5. The Membrane Engineer: Dr. Rosemarie Wagner

In this episode of “On Lightness” I am having a conversation with membrane and cable engineer Dr. Rosemarie Wagner. We are talking about her way into the world of lightweight engineering, favorite structures and what she learned from being a professor in the architectural field for several decades now. I felt inspired like many of her students by Dr. Wagners motivation for and work in the field of lightness.

This episode was moderated and produced by Leon Hidalgo.

The following article is meant as an informational extension of the podcast episode:

After graduating from the University of Stuttgart, Rosemarie Wagner joined her father’s engineering firm but quickly realized the conventional work bored her compares to the lightweight structures she’d studied under pioneering professor Jörg Schlaich. She moved to Schlaich’s Institute of Lightweight Structures to research suspension bridge history, gaining access to his presentation archives that deepened her fascination with the force-shaped structures. A year later, Schlaich offered her a PhD position combining cable-net structures with concrete slabs—research that would underpin numerous bridges built by his firm SBP around Stuttgart.

After completing her PhD, Wagner joined a cross-institute research group that included the Institute for Air and Space of the University of Stuttgart, where colleagues had just built the first solar-powered airship and needed a hangar. Taking part in a student group, she did the structural engineering for a helium-filled hangar called HELION: The first building to hang from the earth rather than stand on it. The structure was destroyed by a thunderstorm after just a few months when the low-budget foil proved non-UV-resistant.

Festo is one of the biggest pneumatics companies in the world. Rosemarie was now asked to work there, designing and engineering a building that most people in the industry said could not be done. Everyone except Jörg Schlaich: the Airtecture Hall of Festo GmbH Co. KG.

Once again, life intervened with a phone call—this time offering a position at the architecture department of Munich’s University of Applied Sciences. Teaching came naturally, and she quickly recognized its importance. What became essential was giving students a feel for forces through physical models and strengthening their appreciation for equilibrium-shaped structures. After Frei Otto, numerous poorly executed copies of these structures had failed, leading to widespread disapproval that Rosemarie felt could only be reversed through education.

Lightness¹ the quality of having little weight

While floors are inherently difficult to make lightweight, Rosemarie argues that having thermal mass does not require building massive buildings. The Multihalle Mannheim exemplifies this: its ultralight roof pairs with a concrete walkway that provides the necessary thermal regulation.

When asked about her favorite structures, she offered an intriguing list of buildings: The Aviary of “Peacock Island” in Berlin, St-Lukas-Church in Bremen, The Meilenwerk in Düsseldorf, The Washington-Dulles Airport in Virginia and Lowara Office Building by Renzo Piano in Vicenza.

lightness² the state of being light in color or shade

Rosemarie believes light is an architect’s concern and beauty cannot be planned, yet certain light moments remain with her. One was visiting Yale’s Beinecke Library with its remarkably thin marble walls—reminiscent of Franz Füeg’s Pius Church in Switzerland.

Like the thin slices of marble in the wall, single-layered membranes are also translucent, creating a beautiful light atmosphere that can only be observed from the opposite side of the light source.

lightness³ being carefree or feeling without burden

For Rosemarie, true lightness emerges when clients embrace a building and care for it because of how it makes them feel. She believes we focus too heavily on visual information, forgetting we are multisensory beings. Other moments of lightness, she says, come from touching fabrics like the silk wall hangings at Ludwigsburg Palace, or watching the sunset over Munich’s Olympic Park—experiences that remind her architecture is as much about sensation as structure.

Throughout her life, she has never hesitated to jump into cold water. That same fearlessness, she believes, should drive architects to be braver and engage in more open exchanges about how buildings can be constructed. Through repetition—trying, failing, and trying again—true learning happens. Ultimately, in her unique mindset Rosemarie Wagner hopes to leave traces in both buildings and people.