Werner Lorenz (historian)

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Werner Lorenz

Werner Lorenz (born February 1, 1953 in Osnabrück ) is a German civil engineer and historian of construction technology. He held the chair for the history of structural engineering and structural maintenance at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg , where he has been an honorary professor for the history of structural engineering since his retirement. From 1999 to 2018 he was also the managing director of the Berlin engineering office Lorenz & Co. (since 2018 Dr. Fischer & Co.).

Life

Lorenz was born as the second of five children of an internist in Osnabrück. After graduating from high school in the old-language branch of the Carolinum grammar school in Osnabrück in 1971, he studied civil engineering with a specialization in statics and building construction at the Technical University of Berlin and from 1974 worked as a research assistant in the mechanics department there with Peter Gummert and statics of building structures with Gebhard Hees . At the latter, he wrote his diploma thesis in the field of finite elements in 1980 and then worked until 1984 as a structural engineer and structural engineer in an engineering office in Berlin. Starting in 1983, he gained craftsmanship in addition to his engineering knowledge by rebuilding an old, destroyed farmhouse in Italy.

Attending a seminar on Nietzsche's “The benefits and disadvantages of history for life ” . at the Free University of Berlin became the impetus for an intensive examination of the historical context of civil engineering. At the same time, working as a research assistant at Klaus Dierks from the structural engineering department at the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Berlin from 1984 to 1989 heightened Lorenz's awareness of the aesthetic dimensions of building structures.

In 1988 he taught as a guest lecturer for the DAAD at the renowned École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris. At the same time, Lorenz was working on his dissertation on the subject of “Building with Iron in the Berlin Area 1797–1850” , with which he obtained a PhD in 1992 at the TU Berlin with Klaus Dierks. received his doctorate. The work rated “Summa cum laude” was later published in book form under the title “Construction as a work of art” .

In 1993 Werner Lorenz was appointed the first university professor for the history of structural engineering in Germany at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus (BTU). Ten years later, the renaming of the chair to “History of Structural Engineering and Preservation of Structures” also formally reflected his early integration of dealing with historical engineering structures into teaching. Since his retirement in autumn 2018, he has been an honorary professor for the history of structural engineering at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg.

In addition to his university activities, Werner Lorenz had also regularly worked as a structural engineer and expert since the mid-1980s. The first office was founded in 1996, from which Prof. Dr. Lorenz & Co Bauingenieure GmbH emerged . The planning office, which specializes in the upgrading and repair of listed engineering structures, has been managed by his former partner Michael Fischer under the name of Dr. Fischer & Co. continued.

The pioneer for the establishment of the history of construction technology in the German research landscape is also one of the leading international representatives of the discipline there under the sign of Construction History . In 2009, his chair organized the 3rd International Congress on Construction History ( IIIrd International Congress on Construction History ).

The early buildings made of iron and steel have largely determined Werner Lorenz's work as a researcher and engineer. In addition, he also devoted himself to numerous other subject areas of engineering construction and the associated context from antiquity to modern times. In 2019 the German Research Foundation appointed him coordinator of the DFG Priority Program 2255 "Cultural Heritage Construction - Basics of an engineering-based and networked monument preservation for the architectural heritage of the ultra-modern" , in which history, civil engineering and monument preservation are to be brought together.

Werner Lorenz is chairman and advisory board member in numerous committees, including chairman of the non-profit Vera Gerdau Foundation . Since 2007 he has been organizing the lecture series "Practices and Potentials of Building Technology History" at the German Museum of Technology together with Karl-Eugen Kurrer

Fonts (selection)

  • Construction as a work of art. Building with iron in Berlin and Potsdam 1797–1850. Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-7861-1774-8 .
  • 200 years of steel construction in Berlin - how to deal with old iron and steel buildings. In: Steel construction . 66, No. 6, 1997, pp. 289-290. (Introduction as editor).
  • with Carsten Seifert, Harald Bodenschatz: The Finowtal in Barnim: cradle of Brandenburg-Prussian industry . Edited by the city of Eberswalde, Berlin; Transit 1998.
  • with B. Szafranski: Training instead of demolition! In: G. Wachter, B. Jäger (Ed.): Abriß oder Ertigungsigung. Vice Versa, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-9803212-9-0 , pp. 93-112.
  • with Torsten Meyer (Ed.): Technology and Responsibility in National Socialism . (= Cottbus studies on the history of technology, work and the environment. Volume 25). Waxmann, 2004, ISBN 3-8309-1407-5 , pp. 1-18.
  • Editor with Karl-Eugen Kurrer, Volker Wetzk: Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Construction History: Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Germany, 20th - 24th May 2009 , 3 volumes, Berlin: Neunplus 1, 2009.
  • Steel construction under monument protection. In: Steel construction. 80, No. 6, 2011, pp. 377-378. (Introduction as editor).
  • with Chr. Kaiser: The meat bridge in Nuremberg. (= Historical landmarks of civil engineering. Volume 9). Federal Chamber of Engineers, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-941867-07-9 .
  • with R. May, J. Stritzke: The wholesale market hall in Leipzig . (= Historical landmarks of civil engineering. Volume 14). Federal Chamber of Engineers 2013.
  • The New Museum ., (= Historical landmarks of civil engineering. Volume 15). Federal Chamber of Engineers 2014.
  • Lecture at the Schinkel Festival 2015 Civil Engineering: Homecoming. Departure. PDF .
  • History of structural engineering in the training of civil engineers at German-speaking universities. (PDF).

Secondary literature

  • Volker Wetzk, Roland May: Werner Lorenz in Stahlbau , Issue 2, pp. 166–167, 2018

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dr. Fischer and Co. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b steel construction. 82, issue 2, 2013, pp. 148-150.
  3. ↑ Construction as a work of art. Building with iron in Berlin and Potsdam 1797–1850. Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-936033-31-5 .
  4. ↑ K.-E. Kurrer, W. Lorenz, V. Wetzk (Eds.): Proceedings of the IIIrd International Congress on Construction History. NEUNPLUS1 Verlag + Service, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-936033-31-1 .
  5. ↑ M. Schaeffer: "DFG sets up 14 new priority programs" (idw - Science Information Service). Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Chair of the History of Construction Technology, BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Vera Gerdau Foundation . Retrieved January 10, 2018 .
  8. ^ German Museum of Technology Berlin. Retrieved January 17, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Lorenz, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German structural engineering historian
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Osnabrück