The new professorship in Vienna is using nature as its role model for the design, draft and construction of structural systems and buildings. Innovative and natural construction materials are also being researched while taking resource and energy efficiency into consideration. “Protecting resources to the benefit of people and the environment is of primary importance”, emphasises Prof. Klaus Fischer, owner of the fischer Group of Companies. “The new professorship in Vienna is creating the technical prerequisites for this”. The establishment of a new subject of study and research on “bio-based construction” is being arranged at the relevant institute of structural engineering for the long term.

“Natural resources are our greatest asset, and they are only available in limited quantities. They are currently being used in far greater quantities than the environment can tolerate in the long term”, emphasises Prof. Kromoser. “As part of my research, I want to bridge the idea of using resources in the best possible way by applying innovative construction methods, natural construction materials and digital production methods in the building industry”. 

Up until now, Prof. Kromoser was a doctoral student and subsequently a post-graduate student at the Institute of Structural Engineering at the Technical University of Vienna. He is the inventor and/or co-inventor of 13 patents. In the past, the 30-year old already carried out successful research on innovative methods and materials for sustainable construction.

In 2016, Prof. Kromoser worked at the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) at the University of Stuttgart for six months together with Prof. Werner Sobek, the founder of the Werner Sobek Group, an architecture firm from Stuttgart that focuses on engineering, design and sustainability. Prof. Sobek and Prof. Klaus Fischer, owner of the fischer Group of Companies, founded the AH Aktiv-Haus GmbH together in 2016. The company develops and distributes buildings in a modular method of construction – the “aktivhäuser” (“active houses”) – which are based on the so-called triple-zero principle.

In parallel to the “bio-based construction” professorship in Vienna, fischer is already financing the entire “innovative strengthening methods with fixings” professorship at the Institute of Construction Materials at the University of Stuttgart for a six-year period. The focus is placed on considerations of quality and durability in renovation and strengthening methods for structural and civil engineering. The renowned Indian scientist Prof. Akanshu Sharma has held the professorship since January 2017 and has been successfully researching the topic.

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