Manuel Kretzer

FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR

manuel.kretzer(at)hs-anhalt.de

Dr. sc. Manuel Kretzer is professor for Material and Technology at the Dessau Department of Design, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences. His research aims at the creation of dynamic and adaptive objects, spaces and experiences. A specific focus is on new smart and biological material performance and their combination with advanced digital design and fabrication methods. In 2012 he initiated materiability during his doctoral studies at the Chair for CAAD, ETH Zürich, a free educational platform that connects architects, designers and artists and provides access to novel material developments and technologies. In 2020 he founded the Materiability Research Group and associated Materiability Lab at the University Campus Dessau.

Manuel Kretzer is also founding partner of responsive design studio based in Cologne. The office works on various scales, including architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, furniture and object design, and provides individual digital design and fabrication services. Manuel has held teaching positions at the Chair for CAAD, ETH Zürich, the Braunschweig University of Art, the Institute of Media and Design, Technical University Braunschweig, the Dessau Institute of Architecture (DIA), the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), the Faculty of Architecture, Innsbruck University and the School of Architecture, Technical University Dublin.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Books
Manuel Kretzer, Vanessa Schnurre, faces – everywhere. Berlin: epubli, 2018. ISBN: 978-3746789033.
Manuel Kretzer, Digital Crafting: Educating Design and Making in the Digital Age. Norderstedt: BoD – Books on Demand, 2018. ISBN: 978- 3-746-08190-8.
Manuel Kretzer, Information Materials: Smart Materials for Adaptive Architecture. Bern: Springer International Publishing, 2017. ISBN: 978-3-319-35150-6.
Manuel Kretzer and Ludger Hovestadt (Eds.), Alive: Advancements in Adaptive Architecture. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2014. ISBN: 978-3-99043-667-7.
Manuel Kretzer and Hans Sachs, The Cone – interactive architecture for Burning Man. Hamburg: Der Ausnahmeverlag, 2008.

Book Contributions
Manuel Kretzer, “On Materiability.” in Material Trajectories: Designing With Care? Ed. Léa Perraudin, Clemens Winkler, Claudia Mareis, Matthias Held, Future Ecologies Series, Ed. Petra Löffler, Claudia Mareis, Florian Sprenger, (Lüneburg: Meson Press, 2023), 247-266. Manuel Kretzer, Sina Mostafavi, “Bioplastic Robotic Materialization: Design to Robotic Production of Biodegradable Lamps”, in ICS Materials, Interactive, Connected and Smart Materials, Ed. Venere Ferraro and Valentina Rognoli (Milan: FrancoAngeli, 2020), xx-xy. ISBN:
Manuel Kretzer, “Tomorrowland,” in Living Architecture Systems Group White Papers 2019, Ed. Philip Beesley, Sascha Hastings, Sarah Bonnemaison (Toronto: Riverside Architectural Press), 157-173. ISBN 978-1-988366-18-0.
Manuel Kretzer, “ShapeShift,” in Materials that Move Smart Materials, Intelligent Design, Murat Bengisu, Marinella Ferrara (Cham: SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology, 2018), 134-135. ISBN: 978-3-319-76888-5.
Manuel Kretzer, “The Joy of Materiality,” in Laka Perspectives, Ed. Katarzyna Burzynska, Rafal Przybyla (Poland: Petit, 2018), 83-95. ISBN: 978-83-947975-0-8.

Conference Papers
Manuel Kretzer, “Breathe,” in Living Architecture Systems Group Symposium 2019 Proceedings, Ed. Philip Beesley, Sascha Hastings (Toronto: Riverside Architectural Press, March 2019), 123-124. ISBN 978–1–988366–19–7.
Manuel Kretzer, “The Optimist’s Guide to the Anthropocene,” in KINE[SYS]TEM – From Nature to Architectural Matter, Conference Proceedings, ed. Maria Joao de Oliveira and Filipa Crespo Osório (Lisbon: ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, June 2017), 2-9. ISBN: 978-989-8862-24-2.