The 6th Common Ground 2026 in Dresden is dedicated to science communication in the history of construction technology.

With the conclusion of SPP 2255 in sight, the central question is: How can we effectively communicate our research results to the public and generate interest in our topics? High modernist buildings are often overlooked by the general public or perceived as unattractive—a key challenge in communicating their technical and cultural significance.
Three exciting specialist presentations on the topics of “Storytelling & Valorization,” “Gamification and Digital Formats,” and “Interaction with Civil Society” provide practical ideas and creative strategies for revealing the “hidden values” of buildings that are significant in the history of construction technology. In working groups, participants will develop concrete communication concepts for their projects – supported by experts and in interdisciplinary exchange between architectural engineering history, monument preservation, and civil engineering.

The newly published volume „Stahl auf neuen Wegen“ brings together contributions from the conference of the same name, „Stahl auf neuen Wegen. Historische Innovationsdiskurse, bautechnische Praktiken und denkmalpflegerische Herausforderungen der Hochmoderne“, which was held on April 20–21, 2023, in Stuttgart in cooperation with SPP 2255. Published in the renowned series „Kultur und Technik“ by the International Center for Cultural and Technological Studies at the University of Stuttgart, the volume—edited by Thomas Schuetz (subproject Erfolgreich Scheitern [G2])—opens up new perspectives on a building material that, like hardly any other, shaped high modernism.

Steel as a material uniquely represents the departure into modernity. Whether spectacular bridges, iconic television towers, or little-known prefabricated houses, steel revolutionized construction and continues to shape our built environment to this day. Contributions from the history of art, architecture, and technology, developed within the framework of SPP 2255, offer new approaches to understanding how steel not only opened up new forms and possibilities but also became a reflection of political, social, and cultural developments. Moving beyond common myths of progress, the volume thus provides surprising perspectives on the structural heritage of high modernism—and tells new stories of a material that has transformed our society.

On January 20, 2026, the public award ceremony for this year’s ICOMOS student competition “1960+ / Construction” took place at Bauhaus University Weimar. The competition, organized by the German National Committee of ICOMOS, the Wüstenrot Foundation, Bauhaus University Weimar, and the Working Group on Theory and Teaching of Heritage Conservation, was initiated with the support and cooperation of SPP 2255.

Complementing the research on the structural heritage of high modernism in Germany (1880–1970) conducted within the subprojects of SPP 2255, the student competition focused on the constructive heritage of the late 20th century. Students of civil engineering, architecture, interior design, urban planning, art history, restoration, archaeology, or other heritage-relevant disciplines were invited to investigate either the heritage qualities and values of a self-chosen example or to develop strategies for its (continued) use, renovation, or mediation. The nearly 50 contributions, some produced by pairs of students, presented a surprising panorama of projects, including innovative solution proposals. A selection of the contributions, each presented on an A1 poster, was exhibited in advance of the award ceremony at Bauhaus University Weimar and can be viewed online at ICOMOS.

At the beginning of the award ceremony, organized by Kirsten Angermann (subproject Construction-Inherent Values [H2]) in the historic Bauhaus building in Weimar, Roland May, the scientific curator of SPP 2255, gave a lecture on “Constructed Cultural Heritage: Blind Spots in Architectural History and Heritage Conservation.” In his talk, he explained the complex relationship between architecture and construction in modernity and highlighted the ongoing insufficient recognition of the contributions of the primarily civil-engineering-trained constructors in architectural reception.

Following this, the authors of the prize-winning entries, which were awarded cash prizes totaling €5,000, presented their work. Each presentation was followed by detailed appreciation and discussion by members of the jury: Tino Mager, President of ICOMOS Germany; Daniela Spiegel, from the International Heritage Center and head of subproject DENKRAUM (D1); Philip Kurz, Managing Director of the Wüstenrot Foundation; Ines M. Jauck, President of the Chamber of Architects of Thüringen; and Roland May.

SPP 2255 congratulates all the award winners!

The series of Footbridge Conferences has established itself as an international forum for the latest developments in pedestrian bridge construction. Engineers and architects from around the world come together to exchange ideas in this subfield of construction, which is particularly open to innovative approaches. For this year’s conference in Chur, Switzerland, Werner Lorenz was invited to deliver a keynote. Under the title “Shifting values – repair and reuse,” he addressed the background and guiding principles of an approach that is also central to SPP 2255: preserving and continuing existing structures rather than demolishing and rebuilding.

