Curriculum Vitae Emmerich Simoncsics born on April 9th, 1933 in Linz, Austria, school in Budapest STUDIES 1952-56 Budapest University of Technology 1957-59 Vienna University of Technology (diploma) 1965-67 University of Tokyo, Faculty of Engineering (Research for dissertation, Prof. Eizo Inagaki, participation in the competition City Planning, Skopje, Prof. Kenzo Tange) QUALIFICATION, PRACTICE 1964-67 Architekt YOZO SHIBATA, in Tokio Practice in Hotel Design Office (Kanko Kikaku Sekkeisha) 1971 Authorized architect 1972 Dr. Eng.: conferral of the doctorate at the Vienna University of Technology 1975 76 Design and execution of the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo (with Prof. Fumihiko Maki) 1978-84 Postdoctoral Lecture Qualification at the Graz University of Technology (Austria) (License to teach Applied Aesthetics ) VISITING PROFESSOR at the following universities: Theme: linguistic research 1983 University of Tokyo (Prof. Masao Iri) Computerlinguistics 1996 University of Tokyo (Prof. Kokichi Sugihara), Japanese-English Code Dictionary Theme: research on Earthquakeproof Constructions for Tower Buildings 1987 Architectural Institute of Japan, Tokyo Invited lecture: Tower Buildings must be agile like Dancers Development of an agile construction for tower buildings (establishing balance during an earthquake), derived from the power transmission between two dancers. Cooperation with Prof. Takuji Kobori, Kajima Research Institute (video existing) Theme: research on, Applied Aesthetics architectural design training (improvisations) 1988 Budapest University of Technology (Prof. Miklós Hofer) 1991 Toyama College of Arts & Crafts (Prof.Yutaka Togashi) 1992 University of Tokyo, Timber Constructions (Prof. Isao Sakamoto) 1993 Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Prof. Tadayoshi Fujiki) 1994 Kyoto Institute of Technology (Prof. Yulin Ikeda) 1995 University of Tokyo, Architectural Design (Prof. Hisao Koyama) 1996 University of Tokyo, Urban Engineering (Prof. Yukio Nishimura) 1997 Tokyo Institute of Technology (Prof. Koji Yagi) 1998 Tokyo Metropolitan University (Prof. Ryoichi Shimada) 1999 Tokyo University of Art and Design (Prof. Yoshitaka Wani)
AWARDS 1997 Order of the Rising Sun, conferred by the Japanese Emperor Akihito, for the Japanese-English Code Dictionary - 80.000 words - and Applied Aesthetics 2006 Eugen Wüster Special Prize, supported by UNESCO, conferred by Dr. Christian Galinski, Director, Infoterm (International Information Center of Terminology) für Terminology and Linguistic Researcher INITIATIVES 1997 Computer-aided Japanese (Lectureship at the Vienna University of Technology) 1981 Agreement of scientific cooperation with the School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo Creation of the so called Key Station (an establishment at the Vienna University of Technology with the task to coordinate the scientific exchange, to do research and to supervise the scholarship holders respectively) 2000 Disaster Mitigation (Interdisciplinary cooperation with the University of Tokyo on the fields Catastrophe Prevention and Crisis Management ) 2011 A wooden model of the residence of a feudal lord (Daimyô Yashiki) on a scale of ca. 1:50 exhibited 1873 at the World Fair in Vienna was stored after the exhibition in the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna. After 138 years of storing the model got dusty and badly damaged. On the occasion of the devastating tsunami in FUKUSHIMA an exhibition was arranged at the Vienna University of Technology. By chance the university received information about the existence of this model. Upon approval of the museum (Dr.Bettina Zorn and the restorer Mag. Gerhard-Florian Rainer) a slightly damaged part (front gate, 3,5 X 1,2 X 0,45 m ) of the model could be exhibited. In order to make the model appropriate and protected for the exhibition, the research budget was used to pay the expenses for cleaning, documentation and transportation of the model to the university as well as for a fireproof showcase. The model served as a symbol in the exhibition: Just as Fukushima should be rebuilt, also the model should be restored. Thus the public interest was awakened for the restoration. Supported by the former Ambassador of Japan in Vienna H.E. Shigeo Iwatani fundraising began. 