As Founder and CEO of terrain: integral designs and terrain.cloud, and Head of the Institute for Architecture and Landscape and Director of Landlab at Graz University of Technology in Austria, Professor Loenhart and his teams are developing nature-inspired decarbonisation and urban climate strategies, as well as ways to reconnect urban society with our living environment through design innovation.
Professor Loenhart’s lecture will be the culmination of three weeks at the University’s School of Architecture as part of its Visiting Architect Programme. During that time, he will work with staff and students and is also exhibiting an art installation he and students have produced.
Professor Loenhart’s pioneering approaches include introducing breathing into the fabric of buildings by incorporating plant courtyards that provide fresh air, oxygen and cool spaces as a substitute for air-conditioning.
As proof of the concept, Professor Loenhart and his team.breath.austria implemented the Austrian Pavilion at the 2015 EXPO World Fair in Milan. A natural/techno-logical hybrid whose ecological and atmospheric performance took centre stage, it attracted more than 2.5 million visitors and won numerous awards, including the UNESCO City of Design Gold Award.
Another project, a ‘breathing’ headquarters for Austrian green retailer Grüne Erde, includes, “like inverted clearings in a forest”, 13 patios where “individual plant communities of nine Austrian living forest ecotypes provide oxygen and microclimate, sensual experiences and great comfort, for people, flora and fauna to thrive”.
Dr Sam Kebbell, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and a practising architect at KebbellDaish, says Professor Loenhart’s visit is a great opportunity for New Zealanders to learn more about his visionary multidisciplinary philosophy and how it might be applied to New Zealand buildings and cities.
“As we tackle climate change and endeavour to create more sustainable urban environments, we, like the rest of the world, have never needed Professor Loenhart and his thinking more,” said Dr Kebbell. “His is an example we can all learn from.”
‘Imagine! The city as a living biome’
Public lecture by Professor Klaus Klaas Loenhart
Faculty of Architecture and Design
Te Aro Campus
139 Vivian Street
6pm Tuesday 8 October
Art installation
Atrium
Faculty of Architecture and Design
Opening 5.30pm Friday 27 September, running until Tuesday 8 October