After Berlin (2019) and Madrid (2022), the Swiss city of Chur was the host of Footbridge_2025. The choice of location was justified, among other reasons, by the high density of impressive historical and modern bridges in the surrounding canton of Graubünden, but above all by the fact that one of the world’s most prominent bridge builders, Jürg Conzett, is based here—teaching and, most importantly, building. Well over 200 participants attended the lectures and presentations from September 3 to 5, which covered the full range of different aspects of pedestrian bridge construction. The conference concluded on September 6 with a excellently organized excursion to outstanding bridges in the area, some of which have gone down as milestones in the history of structural engineering.

In his keynote, Werner Lorenz drew attention to a topic that has long been taken for granted in SPP 2255 but remains rather marginal in pedestrian bridge construction: preserving and continuing existing (bridge) structures as an alternative to their premature demolition and replacement. Referring to this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, he began by noting that such concepts now enjoy top priority in construction in general, yet in bridge building they still play only a minor role. From a historical perspective, this is particularly puzzling: repair and maintenance were widespread practices for millennia, and it was only with late modernism that the idea of the fundamental superiority of new construction (compared to the development of existing structures) gained prominence.

In the second part of the keynote, Werner Lorenz outlined several central guidelines for a fundamentally new approach to 21st-century construction, one increasingly committed to preserving the existing built environment—a profound shift that has become unavoidable in practice under the “sustainability turn,” while also opening up new ways to incorporate cultural heritage considerations. The text of the keynote is available for download.

The demolition of the Ohetal Bridge would mean the loss of an exceptionally valuable testament to 19th-century engineering. Completed in 1877 as an impressively delicate lattice truss structure, it appears to be largely preserved in its original state to this day. The remarkably high authenticity of the structure is further enhanced by its significant importance in construction engineering history: with Heinrich Gerber—head of the South German Bridge Construction Company responsible for the iron superstructure—one of the leading German bridge engineers of his time was directly involved in the project.

The clear, unornamented truss design exemplifies an engineering aesthetic that, already in the late 19th century, anticipated key characteristics of later architectural modernism. Even contemporary accounts praised the successful design of the Ohetal Bridge as a structure of “overwhelming impression.” Yet the cultural significance of such engineering structures goes far beyond their successful design. Just as a Romanesque monastery, a late medieval timber-framed street, or a Baroque garden are undisputed cultural heritage sites that today communicate the social conditions, ways of thinking, values, and capabilities of their time, so too do the bridges of the late 19th century—materialized in cast iron and steel—stand as testimonies to the production conditions, engineering practices, design ideals, and above all, the unbroken belief in progress that characterized the era of high industrialization.

Despite this, even the very few surviving railway bridges of that time are threatened with demolition nationwide. For a long time, the arguments cited for their removal were considered compelling, and in particular, material fatigue in steel bridges is a serious concern. However, current research approaches and findings allow for more nuanced assessments of actual load-bearing and fatigue capacity, as well as novel options for targeted, localized reinforcement while preserving the structure as a whole. Initial successful examples strikingly demonstrate the potential of such approaches. Ultimately, they can not only help preserve the “construction heritage,” but also offer an ecologically far more sustainable alternative to outdated new-build thinking: namely, repair and adaptive reuse.

Even though we do not know the specific technical or functional reasons that may make the preservation of the Ohetal Bridge appear impossible, we urgently appeal to the responsible authorities and decision-makers to critically scrutinize these arguments with great care, and to seriously and proactively consider possible—perhaps even unconventional—alternatives for preservation. Preserving outstanding examples of historic infrastructure is not an exercise in nostalgia – it is a responsible contribution to a culture of construction that is both mindful of memory and committed to sustainability.

Univ. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Werner Lorenz and Dr.-Ing. Roland May – on behalf of SPP 2255.

Ohetalbrücke, Montageplan für Öffnung I, Stand September/Oktober 1876 (Deutsches Museum, NL 044/0526, Bl. 8, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

A visit to the Hohenlohe Open-Air Museum in Schwäbisch Hall-Wackershofen.

Together with the FH Augsburg and LMU Munich, the Department of the History of Technology at the Historical Institute of the University of Stuttgart is organizing the interdisciplinary project seminar “The Flexible House” as part of the subproject G2 “Successfully Failing.” On May 8, 2025, a group of students from the University of Stuttgart and FH Augsburg visited the MAN Steel House at the Hohenlohe Open-Air Museum in Schwäbisch Hall-Wackershofen.

On-site, the group received an insightful introduction to the prefabricated house from 1951, which was designed by the MAN company in response to the housing shortage after World War II. Particularly enlightening were the insights into the historical background, from construction methods to technical details, as well as the societal significance of the steel house and the history of the family who lived there. The opportunity for exchange among the students was also very stimulating, during which the Augsburg colleagues presented their previous designs and ideas for the exhibition planned as part of the project seminar. The stimulating discussion provided many new ideas and strengthened the interdisciplinary collaboration.

