www.buildingsandcities.org/about/niklaus-kohler.html
Niklaus Kohler
Dr Niklaus Kohler is an architect and researcher. He worked in R&D in both the building industry and academe. His PhD was on Global Energy Consumption of Buildings during their Life Cycle. From 1978 to 1992 he directed research projects in the material science department (performance of materials) and the physics department (energy simulation) at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). He was member of the steering committee of three national technology transfer programs (Impulsprogramme).
He is an Emeritus Professor and past-Director of the Institute of Industrial Building Production (ifib) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (formerly University of Karlsruhe). After retirement, he was a senior lecturer at ETH Zurich and a guest professor at Tianjin University, China. He was President of the Scientific Council of the CSTB (France) and member of steering committees of research programs and scientific institutions in Germany, France, Switzerland, UK, Sweden, Austria, China. His main research domains are:
- Life cycle analysis of buildings and building stocks
- Application of Information Technologies in comprehensive, distributed design
Latest Commentaries
Harnessing Design Research to Encourage Alternative Futures
Doina Petrescu (University of Sheffield) explains how design research and architectural practice can respond to multiple crises (resource depletion, overconsumption, climate change, biodiversity loss, etc). By developing new shared visions of how to live it is possible to create a future built environment that is just and equitable.
Systems Thinking is Needed to Achieve Sustainable Cities
As city populations grow, a critical current and future challenge for urban researchers is to provide compelling evidence of the medium- and long-term co-benefits of quality, low-carbon affordable housing and compact urban design. Philippa Howden-Chapman (University of Otago) and Ralph Chapman (Victoria University of Wellington) explain why systems-based, transition-oriented research on housing and associated systemic benefits is needed now more than ever.