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LERN DOCH, WO DU WILLST

Das KIT braucht dringend neue Lernräume! Plätze in der Bibliothek sind gemessen an der Studierendenzahl rar und meist schnell ausgebucht. Auch Arbeitsplätze, vor allem Gruppenarbeitsplätze (2-6 Personen), sind Mangelware. Das AKK  (Arbeitskreis Kultur und Kommunikation) bietet nur bedingt die Möglichkeit im Sommer draußen zu lernen – es fehlt an einer entsprechenden Infrastruktur wie z.B. Steckdosen, Blend-, und Sonnenschutz und einem Dach bei Regen.

Deswegen soll im Rahmen eines Stegreifs des Fachgebiets Nachhaltiges Bauen gemeinsam mit dem Zukunftscampus KIT ein Prototyp entworfen werden, der Lernen und Arbeiten im Freien ermöglicht. Der Prototyp kann dabei beispielhaft auf einer Freifläche des KIT geplant werden, sollte aber einer möglichen Versetzbarkeit entsprechend mitgedacht werden.Ziel ist es mit Hilfe des „Outdoor Lern- und ArbeitsRAUMS“ gut gestaltete öffentliche und soziale Räume zu schaffen, und durch neue Landmarken eine Sichtbarkeit auf dem Campus zu etablieren. 

Der Stegreif ist als Wettbewerb ausgelegt und bietet Möglichkeiten zur Realisation. 

Ausgabe Stegreif: 09.12.2020, 12:00 Uhr
ZOOM-Link: https://kit-lecture.zoom.us/j/67908695156?pwd=QW9wZnV2Szh0NDUvUDFEL0J2SDFwdz09 
Meeting-ID: 679 0869 5156, Kenncode: 997771
Betreuung: 08.01.2021
Abgabe: 23.01.2021
Preisverleihung: Februar 2021

Sorge um den Bestand. Ten strategies for architecture

The KIT professorship of Sustainable Construction at the Faculty of Architecture is part of an exhibition and publication by the Association of German Architects BDA. In ten strategies, architects and urbanists present their concern for the existing building: taking care of the building stock, for growing social structures and for the continued existence of the earth. They invite you to read the permanence of what has been built and what has grown and plead for further thinking and careful repair of living spaces and living cultures. They show how new perspectives arise in the urban and regional context through networked approaches, through cooperation oriented towards the common good and through participation concepts. For the future, i.e. the buildings erected today, strategies for the circular use of materials and an openness to future requirements are being developed.

The exhibition of the Association of German Architects BDA was curated by Olaf Bahner, Matthias Böttger and Laura Holzberg. Exhibition design: Marius Busch – ON / OFF and Christian Göthner – lfm2 “Sorge um den Bestand” is a project in the “Experimental Housing and Urban Development” research program of the BMI / BBSR and is financially supported by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Home Affairs. Comprehensive information on the exhibition project can be found at www.bda-bund.de/sorgeumdenStock

more information here

grow.build.repeat. – Many thanks to all!

Photo: Elena Boerman

Yesterday our symposium grow.build.repeat. took place. It was a great day with exciting and high-class lectures and interesting discussions. The Professorship of Sustainable Construction would like to thank all participants!

Many thanks to all viewers for watching, asking questions and for the great feedback.

Many thanks for the
Organization: KIT Faculty for Architecture
The kind support: Wacker Chemie AG
Live Translation: KIT Lecture Translator, Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions – kites GmbH
Social Media Support: Frank Metzger, Denis Elbl

Special thanks to our speakers: Prof. Dr. Hanaa Dahy, Prof. Eike Roswag-Klinge, Andrea Klinge, Dr. Henk Jonkers, Dr. Alireza Javadian, Prof. Dr. Marie-Pierre Laborie, Martin Rauch, Werner Schmidt, Diana Drewes, Dr. Michael Sailer, Mitchell Joachim

Many thanks to our panel discussion partners from Wacker Chemie AG: Peter Summo, Dr. Theo Mayer, Dr. Tobias Halbach, Dr. Peter Jerschow

Thank you for planning, organizing and preparing the event with us: AMP Aurora Motion Pictures, Jessica Decker, Sylvia Aust and Dr. Theo Mayer representing the whole team of Wacker Chemie AG

Thank you for the great location: Raumszene

Livestream on December 4th: grow.build.repeat.

grow.build.repeat. on Friday 04 December 2020, 09:00 – 18.45 on changelab.exchange/livestream

Have a look at the updated agenda (943 KB)

Virtual Exhibition online since 03 December 2020, 18:00: changelab.exchange/virtual-exhibition

deutschland.de: Two ideas that will take us forward

Construction with fungal roots and storing electricity with wood waste are two innovations that we will (hopefully) hear much more about in the future. At the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Professor Dirk E. Hebel is conducting research into radically different solutions. He wants to replace conventional building materials like concrete with renewable raw materials.

