Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Arch. Michelle Howard

Michelle Howard leads the Platform for Construction Materials and Technology at the IKA.

In the course of the research and teaching done via the Platform, the mutual conditions and dependencies of humans, climates and environment are activated and rendered visible. Furthermore, we investigate the question of how the design and the transformation of materials influence the form and gestalt of our constructed environment. In 2015 we published, Research Observe Make – An Alternative Manual for Architectural Education. This publication describes the evolution of the Platform since 2008 and lays the basis for its future development. The evolution of this process is seated in the conviction that greater interaction with the world around us can provide untold levels of inspiration and indeed propose solutions if we only looked closely enough. It presents a trilogy of interactivities; Elemental, Spatial and Material

Elemental Interactivity: Four elements form the basis of weather and climate: temperature, pressure, wind & moisture content. Changes are driven by the interrelationship of latitude, atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation, distribution of land and water & topographic barriers.

Spatial Interactivity: In these studios the hidden power of spatial systems is examined, rediscovered and used as a tool to comprehend and develop complex projects of interaction. Interacting spaces generate new possibilities and reactivate forgotten ones.

Material Interactivity: These projects explore how the shaping and forming of materials influence the shape and form of our built environment. As methods of fabrication change, new architectural possibilities emerge. Older methods and materials are also observed, rediscovered and reassessed.

An Irish Architect with a practice in Berlin and a Professorship in Vienna, Michelle has spent much of her career collaborating with some of the most important Architectural practices in the world. Notably 6 years with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop in both the Genoa and Paris office on such projects as the Auditorium Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Potsdamer Platz urban ensemble in Berlin. In the next 6 years she led the construction of two seminal projects for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, the Dutch embassy in Berlin and the Casa da Musica in Porto. In her office in Berlin, constructconcept, she maintains a small structure where her network permits her to gain support when needed. Good art and architecture are the result of great collaboration and her long experience of working together with and coordinating the most diversely creative individuals is crucial to her practice. She is committed to the reassertion of the interdependency of design, construction and environment in architecture. The Stacked House in Berlin Weißensee was awarded the KFW Award 2014 and was appointed the best terraced house in Germany. Built for less than €900m² and minimal embodied energy it proposes a sustainable form of building as yet unrecognised by current energy regulations. She is a founding member of wirmachendas.jetzt, a growing alliance of initiatives united by the common goal of facing up to worldwide migration with humanity and expertise. One of those initiatives is fourteenwalls.org

Links

http://constructconcept.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mphcoco/

https://www.behance.net/mhoward4f8f