Wulf-Rüdiger Lutz

Prof. Rüdiger Lutz born in 1953 responsible fort he company division „Innovations“ at Wilkhahn. Having studied at Stuttgart, Dortmund and Berlin (Germany) and in Berkeley (USA), Professor Lutz qualified in architecture, design and psychology. From 1979 to 1981 he worked at the Institute for Futurology in Berlin. He subsequently became head of the Communications Center for Futurology in Berlin. He subsequently became head of the Communications Center for Futurology and Peace Studies in Hannover.

Many of his essays and articles have gone into print. Since 1981 Prof. Lutz has also published a series of books on ecological isssues. He is the author of “Ökopolis” (Ecopolis, 1987), “Pläne für eine menschliche Zukunft“ (Plans for a human future, 1988) and „Die sanfte Wende“ (The soft revolution, 1987).

Fritjof Capra wrote “Rüdiger Lutz is one of those rare persons around today, who command a thorough understanding of new theoretical concepts and are also cognizant of the multifarious problems and successes of these concepts in society”

“The dramatic transformation of society and the speed of social, ecological and technological change have influenced contemporary design in a number of ways. We can observe a decline in the “classical modern” genre, while there has been a swing in favour of postmodernism, neo-baroque, deconstructivism and semantic recycling (1950s and 1960s). Symbolism is almost inherent to these design movements, however there he also been an increasingly important trend towards “ecological functionalism” in the past two decades. This trend reflects the major challenge of our times, namely the need for an environmentally responsible relationship to nature and natural resources. Environmental planning, architecture, product design and communications must be geared towards resolving this vital task with the utmost creativity and innovativeness. Essentially, this calls for an ecological transformation on a scale which extends beyond technological innovations restricted to individual products. “Ecological functionalism” broadens the role of industrial product design to include a complete awareness of the environment and society. In this sense we speak of “contex design”-an approach that is imperative to the future of mankind”.

(1992)