As part of the TUesday Lounge, Heike Oevermann, Eva Mair, Thomas Bednar, and Georg Hochreiner, moderated by Christian Hellmich, discussed the management of existing buildings, their transformation, and the reuse of building components, as well as the appreciation of the existing built environment.

Christian Hellmich is a full professor at TU Wien and heads the Institute of Mechanics of Materials and Structures. Together with colleagues from around the world, he has developed (micro)structural bio-chemo-mechanical models. These works include theoretical foundations, computational implementation, and experimental validation for various biological and human-made systems, hierarchical materials such as bone and soft tissue, cement and concrete, wood and wood composites, brick, steel, and rubber; as well as structures ranging from molecular to geological scales, from DNA molecules and graphene to implant-skeleton assemblies, pipelines, and tunnel constructions.

Heike Oevermann studied architecture at TU Braunschweig and ETSA Sevilla, as well as World Heritage Studies at BTU Cottbus. She earned her doctorate at TU Berlin with a dissertation on the handling of the industrial heritage of Zollverein (synchronous discourse analysis) and completed her habilitation at Bauhaus University Weimar. She was Deputy Director at the Georg Simmel Center (GSZ) of Humboldt University Berlin, visiting professor of heritage conservation at Otto-Friedrich University Bamberg, teaches at Università Roma Tre, and is a guest professor at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. Since 2023, she has led the Research Unit for Heritage Conservation and Building in Existing Contexts at the Institute of Art History, Building Research, and Heritage Conservation at TU Wien.
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Eva Mair studied architecture at TU Graz and ETSAV Barcelona. After her studies, she worked with Walter Angonese and ARTEC Architekten. Since 2014, she has been teaching and researching at the Institute of Architecture and Design (Research Unit Building Studies) at TU Wien, and since 2019, she has co-led the architecture office Mair-Paar with Johannes Paar, which focuses on building in existing contexts. The office’s portfolio includes both heritage-protected buildings and objects or situations that a priori have no special designation.

Thomas Bednar leads the Research Unit of Building Physics at the Institute for Material Technology, Building Physics, and Building Ecology at TU Wien. His work focuses on developing predictive methods for planning, executing, and operating buildings, particularly regarding optimal measures to prevent moisture damage, infrastructure load profiles due to building operation and use, and sound transmission for designing the acoustic environment for living beings, especially humans. He is Austria’s representative in several international research collaborations and evaluation committees, as well as European and international standardization committees. He also leads the ÖNORM working group for creating building physics proofs and contributes to regulations for energy performance certificates and building acoustics. Since 2009, he has been a permanent member of the Federal Monument Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of Education, Art, and Culture.

Georg Hochreiner studied civil engineering with a focus on structural engineering at TU Wien and subsequently worked as a university assistant at the Institute of Structural Engineering at TU Wien. After approximately 25 years in the construction industry in a senior position specializing in timber engineering, he returned in 2010 and continues to be active at the Research Unit for Structural Simulation and Timber Engineering at the Institute of Mechanics of Materials and Structures at TU Wien even after his retirement.

Podcast information
The podcast ZUKUNFT STADT is a project of the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning at TU Wien. It is produced in cooperation between future.lab and the Research Unit of Local Spatial Planning at TU Wien.

Concept and production, audio and editing: Lukas Bast, Lena Hohenkamp, Lisa-Marie Kramer, Madlyn Miessgang
Intro music: Jakob Kotal