Architect/Structural Engineer Werner Sobek Joins IIT as Mies van der Rohe Studio Professor
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) College of Architecture is pleased to announce that architect and structural engineer Werner Sobek has joined its faculty as the Mies van der Rohe Studio Professor. In this role, Sobek teaches an advanced studio course each semester to upper level undergraduate and graduate students. Over time, he plans to lecture more intensively and locate some of his research activities at IIT.
“Werner Sobek brings to IIT a tremendous amount of experience in both academic roles and positions within his field, making him an outstanding choice,” said Donna Robertson, dean of IIT College of Architecture. “A renowned architect and engineer, he serves as a role model and a leader to our students.”
Since 1994, Sobek has worked as a professor at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. He will continue to divide his academic time between University of Stuttgart where he is currently the head of the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design, and IIT. Recently, Sobek also served as a visiting professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design.
In 1992, Sobek founded the consultancy Werner Sobek Stuttgart and in 1999, he founded the design consultancy Werner Sobek Design, both in Stuttgart. Since then, his consultancies have grown to include offices in Frankfurt, New York, Moscow, Cairo and Dubai.
Sobek has been an active member of many career-related organizations including serving as president of the Academic Council of the HafenCity University in Hamburg, Germany, a member of the Council on Research and Technology of the University of Graz in Austria, a member of the German Academy for Urban Development and Planning, an honorary member of the Association of German Architects and a member of the Board of Chamber of Engineers of Baden-Wurttemberg. Since 1998, Sobek has worked as a peer reviewer/checking engineer for all types of structures and materials.
Attending Stuttgart University for all of his higher education, Sobek studied architecture and structural engineering and earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree and later, a Ph.D. in structural engineering.
On Thursday, October 23, at 6:30 p.m., Sobek will offer the Mies van der Rohe lecture at IIT, titled “An Architecture for the 21st Century.” The event will be held in IIT Crown Hall, Center Core, 3360 S. State Street, Chicago. For more information about the lecture, please visit arch.iit.edu/life/events.
For more information about Werner Sobek, visit www.wernersobek.de/en/.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 7,300 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment. Visit www.iit.edu.
