arcbox: ARCHITECT OF THE MONTH

ANNA HERINGER

"Architecture is a tool to improve lives." Anna Heringer

“Learning with joy is the school’s philosophy – the best for me is to see the building crowded with sprightly kids, who are really happy to go to school. It is primarily not the architecture that makes something special – it’s the people: everyone who worked on it with all efforts and potentials and all who live in it and fill the space with atmosphere.” Anna Heringer

Anna Heringer designed and realized in Bangladesh a “handmade” school that highlights the use of the natural materials that the country is increasingly forsaking in favor of industrial materials. They are built by hand by local laborers, who learn new construction methods. “People are becoming interested now in finding their own solutions, not just copying the West,” said Anna Heringer

Anna Heringer, young woman architect, was born in 1977 in Rosenheim (Germany), grew up in Laufen a.d. Salzach and is currently living in Salzburg (Austria).

Anna Heringer spent one year in Bangladesh (1997/98) as development learner. Since then she is involved in development work. She studied architecture at the University of Art Linz, where she graduated in 2004 with her diploma: "School-handmade in Bangladesh."

An important focus of her work is the training of young architects. She has conducted hands-on workshops for students with BASEhabitat in South Africa, Austria and Bangladesh. In 2008 she was teaching at the Stuttgart University and since 2008 she is heading the studio "BASEhabitat" where she is a visiting professor. In 2010 she received the nomination as Honorary Professor of the UNESCO Chair "Earthen Architecture".

Anna Heringer won several international awards; amongst them she won the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture for her ingenious design of a primary school in rural Bangladesh that combined modern construction techniques with traditional, locally available materials such as bamboo sticks, earth, and straw. She won the AR Emerging Architecture Award (2006 and 2008)