| Silke Langenberg | |
| Nationality: | German-Swiss |
| Fields: | Heritage science, Architecture |
| Workplaces: | ETH Zurich |
| Alma Mater: | University of Dortmund, IUAV |
Silke Langenberg (born 1974) is a German-Swiss heritage scientist and architect. She is a full professor of construction heritage and preservation in the department of architecture at ETH Zurich.
Langenberg studied architecture at the University of Dortmund and at the IUAV. She worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Preservation and Building Research, University of Dortmund, where she was awarded a doctoral degree with a thesis in engineering sciences.[1] From 2006 to 2014, she was a researcher at ETH Zurich.[2] Between 2011 and 2013, she visited the Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability multiple times as researcher in residence.[3] In 2014, she took over the professorship for Building in Existing Contexts, Preservation and Building Research at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich.[4] The 1 August 2020 she returned to ETH Zurich to assume the second full professorship at the Institute for Preservation and Construction History at ETH Zurich.[5]
In the discussion on the recognition and preservation of the architecture of the 1960s and 1970s, Silke Langenberg emphasised early on the necessity of taking engineering aspects into account.[6] In connection with her research on system buildings, she addressed in particular the intrinsic conflict between the underlying concept of a building and the material preservation of its original substance.[7] Her research includes attempts to rationalize building processes as well as questions of the development, repair,[8] recognition and long-term preservation of serially, industrially[9] and digitally produced constructions.[10]
She was a member of the initiative committee for the establishment of the German Research Programme "Construction as Cultural Heritage".[11] As a response to questions discussed within this framework, she named her professorship "Construction Heritage and Preservation"[12] and thus founded a distinct field of research and concept at ETH Zurich, which engages with the recognition and dissemination of innovations in the building process, construction methods and technology. As a result, her professorship is affiliated with both the Institute for Preservation and Construction History[13] and the Institute for Technology in Architecture at ETH Zurich.[14] Silke Langenberg is a member of the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA Zurich Section) as well as numerous scientific professional associations.