short vita

Norbert Palz was born in 1970 in Zweibrücken (Rhineland-Palatinate). After an apprenticeship as a draftsman at the architects office Wandelhöfer Lorch in Saarbrücken and subsequent architectural studies at the TU Berlin, he practised as an architect at UN Studio in Amsterdam and NOX Architects in Rotterdam (1999-2002). After the establishment of TARGADESIGN in 2003 (with Robert Banovic), an office for architecture and art production, he focused on digital design and fabrication processes in art projects for - among others - Olafur Eliasson (Your Mobile Expectations BMW H2R, Serpentine Pavilion 2007), Thomas Demand (Grotte, Serpentine Pavilion w / OMA 2005, Nagelhaus, Lehnbachhaus) and Monica Bonvicini (Turm München). The expansion of the artistic spectrum with the help of digital technologies was at the center of project development and artistic dialogue.

In 2007, he obtained a fellowship at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen (KADAK), which he finished in 2012 with the completion of a doctorate for additive manufacturing methods in architecture. Norbert Palz co-organized the KADK Symposium "Parametric Approaches II: Computation and Material" and led numerous international workshops (eg Brighton, Vienna, Tel Aviv, Oslo, Aalborg) on ​​architectural topics in the context of computer-based modeling and modern building construction. He has gained extensive lecturing experience at home and abroad and exhibited at the 3rd International Architecture Biennial Beijing 2008 "[Im] material Processes" (curated by Neil Leach). After a professorship for "Digital Designing and Design" at the Münster School of Architecture, Norbert Palz joined the Berlin University of Arts in 2010 as a professor for "Digital and Experimental Design". He has worked in the context of art, architecture and technology. His technological, political and cultural-scientific approach to research and teaching is driven by interdisciplinary methods and didactics.

Since 2010, Norbert Palz has focused his research on the topic of CAD / CAM modeling, in particular the potentials of large-format additive fabrication. He has also investigated the computer art of the post-war era and its theoretical and design significance for contemporary  architecture design. From 2015 to 2019, Palz was project manager of the EU Horizon 2020 Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Research Cluster ArcInTex on the subject of textile architectures at building scale.

From 2015 to 2019 Palz was Vice-Dean of the College of Architecture, Media and Design and from 2018 to 2020 First Vice-President of the Berlin University of the Arts. Since April 2020 Norbert Palz has been President of the Berlin University of the Arts. The president's term of office is five years. He is deputy chairman and spokesperson for the higher education institutions in the arts of the ‘Landeskonferenz der Rektoren und Präsidenten der Universitäten und Hochschulen des Landes Berlin’ (LKRP), an organization that brings together all the university presidents in Berlin, and a member of the Culture Steering Board of the NFDI4Culture consortium for research data on material and immaterial cultural heritage.

Publications

Palz, N. Emerging Architectural Potentials of Tunable Materiality through Additive Fabrication Technologies, PhD Thesis, Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation, 2012 Gengnagel, C; Kilian, A; Palz, N; Scheurer, F. (Eds.). “Computional Design Modelling “. Proceedings of the Design Modelling Symposium Berlin. Springer, 2011. Palz, N. “Beginn des Beginnens - Ende des Endens“. In Lorenz, Düllo et al. (Eds.). Vom Anfangen. Hamburg: Textem Verlag, 2016. Palz, N; Kuhrau, S. “Analyse historischer Gewölbekonstruktionen und ihre zeitgenössischen Ableitungen als Instrument digitaler Geometriedidaktik. In: Leopold (Ed.), Über Form und Struktur – Geometrie in Gestaltungsprozessen, Edition: 1, 229-236, Wiesbaden: Springer Verlag, 2014. Palz, N. “The Ghost of Architecture“. In: Weidinger (Ed.), Entwurfsbasiert Forschen, Berlin: 2013. Palz, N; Ramsgard-Thomsen, M. “Computational Material “. In: Performative Architecture – between heritage and new architectural Form, Conference Proceedings Aalborg (2009). Palz, N; Sommer, B. “Prototyping Dynamic Architecture Material Properties as Design Parameters.“ In: Tidafi, Dorta (Eds.), Joining Languages, Cultures and Visions: CAAD Futures 2009, Montréal: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 2009. Sommer, B; Palz, N. “Printing Inflatable Elements of an Adaptable Building Skin“. In: Proceedings International Conference on Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures. Barcelona: CIMNE, 2009. Palz, Norbert, Erik Steinbrecher, Hans Ulrich Reck, and Kirsty Bell. Knacki. Basel: Christoph Merian Verlag, 2008. Im Erscheinen: Palz N., Pfeiffer S., Bredella, N, Kilian A. „Computergestütztes Entwerfen“, Buchpublikation Herausgeber: Springer Vieweg | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, Lektorat Karina Danulat