The visit to Wackershofen was not only enriching in terms of content but also a motivating step toward the joint exhibition concept. (Katharina Fink)

On 5 and 6 June 2025, the ‘Railway Bridges’ workshop took place at the NLD in Hanover as part of the Railway Bridges Cluster in the DFG Priority Programme ‘Cultural Heritage Construction’ (SPP 2255). For the fifth time, it brought together experts from Germany and Switzerland from DB InfraGO AG, SBB and the monument authorities to improve the exchange between research and practice. The focus was on an interim review of the railway bridge initiatives of SPP 2255: discussions centred on what has been achieved so far, where there are still problems and what further tasks are emerging.
In the first thematic block on 5 June, specific projects were presented. The objectives and work status of the second phase of the sub-project ‘Railway Bridges – Monuments in the Network’ and the database development at the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments were presented. Other contributions dealt with the load-bearing behaviour, test loads and static verification of arch bridges, as well as the ‘upcycling’ of the SBB Wipkingen Viaduct using new technologies.

The second day, 6 June, was mainly devoted to institutional developments. Presentations were given on the interim results of bridge renovations and maintenance measures in Hamburg in the context of the Bridge Advisory Board founded in the Hanseatic city, the newly established Monument Preservation Specialist Group at DB InfraGO AG, the DB InfraGO repair regulations with a focus on vaulted bridge maintenance, and current developments in the LuFV bridge construction programme. This was followed by a presentation of future prospects: a pilot project on historic railway bridges in Hanover, a planned application for a DFG knowledge transfer project in cooperation with DB InfraGO AG, and the preparation of a cross-state position paper on railway monument preservation on the initiative of SBB. The workshop concluded with a final discussion and an outlook.

Learning from models: from historical bridge models to digital twins

On April 28 and 29, 2025, an interdisciplinary workshop on the topic of “measurement models” in engineering will take place at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. As part of the event, scientists from the fields of structural engineering history, civil engineering, design theory as well as monument preservation and restoration science will shed light on the historical context of model statics and discuss strategies for its preservation. All interested parties are cordially invited to attend.

Until the 1970s, measurement models were used to experimentally investigate the static and dynamic behavior of complex load-bearing structures such as cable bridges, dams or shell structures. However, with the introduction of powerful computers, so-called model statics became less relevant. Today, only very few measurement models are preserved in museums or archives, including a replica of the new suspension bridge over the Little Belt in Denmark. The historical object is kept in the wind laboratory of the Chair of Modeling and Simulation – Construction at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

In Weimar, the measuring model is still used regularly, for example to demonstrate the vibration behavior of bridges to school groups: “Historical models of bridges and other structures are much easier to read than plan drawings, especially for laypeople, and measuring models can also be used to experimentally demonstrate the static and dynamic load-bearing behavior. The few surviving objects are of great interest to architecture and technology museums and academic collections,” explains Prof. Guido Morgenthal from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Together with the Heritage Centre (IHZ) of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, he has organized the symposium “Measuring Models”. Further information on registration and the program is available at: https://www.uni-weimar.de/de/universitaet/struktur/wissenschaftliche-einrichtungen/ihz/workshopmessmodelle.

Symposium “Measurement models”
April 28, 2 – 5 p.m. / April 29, 2025, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Bauhaus University Weimar, Marienstr. 7

Keynote “Frei Otto and model statics”
Speaker: Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Christiane Weber (University of Stuttgart)
April 28, 2025, 5 pm, Lecture hall D, Marienstraße 13

The workshop is aimed at experts and students as well as interested members of the general public. The keynote speech on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of the German architect Frei Otto can be attended independently of the workshop. Participation is free of charge. Please register by e-mail to heritage@uni-weimar.de.

Following the impulse meeting at the start of the second funding phase in May 2024, the SPP 2255 organized its fourth annual meeting in April 2025 in collaboration with the sub-project “Structural Health Monitoring of Iron Structures” (F2) based in Bochum and Dortmund.

The event began with the think tank “Material – more than just a building material”, which was held on April 2 and 3 in a lunch-to-lunch format and was once again open to interested external visitors. The afternoon of April 3 offered the participants in SPP 2255 the opportunity to discuss new cross-project workshops. Afterwards, the extensive test facilities of the Chair of Materials Testing Technology at TU Dortmund University, headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Walther, and the research laboratory of the German Mining Museum Bochum, Leibniz Research Museum for Georesources, headed by Prof. Dr. Michael Prange, were visited under expert guidance. The program was rounded off on 4 April with an excursion to highlights of the rich “cultural heritage of construction” in the Ruhr region.