German Chapter of CTBUH Established — Roland Bechmann Elected as Chair of the Board

Germany has a new platform for debates on high-rise construction and various related urban planning issues, across all disciplines and on a non-profit basis: CTBUH Germany. The founding members of the association include global companies and offices such as gmp, ingenhoven, Schüco, ThyssenKrupp Elevator and, of course, Werner Sobek, whose Berlin office hosted the founding event. Roland Bechmann, member of the board of Werner Sobek AG and CTBUH representative in Germany for many years, was elected first chairman.

The Chicago-based international association CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) has been active worldwide for 50 years. It has more than 700 members in 41 countries. With the newly founded German branch, it also offers a platform for the German-speaking world, which is intended to facilitate the exchange of ideas on high-rise construction and the associated urban planning issues across corporate and disciplinary boundaries. «Our aim is to initiate and support debates on important planning, political and social issues in German-speaking countries — issues that have been discussed much longer and with greater intensity in other countries,» said the newly elected Chairman, Roland Bechmann. CTBUH Germany will in future serve as a link between local activities and interests on the one hand and the international umbrella organization on the other.

The founding event, which also included a public lecture and discussion event in the evening, made it clear that there is a great need to get into conversation and to place the discussion about high-rise buildings in a broader social context. More than 150 listeners came to the rooms of the ANCB and listened with interest to the lectures by representatives of prominent offices such as BIG, MVRDV, HENN and Werner Sobek, moderated by Bauwelt editor-in-chief Boris Schade-Bünsow, who dealt with various aspects of urban densification.