Inaugural lecture by Prof. Dr Ulrike Fauerbach "Vermessen" (Measuring)

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Fauerbach, Institute of Building History at Technische Universität Braunschweig, will give her inaugural lecture on the topic of “Vermessen” (Measuring) on

Wednesday, 3 May 2023, at 5.00 p.m,
Aula, Pockelsstr. 11, Haus der Wissenschaft, 38106 Braunschweig.

Photo credit: Ulrike Fauerbach/TU Braunschweig

The activity of measuring itself, the process of approaching physical things with clearly defined units, is a core competence of historical building research. Mapping an existing building to scale allows us to understand its theoretical foundations, its construction, its becoming, its change and its decay. A precise building survey is a complex process in which it is not possible to exclude making mistakes, i.e. measuring oneself. Avoiding mistakes, but also compensating for them, is inscribed in the process, which is ultimately reminiscent of the human presumption of expressing our experienced world entirely in seemingly objective and absolutely true numerical values.

About the person

Ulrike Fauerbach studied Egyptology, History and Philosophy at the University of Cologne and Monument Conservation and Building Research at the University of Bamberg. In 2005, she completed her doctorate at the Department of Building Research at the University of Bamberg on the topic of “Der große Pylon des Horus-Tempels von Edfu. Eine bauforscherische Untersuchung“ (The Great Pylon of the Temple of Horus at Edfu. A building research study), for which she was awarded the Hans Löwel Prize. She was then a scholarship holder at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Berlin (MPIWG). From 2006 to 2012, Ulrike Fauerbach was a building research officer at the German Archaeological Institute Cairo (DAIK) and was involved in several excavation projects (including in Umm el-Qaab/Abydos); she initiated and managed the AEGARON project. After her time as a research associate at the Institute for Preservation and Construction History (IDB) at ETH Zurich and visiting professor at the Seminar for Archaeology and Cultural History of Northeast Africa at Humboldt University Berlin, she was Professor of Building History and Historical Construction at OTH Regensburg from 2016 to 2021. Since September 2021, she is Professor of Building History and History of Building Construction and heads the Institute for Building History at TU Braunschweig.