Konrad Wachsmann and the Grapevine Structure

Konrad Wachsmann: a legendary pioneer of prefabricated building systems and a visionary of automatized on-site assembly

German modernist architect Konrad Wachsmann (190180) had a career-spanning interest in construction processesin particular the prefabrication of building components and their assembly within modular systems. In this respect, Wachsmann was a pioneer whose ideas and work paved the way for today's industrialized construction.

Marianne Burkhalter and Christian Sumi synthesize years of careful research into a compelling look at this highly creative architect. At the core of the book is Wachsmann's dynamic Grapevine Structure, a universal construction element developed with students during his tenure at the Chicago Institute of Designpart of what is today the Illinois Institute of Technology. The book also investigates Wachsmann's Packaged House System, his relocatable hangars for the US Air Force, and, in particular, the Local Orientation Manipulator (LOM), developed with John Bollinger and Xavier Mendoza at the University of California, Los Angeles. Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler, and Hannes Mayer (Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich) revisit the LOM from a contemporary perspective where robotic fabrication processes have become increasingly common. The book also features an essay by Andreas Burkhalter on Wachsmann's legendary knotted joints in the context of possible similar structures in the human brain, and a conversation by Marko Pogacnik with architects Hermann Czech and Friedrich Kurrent on Wachsmann's lectures at the Salzburg Summer Academy.

Published to coincide with an exhibition on Konrad Wachsmann at the 2018 International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, the book features rich illustrative material.

Winner of the DAM Architectural Book Award 2018.

• Konrad Wachsmann's groundbreaking work in the fields of prefabrication, modular systems, and automatized on-site assembly remains inspirational also for contemporary architects
• Demonstrates the lasting significance of Wachsmann's ideas and sheds new light on his concepts
• Features latest research and rich and previously unpublished material on Wachsmann's Grapevine Structure and Local Orientation Manipulator

• Published to coincide with a special display at the 2018 International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale

  Autorentext

Marianne Burkhalter and Christian Sumi founded their Zurich-based firm Burkhalter Sumi Architects in 1984. Besides their joint teaching as professors at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, Switzerland, 20082016, they have held appointments as visiting professors at EPFL in Lausanne, SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, Harvard GSD, University of Geneva, and University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.