Programme Advisory Council

Programme Advisory Council’s foreword

FROM THE PROGRAMME ADVISORY COUNCIL

10th anniversary – a time to look back and envision the future

When the Oskar von Miller Forum was first designed and planned, it was a miracle – given the large number of individuals involved from various disciplines – that consistent consensus was reached at all stages of the process. Even as very non-standard structural features were implemented, there was a consistent flow and input of expertise in the project.

The ambitions of the clients increased along with their perceptibly growing confidence in our ideas and suggestions for the design of a building that was intended to embody the overall idea of the project by way of a teaching building.

When the Programme Advisory Council was established as an honorary board with an educational mandate, one of the initially envisaged goals was to host events that would be developed in form and content – not in terms of a defined approach, but as a self-learning system. The monograph published to commemorate the opening states:

“A programme of interdisciplinary communication, discussions and other events is designed to make people aware of the full range of activities a master builder has to cover and to promote a positive long-term perspective for architects and constructional engineers. In this way, holistic thinking, interdisciplinary understanding, a universal outlook in the education provided, and comprehensive, integrative abilities in the perception and communication of the needs of the clients can be developed. Informal en -

counters between study guests and leading minds from the professional world and from the realms of science, culture and politics, as well as important groups in society, can also take place here.”

The Programme Advisory Council was conceived as a body whose members investigate and discuss the potential fields of action of engineers in the construction industry, and has continued to fulfil this mission up to this day.

It is our agreed goal to augment the expertise acquired through university training by adding the human, social and cultural dimension of education, which often complements the former and is an essential asset for our judgment and actions.

This means understanding the world in its complex diversity and developing our own role with determination and a focus on values. This also means implementing what is necessary and responsible with regard to impact and maintaining a balance between humanity, nature and technology while keeping in mind the historical developments and remaining attentive to the necessary and true bigger picture but also to the requisite diversity in the further development of the construction engineering professions.

An essential key to achieving these ambitions is close and highly effective cooperation with the Forum’s management team. This underlines the vital role the latter plays in the positive development of a new institution that does not have a comparable forerunner in the field of construction.

During the founding phase, a successful move was made to bring Prof. Dr.-Ing. Werner Lang back to Munich from the University of Texas at Austin – as a TUM professor, architect, and a godsend in terms both of technical and educational expertise. Together with his team, he deserves great praise and thanks for his outstanding commitment and high level of excellence in his role of Director with a remarkable international outreach.

Outlook How can reliable, positive prospects for the future be created in a world full of questions and highly problematic political structures and players in the international arena, as well as uncertainties in professional life that we have not experienced for decades?

The future holds no certainties let alone any guarantees.

But let’s think positively. When designing, planning, calculating, depicting, implementing and communicating, we should not let ourselves be guided by the material characteristics of the solution to be developed for a project, the close connection of which is often taken for granted. The aim should rather be a flexible concept of use based on an open-minded design process using a methodologically sensible stepwise approach; for

buildings and their components as large technical units for long-term use with system qualities orientated towards sustainability, not current style preferences. The idea is to design programmes with a spectrum of possible solutions – for topical tasks that truly have social relevance and therefore deserve priority.

This is the scenario we expect, and we will need young, well-trained, cosmopolitan engineers to design our material world in an – in the best sense – economical, cooperative and careful approach, at moderate expense in restrained aesthetics.

Prof. Dr. (Univ. Rom) Dr. h.c. Thomas Herzog

MEMBERS OF THE PROGRAMME ADVISORY COUNCIL:

Hans Beer, Thomas Herzog, Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, Gerhard Müller, Hans-Joachim Wolff

» TO ME, LIFELONG LEARNING IS THE KEY TO PARTICIPATING IN LIFE.

GERHARD MÜLLER

Professor of Structural Mechanics, Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at the TUM Member of the Programme Advisory Council