Ludwig began as an architecture student and graduated from the University of Stuttgart in 2012 with a dissertation titled “The Botanical Fundamentals of Baubotanik and their Application in Design”. In 2007, he co-founded the research group “Baubotanik” at the University of Stuttgart’s Institute of Architectural Theory and Design and served as a head research associate until 2017. Along with Daniel Schönle in 2010, Ludwig created “ludwig.schönle: Baubotanik - Architecture - Urbanism”, a collaborative office centering on incorporating the baubotanik approach in urban planning and architectural design. Ludwig has designed and created numerous Baubotanik projects around Germany, such as the Plane-Tree-Cube in Nagold in 2012, a Baubotanik Tower in 2009, and a Baubotanik Footbridge in 2005. The central focus of Ludwig’s research concerns integrating the growth processes of living plants into architectural design and construction. Merging living plants with architectural construction allows for the exploration of the creative and functional uses of plants in the context of building engineering. The concept of Baubotanik is not only relevant in the fields of architecture and landscape architecture, but has increasingly been recognized as an adaptation method to climate change. Ludwig’s work additionally centers on the technical challenges that arise in Baubotanik, thereby broadening architectural knowledge by confronting aspects of growth and decay, and probability and chance in architectural design.
Ludwig F: “Baubotanik: Designing with living material.” In: Materiality in Architecture. Editor: Löschke S. New York: Routledge, 2016: 182-190.
Ludwig F, Schönle D, Bellers M: „Klimaaktive baubotanische Stadtquartiere, Bautypologien und Infrastrukturen: Modellprojekte und Planungswerkzeuge“. Reihe KLIMOPASS-Berichte: KLIMOPASS – Klimawandel und modellhafte Anpassung in Baden-Württemberg. Teil 2 Angewandte Forschung und Modellprojekte. LUBW. 2015.
Ludwig F, Storz O, Schwertfeger H: „Living Systems. Designing Growth in Baubotanik”. Architectural Design Journal. 2012; 82: 82-87.
Ludwig F: “Baubotanik Tower / Lake Constance Footbridge” In: Biodesign. Nature – Science – Creativity. Museum of Modern Architecture. Editor: Myers W. New York: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2012: 36-41.
Ludwig F, de Bruyn G, Thielen M, Speck T: “Plant stems as building material for living plant constructions”. Proceedings of the 6th Plant Biomechanics Conference. Cayenne, French Guyana, France. November 16-21, 2009: 398-405.
