Oliver Heckmann’s practice, research and education focuses on urban housing typology and design research for future urban habitation, sustainable design and urban revitalization. He is the editor and author of the ‘Floor Plan Manual Housing’ with F. Schneider, a globally established seminal work on innovative housing typology and is also editor-in-chief of the typological web-database ‘Building Types Online’, both published by Birkhäuser. 

The research of his ‘Urban Housing Lab’ concentrates on socially and environmentally sustainable urban housing, with concepts for vertical communality and flexibility for shifting demographics and new diverse and inclusive forms of co-habitation.  

Their recent design study ‘Future Hybrid High-Rise Commune’ has been selected for the Singapore Pavilion at the 17th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition 2021 ‘How Will We Live Together?’. 

The research has also informed the cross-disciplinary, international ‘Future Urban Habitation Symposium’ he has curated at the National Design Centre Singapore in 2019,  discussing the themes ‘High-Dense Typologies for Building Community’, ‘Inclusive Urbanism’, ‘Adaptable & Responsive Habitation’ and ‘New Tools, New Approaches’. 

Oliver’s projects also cover sustainable design on aspects like climate-responsive layouts and environmentally-conscious materiality and construction systems, that also include developing tools for informed decision-making. These fields have been awarded with the Singapore-Good-Design Award in 2017 and 2019 and the Arup-Global-Research Challenge 2019. 

Oliver graduated from the University of the Arts Berlin, Germany, and the Bartlett School, University College London, and is a registered architect at the Chamber of Architects Berlin. His design practice focuses, next to revitalization and adaptive-reuse projects, predominantly on innovative residential architecture, including participatory and flexible design and multi-generational dwellings.  Oliver has been Assistant Professor at Technical University Berlin and Singapore University of Technology and Design. 

Contact:
oliver_heckmann@urbanhousinglab.hooncho.com

Keywords/Interests:  

Housing Typology 
Future Urban Habitation Design & Research  
Design for Shifting Demographics and Future Communality 
Sustainable Design and Construction 
Climate Responsive Design 
Adaptive Re-Use / Urban Revitalization