The East German engineer Ulrich Muther contributed an important chapter to the European history of shell construction. In 1963 he created the first concrete shell as the realisation of his diploma project in the former GDR. His career of the more than 30 years saw many milestones. Ulrich Muther realised his pioneering shell constructions in his homeland on the island of Rugen, in and around Rostock and in other parts of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. This book alternates between a classical architecture guide and an almost archaeological inventory. It furnishes a well founded insight into the euphoric belief in progress that attended the building boom of the sixties and seventies. All the relevant objects in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania have been assembled in one publication for the first time. The buildings are portrayed with the aid of current photographs, plans, texts and project information. Survey maps and addresses facilitate on-site visits.

Monumental in scale and epic in development, cities have become the most visible and significant symbol of human progress. The geography on and around which they are constructed, however, has come to be viewed merely in terms of its resources and is often laid to waste once its assets have been stripped. The City in Geography is an urban exploration through this phenomenon, from settlement to city through physical geography, which reveals an incremental progression of removing terrain, topography and geography from the built environment, ushering in and advancing global destruction and instability. This book explains how the fall of geography in relationship to human survival has come through the loss of contact between urban dwellers and physical terrain, and details the radical rethinking required to remedy the separations between the city, its inhabitants and the landscape upon which it was built.

Die Meister der Betonschalen Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts begann die Hochphase des Betonschalenbaus. Weltweit entstanden technisch avancierte Konstruktionen von aufsehenerregender Expressivität. Mit Félix Candela, Heinz Isler und Ulrich Müther nimmt dieses Buch exemplarisch drei Protagonisten dieser Bauweise in den Blick. Ihr Wirken – vorwiegend in Mexiko, der Schweiz und der DDR – fand unter sehr verschiedenen politischen, ökonomisch-sozialen und kulturellen Bedingungen statt. Die Autoren analysieren die Bauten und Projekte vor dem Hintergrund der Entwicklungen der Architektur und des Ingenieurwesens jener Zeit. Sie thematisieren wechselseitige Einflüsse, Gemeinsamkeiten wie Unterschiede in den Entwurfsprozessen, der Konstruktion und der Ausführung. Darüber hinaus werden Fragen der Rezeption und der heutigen Nutzung behandelt. Lernen von Félix Candela (1910–1997), Heinz Isler (1926–2009) und Ulrich Müther (1934–2007) und ihren historischen Schalenbauten Unbekanntes aus den Planarchiven Englisch mit Zusammenfassungen auf Deutsch und Spanisch

History of Construction Cultures Volume 1 contains papers presented at the 7ICCH – Seventh International Congress on Construction History, held at the Lisbon School of Architecture, Portugal, from 12 to 16 July, 2021. The conference has been organized by the Lisbon School of Architecture (FAUL), NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Portuguese Society for Construction History Studies and the University of the Azores. The contributions cover the wide interdisciplinary spectrum of Construction History and consist on the most recent advances in theory and practical case studies analysis, following themes such as: - epistemological issues; - building actors; - building materials; - building machines, tools and equipment; - construction processes; - building services and techniques ; -structural theory and analysis ; - political, social and economic aspects; - knowledge transfer and cultural translation of construction cultures. Furthermore, papers presented at thematic sessions aim at covering important problematics, historical periods and different regions of the globe, opening new directions for Construction History research. We are what we build and how we build; thus, the study of Construction History is now more than ever at the centre of current debates as to the shape of a sustainable future for humankind. Therefore, History of Construction Cultures is a critical and indispensable work to expand our understanding of the ways in which everyday building activities have been perceived and experienced in different cultures, from ancient times to our century and all over the world.

Describes the library designed by Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with artist Thomas Ruff.