The 2nd and 3th confirmed keynote speakers for the WCTE2021 are the multiple-award winners Hermann Kaufmann and Stefan Winter. On this opportunity, both experts will share a presentation on the interdisciplinary work done between architecture and engineering, respectively, specifically when working with wood.

Hermann Kaufmann is an Austrian architect from the Technical University of Innsbruck and the Technical University of Vienna, but his expertise in wood is of long standing. His work with wood as a construction material has been inspired by his family, who have a long tradition in the carpentry business, as well as his hometown Vorarlberg, which is known for its timber industry and architecture.

His work revolves around the pursue for holistic solutions for sustainable and modern constructions, focusing on energy efficient building and pushing the limits of wood as a construction material. One of the projects Kaufmann has worked on as an architect include the LifeCycle Tower, the first 8-stories tall wooden building, which questioned what was known about timber construction until then, in terms of the time spent building this project, the low environmental impact, the use of CLT, and also the flexibility for adapting every construction to every different context.

Dr. Stefan Winter, on the other hand, is a German civil engineer from the Technical University of Munich and the Technical University of Darmstadt, who also has a PhD in Steel-Concrete Composite Construction and has dedicated his career to teach at prestigious universities, as well as to research about diverse topics on timber construction ever since.

His research at the TU of Munich focuses on timber construction, fire safety in timber buildings, multi-story timber structures, and sustainable and modern constructions, related to energy-efficient timber constructions, and life cycle analyses and assessments. Among his many publications, you can find key contributions such as “Holz Brandschutz Handbuch” (Wood Fire-Safety Manual) by Scheer C., Peter M., Winter S. et.al., of 2009; and “Fire Safety in Timber Buildings – Technical Guideline for Europe” by Östman B., Mikkola E., Stein R., Frangi A., König J., Dhima D., Hakkarainen T., Bergulla J., Winter S. of 2010.

Kaufmann and Winter have worked promoting wood as a sustainable construction material, and together with Stefan Krötsch, they published the “Manual of Multi-Storey Timber Construction” in 2019 with the purpose of responding to today’s timber needs and realities around the world, as well as educating on this material in order to encourage its usage in construction.