Claire Braun
Practice: Claire Braun. Architektin
Established: 1997
City: Gmunden
Country: Austria
www.arching.at/ClaireBraun
[email protected]
Claire Braun gained a Masters in architectural engineering in 1987 and qualified as a chartered architect in 1997. She is an award-winning architect and a publicly appointed and court-appointed expert in real estate valuation and since 2005 she has chaired the committee of female civil engineers at the Chamber of Architects and Chartered Engineering Consultants of Upper Austria and Salzburg.
Claire Braun. Architektin
Centre of Technology Grieskirchen
First class workplaces in noisy surroundings. The challenge of this project was the task of creating attractive working places with high user quality both in the industrial hall and in the offices in spite of the high noise level caused by the test stands. Via appropriate sound insulation measures we were successful in avoiding conflicts even though construction is very dense and space use is intensive. It was important to us to establish overall conditions which further creativity throughout the technology centre.
| Do you think our profession is diverse enough? | The reason why I love my profession so much is its diversity of work. Each job means coping with completely new challenges and I have to bring together the various requirements of all the other people involved - clients, project engineers and tradesmen - who have different knowledge and personalities. Given the fact that our profession involves more diversity than most others, I believe it is diverse enough. |
| If you could change one thing in our profession, what would it be? | I would change the way architects are trained. Our courses don't put enough emphasis on practice and we are trained in a theoretical way. We should spend more time on construction sites and acquire more knowledge of economics. As an independent architect you need to have entrepreneurial know-how. At university the number of students should be limited and each student should be supported more efficiently. Outreach work should be improved to raise the reputation of architects. |
| How have your clients and projects benefited from your involvement? | Only a few people recognise that architects have to cut the costs of construction to the extent that it would have been more expensive to build without us. Clients are saved from designing, and from preparing documents for bidding and construction supervision. If client and architect work together with mutual trust, projects can be optimally managed reducing costs and the stress experienced by the client. |