In the recent years he designed and realized highly regarded projects that combine growth processes of living plants with an engineering approach. In his PhD-studies, he develops multiple horticultural construction techniques and analysed botanical rules of growth to deduce construction rules for living plant constructions. In 2007 he was one of the co-founders of the “Research Group Baubotanik” at the Institute of Architectural Theory at the University of Stuttgart (www.baubotanik.org/en). Since that time he organized different workshops and hold many lectures on Living Plant Constructions at the University of Stuttgart and worldwide. Since 2011 Ferdinand is teaching in the Elective “Designing with growth” and "Co-Habitation" of the IUSD at the University of Stuttgart.