Professor Volker Hartkopf will be named Professor Emeritus with the Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture at the conclusion of the 2018-19 academic year. A Retirement Celebration will be held honoring Hartkopf and Professor Emeritus Ömer Akin on Saturday, 13 April 2019 during Spring Carnival.
Dr. Hartkopf has taught and conducted research at CMU since 1972. In 1975 he co-initiated and subsequently directed, until 1981, the first multidisciplinary program in Architecture, Engineering and Planning in the United States with grants from the National Science Foundation and the building industry. In 1981 he founded the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics (CBPD) at CMU. Under Professor Hartkopf’s leadership, the CBPD team has received numerous prestigious national and international awards for research. From 1981 to 1985, Hartkopf developed jointly with Vivian Loftness and Peter A.D. Mill, the Total Building Performance Evaluation Method at Public Works Canada whilst on an Executive Interchange Program. In 1988, Professor Hartkopf created the Advanced Building Systems Integration Consortium (ABSIC) focused on creating high-performance work environments. ABSIC, in cooperation with CMU, designed, constructed, and maintains the Robert L. Preger Intelligent Workplace, officially opened in the winter of 1997.
Dr. Hartkopf’s work covers a broad range of activities, including international initiatives, funded research, and professional consulting on building systems integration, advanced technology, building performance, energy conservation, urban revitalization, third-world housing, and disaster prevention. As an architect he has realized building projects in Germany, Bangladesh, Peru, and the United States. An award winning teacher and a frequent keynote speaker in Australia, Europe, Asia, and the Americas, Hartkopf has authored over 100 technical publications. He continues his consulting with such organizations as DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen, Thyssen Krupp, Electricite de France, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Energy, and Siemens.
SoA Head Steve Lee reflects with admiration on Dr. Hartkopf’s legacy at the school. “I was Volker’s first student upon his arrival at Carnegie Mellon in 1972,” Steve recalls. “We developed an immediate bond through our mutual interests in technological innovation, future environments, and social equity. What followed was a whirlwind of eye-opening, career-defining activities – building Ice City in Fargo, ND (1973); building refugee housing in Peten, Guatemala (1974); winning the UIA World Student Competition on refugee housing solutions for India/East Pakistan (1975); receiving the UIA Prize of three weeks of travel in the USSR as guests of the USSR Architects Association (1976); demonstrating a refugee housing prototype at the UN World Conference in Vancouver, CA; and receiving full tuition scholarship to the inaugural class of the Master of Architecture in Advanced Building studies (1976). After five wonderful years at Urban Design Associates, I joined the faculty at the SoA and reconnected with Volker. My partner Yoko Tai and I led the ABSIC Japan Studies while we on sabbatical in Japan and I became the project manager for realizing the Intelligent Workplace. To say that Volker was my mentor and collaborator would be a gross understatement. His impact on me, the profession, the university, and the planet is of the highest level.”
Sincerest thanks to Dr. Hartkopf for his many decades of service and dedication to the School of Architecture.