More information here.

Design through and with material knowledge

An interview with the Dean of the KIT Faculty of Architecture Dirk E. Hebel and seminar leader Sandra Böhm of the Professorship of Sustainable Construction about their design strategies and the compatibility with materials science in architectural education.

The KIT Faculty of Architecture has a long tradition in understanding architectural design in close interaction with and in dependency on structural design, building construction, building physics, social studies and material science. The students deal critically and actively with the pressing questions of our times and are looking for ways to align their own actions with these findings.

The focus at the KIT Faculty of Architecture is on integrated design, so that conceptional, ecological, economical, structural, physical, sociological, historic, artistic, communicational, urban, landscape and theoretical questions are understood and treated as a holistic interdisciplinary project in the design itself. Thus, design studios serve as a field of experimentation and students are given the opportunity to show and test their ideas and conceptions in innovations and experimental studies.

This also includes the rediscovery of traditional materials and their possibilities in terms of the synergy of tradition and innovation. In the research seminar “Bau auf!” held together with the Karlsruhe Majolika, the students dealt with the material ceramic and the possibilities of 3D printing.

The innovation platform “Changelab! Wacker KIT Innovation Platform for Pioneering Sustainable Construction” builds a bridge to cooperation with the industry and is intended to bring together students, architects, engineers, and construction experts who are looking for new approaches in the field of material development and construction methods for a circular economy.

Published in “DER ENTWURF – Magazin der DBZ für junge Architekt*innen und Ingenieur*innen”, edition November 2020, p. 14-17

Highrises of the future will be build with mycelium, hemp and bamboo

An article at Spiegel-Online describing future scenarios of the building industry with Prof. Dirk E. Hebel. By Ulrike Knöfel.

more information here

The power of mushrooms

Mushrooms are given little attention – but are they the secret rulers of the world? “PUR +” presenter Eric Mayer discovers new possibilities and also visits the KIT-MycoLab of Prof. Dirk E. Hebel and his research team around Dr. Nazanin Saeidi and Dr. Alireza Javadian to understand how a new class of building materials could be cultivated.

Rammed Earth Seminar – the Video

From technique to application: in a joint seminar of the KIT Professorships of Sustainable Construction and Building Technology, a small rammed earth garden house was being built near Freiburg. The seminar consisted of testing the material, building the suitable formwork, bringing the clay in and compacting it by manual work.

In addition the students received the basic and background knowledge in advance and had the possibility to learn about the geological local conditions afterwork on site.

This way they gained practical experience in this construction method under adapted conditions to obtain technical know-how and to experience the possibilities and the materiality of rammed earth on a building site.

See the results from the Design-to-Build Workshop in the movie on https://vimeo.com/470219295

Symposium online

Due to the increasing number of infections caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have decided to hold the symposium grow.build.repeat. online, which will take place on December 4, 2020.

Link to online event and virtual exhibition from 03.12.2020 on
https://changelab.exchange

Further information on https://changelab.exchange/join/2-symposium-grow-build-repeat/ and arch.kit.edu/aktuelles/grow-build-repeat.php

Zukunft Bauen – Hat die Kreislaufwirtschaft auf dem Bau eine Chance?

Prof. Dirk E. Hebel in discussion about a rising circular building economy.

A talk in “Zukunft Bauen” with Prof. Dirk E. Hebel (Sustainable Construction, Faculty of Architecture, KIT Karlsruhe) and Dr. Lamia Messari-Becker (Building Technology and Building Physics, Institute of Architecture, University of Siegen) about rethinking the construction industry and its bound building materials as a raw materials warehouse in order to preserve the earth’s resources and about the paradigm change in future architectural planning and construction.

Design Studio Master: Insel der Lemuren

Ein neues Zuhause für die Affen im Karlsruher Zoo!

The endangered Kattas (lemures) of the Karlsruhe zoo live in a small enclosure in the monkey house at the moment, that no longer corresponds to the recommended guidelines. At the request of the zoo, the Ludwigsee island in the middle of the Stadtgarten is to be developed as a walk-in island and serve as a new home for the lemures. This will give them 20 times more space than is currently available to them. In order to keep this natural habitat as large as possible and not to take away any space on the island, the warm house will be built on the territory of the lake and serve as a refuge for the monkeys in cooler temperatures or bad weather.

The design is designed as an idea competition and offers possibilities for realization.
First Meeting: 4.11.2020, 12:00
Excursion to the Zoo: 11.11.2020, 15:00

Design Studio Bachelor: (H)AUSTAUSCH!

