary, and lateral thinking. He also uses a selection of projects to demonstrate how this can give rise to architecture that is both effective and exploratory, efficient and expressive.

Other items on the agenda: Opening remarks by Hans J. Reiter, Director General and Head of Department at the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts; a report on the academic year by Academy President Hans-Georg Kräusslich; insights into the Young Academy | HAdW a spokesperson for the Academy’s research group; and the presentation of the endowed prizes.