(About)
Maxie Schneider
Maxie Schneider is an interdisciplinary architectural design researcher and lecturer whith focuses on material-based design and particular expertise in textile building techniques and fiber-based material systems. Her work bridges tactile and digital prototyping, aiming to push the boundaries of sustainable architecture through material innovation. Her research explores how adaptive, reconfigurable, and soft materials can contribute to architectural design, with an emphasis on integrating textile techniques into building systems to harness the "embedded material intelligence" of diverse materials such as air, concrete, natural fibers, and smart materials. Her work is interdisciplinary, often merging architecture, materials science, and textile design.
Together with Prof. Christiane Sauer, Ebba Fransen Waldhör, and Mareike Stoll, she ihas published the Book Architectures of Weaving: From Fibers and Yarns to Scaffolds and Skins (Berlin, 2022).
As a Research Associate and PhD candidate at the Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, at TU Berlin and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, she is investigating adaptive textile structures and the potential of softness and responsiveness in architecture. Her ongoing projects include Polymorph Textility, which is part of her PhD, focusing on adaptive textile structures with dynamic morphologies. This research builds on her earlier work in the ADAPTEX project at the Department of Textileand Material Design at Weißensee School of Art and Design, where she developed adaptive facade systems using smart materials.
She is currently part of the Architectural Yarn project at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, a collaboration with Matters of Activity, where she is exploring reconfigurable and continuous textile building techniques.
In 2014 she has founded the experimental architecture studio, Popticum, here she investigates the spatial and interactive potential of textiles in architecture, creating pavilions, installations, and exhibitions that explore textile spatiality as a form of "discursive spacemaking."
At the Berlin University of Arts she is teaching at Department of Architecture, Building Construction and Materials since 2022.
Her work has been recognized within books and journals like Domus, Baumeister, and Springer. She is a regular lecturer at academic institutions such as the University of the Arts Berlin, die angewandte Vienna, Weißensee School of Art and Design, and Bezalel University among others.
Together with Prof. Christiane Sauer, Ebba Fransen Waldhör, and Mareike Stoll, she ihas published the Book Architectures of Weaving: From Fibers and Yarns to Scaffolds and Skins (Berlin, 2022).
As a Research Associate and PhD candidate at the Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, at TU Berlin and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, she is investigating adaptive textile structures and the potential of softness and responsiveness in architecture. Her ongoing projects include Polymorph Textility, which is part of her PhD, focusing on adaptive textile structures with dynamic morphologies. This research builds on her earlier work in the ADAPTEX project at the Department of Textileand Material Design at Weißensee School of Art and Design, where she developed adaptive facade systems using smart materials.
She is currently part of the Architectural Yarn project at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, a collaboration with Matters of Activity, where she is exploring reconfigurable and continuous textile building techniques.
In 2014 she has founded the experimental architecture studio, Popticum, here she investigates the spatial and interactive potential of textiles in architecture, creating pavilions, installations, and exhibitions that explore textile spatiality as a form of "discursive spacemaking."
At the Berlin University of Arts she is teaching at Department of Architecture, Building Construction and Materials since 2022.
Her work has been recognized within books and journals like Domus, Baumeister, and Springer. She is a regular lecturer at academic institutions such as the University of the Arts Berlin, die angewandte Vienna, Weißensee School of Art and Design, and Bezalel University among others.
Photo: Ebba Fransén Waldhoer
BUILT
Tangled Walls, 2025Fabricated Pavilion, Popticum, 2025
Sommer Pavillion, Popticum, 2024
Sommer Pavillion, Popticum, 2023
Adaptex Facade Mockups, weissensee school of art and design, 2022
Floating Roofs, Popticum, 2021
The Arch, Constructlab, 2017
TEACHING
guest lecturer 2024/25 Architecture Department, FH Erfurtsince 2022, Lecturer, University of the Arts Berlin.
Department of Architecture, Building Construction and Materials
2017 - 2023, Lecturer, Research Associate, weißensee school of art and design berlin, Department of Textile and Material Design
EXHIBITIONS
2025 MAKING DIFFERENTLY: Women Rethinking Architecture, Institute of Architecture TU Berlin2025 Entangled, Deutsches Architekturzentrum DAZ
2025 WeTransform zur Zukunft des Bauens, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn
2024 Materialzukünfte Besuchen, Futurium, Berlin
2024 Planet Utopia, Japanisches Palais Dresden, Popticum Project
2023 Berlin, Activarium, Matters of Activity, Architectural Yarns Project
2023 Munich, Bau Messe, Adaptex Project
2022 Berlin, Germany – Design Lab #13. Material Legacies. Exhibition. Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Museum of Decorative Arts. Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin. Architectural Yarns Project
2022 Berlin, Germany - DAOULA | sheen. West African Wild Silk on Its Way. Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Tieranatomisches Theater. Architectural Yarns Project
2022 Glass Technology Live, Priedemann Facadelab, Weißensee School of Art and Design. Adaptex Project
2020 Dutch Design Week – DXM – Design, Experiment, Material – Präsentation der aktuellen Forschungsprojekte, Adaptex
2020 Timișoara Architecture Biennial, Rumänien, Adaptex Project
2019 Architectural Residency, Les Grands Voisins, Paris, Popticum Project
2019 Biennale da Maia, Portugal, Handle with Air, Popticum
2017 Architectural Residency, Genk, Belgium, Project: The Arch, ConstructLab
2015 Trienal de Architectura Lisboa, Spain, Popticum
AWARDS
2024 ZAK Award - Adaptex
2023 smart³ Zunkunftsimpulse Award - Adaptex
2021 CTBUH Award of Excellence Winner - Adaptex
2021 Zumtobel Group Award for Innovation - Adaptex
2021 Aachen Dreden Denkendorf International Textile Conference Best Poster - Adaptex
2017 Concrete Design Competition - Thesis Project: Pneu & Schale
Contact:
mail to: info@maxieschneider.com
connect via: Linkedin
follow: https://www.instagram.com/maxie_schneider
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