2017 the restoration work of the total model (3,5 X 3,5 X 0,45m) was finished and that followed exhibited in the WELTMUSEUM WIEN (former Museum of Ethnology). RESEARCH COOPERATION Disaster Mitigation University of Tokyo (Prof. Tsuyoshi Takada) Tokai University (Prof. Yoji Shimazaki) Niigata University (Prof. Hideaki Marui) EXHIBITIONS 1976 Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Osutoria Taishikan (Austrian Embassy) Secession and the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo 1998 Vienna University of Technology, Architecture is frozen Dance 2001 - University of Tokyo, Disaster Mitigation (annual presentation and evaluation of the research results) RESEARCH DRIVEN and PRACTICE-ORIENTED COURSES 1979 - Computer-aided Japanese for all faculties, Vienna University of Technology (VUT). 1994-1998 Applied Aesthetics improvisations, lecturer at the Graz University of Technology 1994 Applied Aesthetics improvisations and architectural design, cooperation with the Department of Civil Engineering, Prof. Georg Kattinger, VUT 2000 - Catastrophe Prevention and Crisis Management, architectural projects, in interdisciplinary cooperation with experts of the VUT
PUBLICATIONS 1976 Secession and the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo (Shinkenchiku 1976/10, Tokyo) 1990 Applied Aesthetics Relations between Art and Architecture,. Quick designs and architectural projects derived from works of arts (illustrations, text in Japanese, in Kenchiku Bunka, 1990/9, Tokyo) 1994-1995 Applied Aesthetics (series in the magazine Space Design, Tokyo) 1996 Japanese-English Code Dictionary (80.000 words), coauthor: Waltraude Simoncsics, (Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna) 2001 - Catalogues of the annual exhibitions Disaster Mitigation, as university internal publications. 2005 The Vienna University of Technology-Cooperation Center for Disaster Mitigation and Security of Buildings,(Vol. 5, 2005 of E+I, Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik ) 2009 Compositional principles of the stately rooms in the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo Article in the special publication of the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Austria and Japan. RESEARCH PROJECT ABOUT NATURAL CATASTROPHES (Disaster Mitigation) In case of the most natural catastrophes people die under the ruins of buildings. OBJECTIVES (as imperative tasks of the architect) ARE: to reduce the number of dead people and damage of property. In the framework of the research theme Catastrophe Prevention constructions are developed, which make buildings resistant to the threatening forces of nature or protect them. Another research theme: Crisis Management deals with the necessary IMMEDIATE AID for victims of catastrophes. In order to achieve high quality, a CREATIVITY TRAINING as been developed in cooperation with artists for students participating in the above research project. The scientific discipline APPLIED AESTHETICS serves as basic principle for the architectural design. APPLIED AESTHETICS includes a scientific method on the field of Art and Technology, to be applied in connection with innovative performances of engineers. Basic principle: Artists create Compositions. Their compositional elements are: structures and proportions. Buildings of aesthetic quality are compositions incorporating a clear structural design and good proportions. ARCHITECTURE AND ARTS (cooperation with artists) - How do works of art (painting, music, dance, etc.) come into being, compared with the creative process in architecture. - Architecture includes the characteristics of all art genres. Improvisations 3-hours trainings, constructing architectural models out of diverse templates. ARCHITECTURE AND ABSTRACT PAINTING (Constructivism, etc.) Architecture is the art of space, spatialisation (making a spatial composition) out of two dimensional templates. Close cooperation has been carried out with the painters Karl Korab (Sonndorf bei Maissau) and Gregor Traversa (Graz) ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE Buildings are architectural sculptures (sculptural composition) Cooperation with the sculptor Johannes Seidl, Gut Gasteil, Prigglitz (Lower Austria) ARCHITECTURE AND MUSIC Architecture is Frozen Music Harmonic Proportion in architecture (Renaissance and Gothic, history about the correlations between architecture and music) Cooperation with the Vienna University of Music, Hans-Kayser Institute of fundamental research on harmonics, Prof. Rudolf Haase, Prof. Werner Schulze.
