Werner Sobeck

Werner Sobek (Aalen, Germany, May 16, 1953) is a German engineer and architect. He is a full professor at the University of Stuttgart and director of the Institute for Lightweight Design and Construction (ILEK). Sobek directs the architecture studio Werner Sobek group, and has been vice-president of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB).

A graduate of the University of Stuttgart, in 1992 he founded the Werner Sobek group with offices in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, New York, Moscow, Cairo and Dubai. One of his most outstanding creations is the R 128 house whose importance lies in its ecological value and which, in addition to being transportable, is fully recyclable.

Biography

Werner Sobek was born in 1953 in Aalen, Germany. From 1974 to 1980, he studied structural engineering and architecture at the University of Stuttgart. From 1980 to 1986, he was a graduate fellow on the research project 'Wide-Span Lightweight Structures' at the University of Stuttgart and finished his PhD in structural engineering in 1987. In 1983, Sobek won the SOM Foundation Fazlur Khan International Scholarship.

In 1991, he became a professor at the University of Hannover and director of the Institute for Structural Design and Construction Methods. In 1992 he founded his own company Werner Sobek, which now has offices in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, London, Moscow, New York and Dubai. The company has more than 200 employees and works with all kinds of structures and materials. His main areas of expertise are lightweight construction, high-rise construction, facade design, special constructions made of steel, glass, titanium, fabric and wood, as well as sustainable building design.

Since 1994, he has been a professor at the University of Stuttgart (successor to Frei Otto) where he has also been director of the Institute for Lightweight Design and Construction (ILEK). In December 2011 he founded the Stuttgart Institute for Sustainability (SIS), a non-profit organization whose objective is to promote research on new sustainable construction techniques.

Works

House R128 is the private residence of the Sobek family in Stuttgart. The cube-shaped, four-story building, which is glazed on all sides, is fully recyclable and emission-free. The electrical current required for the heating and control technology is generated photovoltaically.

Post Tower, Bonn.

Participation in projects of other architects in structural engineering or façade engineering:

• DNAOC Headquarters
• Texcoco Airport
• Kuwait International Airport (Terminal 2)
• Suvarnabhumi International Airport
• Centre Heydar Aliyev
• White City of Baku
• Doha Convention Center Tower
• Alfredo Harp Helu Stadium
• Mercedes-Benz Museum
• Expo 2017 (main pavilion)
• Post Tower
• Torres Flame, etre otros.