Innovative Wohnkonzepte für die Generation Gold

Jeden Tag wird in Deutschland die Fläche von etwa 100 Fußballfeldern in Bauland umgewandelt und damit versiegelt. Der Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen stellte unlängst fest, dass der Wohnungsbau einer der bedeutendsten Treiber dieser Entwicklung ist. Die durchschnittliche Wohnfläche pro Kopf ist auf inzwischen 46,7 m² (Stand 2018) angestiegen. Dazu kommt ein überhitzter Wohnungsmarkt in vielen Teilen des Landes. Insbesondere für junge Familien ist es häufig sehr schwierig stadtnah geeignete und ausreichend große Wohnungen finden. Die bisher oft einzige Antwort darauf, neue Baugebiete auszuweisen, fördert allerdings den weiteren zügellosen Flächenverbrauch in Deutschland. Doch auch innerhalb des Wohnungsbestands gibt es Flächenreserven. Eine besondere Rolle dabei spielen ältere Menschen. Nach Angaben des Bundesamtes für Bauwesen und Raumordnung belegte ein Ein-Personenhaushalt in der Altersgruppe über 75 Jahre im Jahr 1978 noch 55 m² Wohnfläche, im Jahr 2002 waren es bereits 75m², während die sich der durchschnittliche Wohnflächenverbrauch junger Ein-Personenhaushalte im gleichen Zeitraum fast nicht veränderte. Fast die Hälfte der Einpersonenhaushalte
in Deutschland werden von älteren Menschen bewohnt, und in einem Viertel aller Privathaushalte lebten 2018 ausschließlich ältere Menschen ab 65 Jahren. Der Wohnflächenverbrauch pro Kopf ist also nicht nur generell hoch, sondern auch sehr ungleich verteilt. Viele ältere Menschen der „Generation Gold“ sind nach dem Abschluss ihres Berufslebens nach wie vor aktiv und fit, aber dennoch oft mit dem Unterhalt ihrer meist zu groß gewordenen Haushalte überfordert. Was, wenn man den Wohnungsmarkt einfach, wie früher eine Festplatte, „defragmentieren“ könnte? Ist es möglich eine Win-Win-Situation für beide Seiten zu entwerfen?

In Kooperation mit der Nestbau AG Tübingen werden wir in Pfrondorf bei Tübingen innovative Wohnkonzepte entwickeln, die es für Personen der „Generation Gold“ attraktiv machen, ihre Wohnung zugunsten junger Familien aufzugeben, ohne auf ein selbstbestimmtes und aktives Leben in der gewohnten Nachbarschaft verzichten zu müssen. Gleichzeitig bietet sich dadurch ein Potential, die Wohnsituation des Einzelnen mit gemeinschaftlichen Räumlichkeiten und Treffpunkten aufzuwerten, die einen sozialen Austausch der Bewohner mit ihrem Umfeld befördern, und dadurch einen Mehrwert für die „Generation Gold“ bedeuten.

Wir werden den Entwurf in enger Zusammenarbeit und mit integrierten Vertiefungen von Tragkonstruktion (Prof. Pfeifer), Bauphysik und technischer Ausbau (Prof. Wagner) und Bauökonomie (Hon. Prof. Kai Fischer) durchführen.

Mittwoch 28.10.2020 10:00-12:00
Vorstellung Studio Ordnung (5. Semester)
über Zoom.

Erstes Treffen mit Entwurfsausgabe: Mittwoch
04.11.2020, 13.00 Uhr

Sortenrein Konstruieren

Circular Construction Methods

In a joint seminar, construction methods are to be investigated and documented that can guarantee the future deconstruction of buildings by type and thus form the basis of cycle-based construction. At the beginning the basics and principles of joining and designing a future recycling economy will be taught. Based on this topic, historical and current construction methods will be examined, which can be deconstructed, reused or recycled after their use in the building.

Appointment: Thursday, 10:00 – 11:30 Uhr

Number of Participants: 20

Seminar: Building the future!

A demonstrator for sustainable construction in cooperation with Wacker Chemie AG

Demonstrators in the building sector serve to place new vectors into the future and to generate potential fields. It is vital that innovations are encouraged that will help to reduce the environmental impact of building components as well as increase their durability, recyclability and sustainability.  In the vision of a future-orientated construction industry we have to find new solutions in developing and applying novel and sustainable construction materials and techniques. 

By developing a demonstrator for the future building industry, the students get the chance to develop scenarios for construction applications for a circular construction economy. Scenarios that adapt to new conditions and do not consume raw materials, but only use it and return it to its original state after the life cycle of the construction. 

After a research on existing demonstrators the students will collect materials and construction methods which fulfil specific criteria for a sustainable and circular economy. In a further phase of the seminar, the students will design the demonstrator and bring their research into practice.