Improvisations are performed mainly with minimal music. By the movement of the hand, rhythm (as structural raster) and melody (as linear design, silhouette of a facade, shape of the roof) are made visible. The movement of the hand will be frozen, thus in one s mind s eye the form of a building appears, out of which a model has to be made. Or: music describes the perambulation of rooms. A model of the sequence of rooms has to be made. Theme: Music composed out of architecture Cooperation with the music ensemble KALÁKA, Budapest The facade is perceived as graphical score (two-dimensional), but also in case of buildings and models respectively, structural raster is turned into rhythm, linear design, silhouette, shape of the roof are converted into melody. ARCHITECTURE AND DANCE Architecture is Frozen Dance Improvisations: considering the power transmission between two or more dancers (balance, static and dynamic dance positions) and the proportions of the human body, construction models have to be built. The space-describing movements of dancers will be abstracted and frozen. The spaces appearing in one s mind s eye have to be converted into a structural model. Cooperation with the following ballet companies: - Ballet Ensemble in Györ (Raab, Hungary) Choreographer: Iván Markó (principal dancer of the Béjart Ballet, Modern Dance) - Rosalia Chladek, Choreographer, Free Dance, Conservatory of the City of Vienna Élève: Evelin Gruber - Közép-Európa Táncszínház (Middle Europe Dance Theater), Budapest Choreographer: Csaba Szögi ARCHITECTURE AND PANTOMIME Body language of architecture Cooperation: Prof. Samy Molcho, Pantomime (Body Language) Vienna University of Performing Arts Buildings have diverse characters: inviting, rejecting, aggressive, etc. and appearance: imposing, elegant, pretentious, etc. Buildings have expressions corresponding to human gestures which usually cannot be realized by students. Upon having turned these abstract gestures of buildings into human gestures by Samy Molcho, the body language of buildings becomes understandable. RESEARCH WORK carried out by the research team with participating students In the framework of the research theme CATASTROPHE PREVENTION about 15 diverse public buildings (yearly 10 15 new projects since 2001) CONSTRUCTIONS resistant to earthquake, mudflow, rockslide, avalanche, landslide, hurricane, flood, tsunami have been developed and presented in form of plans and architectural models (exhibitions, catalogues). Another objective is to care for IMMEDIATE AID. In order to attend to thousands of catastrophe victims in public buildings, appropriate spaces are provided. In the framework of the research theme CRISIS MANAGEMENT, the above designed public buildings incorporate a double function. In normal case they fulfil their original purpose (school, hotel, office building, etc.), for the emergency case they are planned with the possibility to convert them into a crisis center within 5-6 hours. Medical, psychological care, accommodation, hygienic facilities and catering are supplied. According to the type of building for 500 to1500 victims, support is provided also regarding their future life. According to the severity of the catastrophe the necessity of care may take a longer time (even longer than one year). In order to reduce costs, the additional facilities for the emergency case (First Aid, restaurants for catering, etc.) must be open for the public also in normal case. In order to facilitate the scientific communication with Japan, research is performed on the field COMPUTER- AIDED JAPANESE. Theme: SYNTAX-ORIENTED JAPANESE GRAMMAR, Cooperation with Yukiko Kuwano-Kahr, BA.
CONTINUITY OF THE RESEARCH COOPERATIONON Due to the continuously threatening natural catastrophes the overall project Catastrophe Prevention and Crisis Management (Disaster Mitigation) immensely gained importance, especially after the devastating tsunami catastrophe in Japan 2011. As the research work has to be carried out practice-oriented, the level of the project proposals is very high. The Vice President of The University of Tokyo, Prof. Takehiko Kitamori, who visited the Exhibition 2011 at the Vienna University of Technology about the latest research results, asserted that the scientific exchange between the two universities has a global leadership role. The Austrian Broadcasting and Television (ORF) made a short report on this exhibition and broadcasted it in the evening news Wien Heute. In order to maintain the continuity of the cooperation In 2014 the rectorate of the Vienna University of Technology, under the direction of the Rector Prof. Sabine Seidler, established the research institute JASEC Japan Austria Science Exchange Center, which is responsible for the continuation of the above mentioned fields of research and the coordination of the scientific exchange cooperation with Japan. The hitherto working research team was affiliated to the new Center, as well. Thus the research work developed by Prof. Simoncsics can be continued and enhanced by the successors Dr. Iris Mach and DI Thomas Rief. Contact addresses: emmerich.simoncsics@tuwien.ac.at iris.mach@tuwien.ac.at thomas.rief@tuwien.ac.at