Stuttgart

Lightweight and Solid Construction

Students of architecture and civil engineering have associated Stuttgart with two important chairs for many decades: The Lightweight Construction Institute, founded by Frei Otto, and the Chair of Solid Construction, established more than 100 years ago and shaped by such luminaries as Emil Moersch, Fritz Leonhardt and Jörg Schlaich. When Werner Sobek began to merge these two chairs into one institute at the end of the 1990s and reported on the office’s first projects, it quickly became clear to me personally that a groundbreaking development was taking place here that I wanted to get to know better. It was already obvious at that time that the ideas and principles of lightweight construction were necessary to respond to the pressing issues of resource and material consumption.

My Way to Stuttgart

Freshly graduated, I therefore moved from Hanover to Stuttgart to learn more about innovative planning concepts at Werner Sobek’s office. What was only planned as a short stopover has now lasted more than two decades – and I am now allowed to lead the company founded by Werner Sobek as a partner and managing director. Why have I stayed so long? Not only because working on many international projects is exciting and fulfilling. Equally important was and is the constant exchange with other planners and industries, which is particularly possible here. Last, but not least: The high quality of life in this city also made me happy to stay.

In this sense, I would like to thank all Stuttgart residents for the many positive encounters in recent years – and wish all visitors and newcomers a good time in our state capital!

Dipl.-Ing. Roland Bechmann
Managing Director and Partner of Werner Sobek AG