Wacker Chemie, as the collaborator of this seminar will give the students the opportunity to realize their best design concepts.

Lecture Series SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION 20/21

In the Winter Semester 2020/21, the KIT Faculty of Architecture will offer a lecture series on Sustainable Construction, organized by the Professorship of Sustainable Construction, Dirk E. Hebel. In total 12 lectures will address the history, state of the art, and alternative futures within the theme. Speakers are: Daniela Schneider, Prof. Daniel Fuhrhop, Prof. Andreas Wagner, Prof. Matthias Pfeifer, Prof. Markus Neppl, and Prof. Dirk E. Hebel. Please refer to the poster for actual dates. The lecture is held every Wednesday, 10:00 am online.

Poster Design: Uta Bogenrieder

Lecture Series MATERIALS 20/21

In the Winter Semester 2020/21, the KIT Faculty of Architecture will offer a lecture series on Materials, organized by the chair of Sustainable Construction, Dirk E. Hebel. In total 11 lectures will address conventional and alternative building materials and their use in construction. Speakers are: Andrea Klinge, Nazanin Saeidi, Peter Schöffel, Geoffrey Leitner, Alireza Javadian and Sandra Böhm. Please refer to the poster for actual dates. The lecture is held every Friday, 2 pm at the Forum at KIT Campus South.

Poster Design: Uta Bogenrieder

ZDF films at KIT MycoLab

The public German TV station ZDF films at the KIT MycoLab for their format PUR+. PUR + is the discovery magazine in the children’s and youth program ZDFtivi. Each episode deals with one topic. Reports, explanations, and experiments shed light on the topic from different angles. The program focuses on the experiences and assessments of children. At KIT, Eric, the protganist of the format, explores together with the team of Prof. Dirk E. Hebel and Nazanin Saeidi the idea of using mycelium as an innovative building material of the future.

Symposium – new information

grow.build.repeat. Symposium on sustainable construction.

Find here updated information for the venue and time of the event:

04. December 2020 / 09:00 – 18:45 h / Keynote by Mitchell Joachim
Admission from 8.00 a.m. / Start 9.00 a.m. / Closing 6.30 p.m.

Venue:
ZKM (Center for Art and Media)
Media Theater
Lorenzstrasse 19
76135 Karlsruhe

The Media Theater is located – adjacent to the entrance foyer – in Atrium 6 on the first floor of the ZKM.

Organization:
Department of Sustainable Construction
KIT Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

We would like to invite you to follow the live stream of the event. The link to the live stream will be provided in time on this and the following websites:
https://changelab.exchange/
ht
tp://www.arch.kit.edu/aktuelles/grow-build-repeat.php

Detailed Agenda, Pdf-Download (861 KB)

Speaker information, Pdf-Download (98 KB)

The symposium grow.build.repeat. at the KIT Faculty of Architecture deals with one of the most urgent questions of our time: how can we drive forward a radical change of the existing construction industry while increasingly considering the breeding, cultivation, seeding, and harvesting of biological building materials and their system cycles? The symposium is the second in a series on the topic of sustainable construction. The first event (take.build.repeat. in autumn 2018) dealt mainly with mineral and metallic material cycles in the field of urban mining and its potential for sustainable construction. The second symposium, grow.build.repeat, now addresses the biological material cycle and presents future-oriented examples from construction practice and research. Representatives from science and industry, research, practitioners, decision-makers within our democratic society, as well as teachers and students will come together to discuss the future of construction in lectures and discussions and subsequently to actively participate in shaping it.

The event is organized by the Professorship of Sustainable Construction (Faculty of Architecture, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT) and is kindly supported by Wacker Chemie AG.

Registrations (only possible for the Live-Stream, if recognition as further education event is desired):
http://www.arch.kit.edu/aktuelles/grow-build-repeat.php

Further training course of AKBW: 2020-151695-0001 (4h).

Exhibition: MycoTree in `Critical Zones` at ZKM

Against the backdrop of the climate crisis, the exhibition Critical Zones at ZKM questions the way we deal with our living space on earth. The exhibition explores new and possible forms of coexistence between all forms of life and shows ways of dealing with the current critical situation.

With the presentation of the MycoTree, the Chair of Sustainable Construction of the KIT Faculty of Architecture wants to contribute to this important discourse.

After all, future economic and ecological development worldwide is strongly linked to the question where our resources for future prosperity will come from. As our mines dry up and CO2 levels reach alarming levels, we have to radically rethink in all economic sectors. Until now, the earth’s natural resources have been extracted and disposed of in a linear process. This approach has profound consequences for our planet, which will become even worse unless a circular process is installed. Fungal research aims to establish new biological cycles in the construction industry.

Images: Arno Kohlem and the Bio Design Lab HfG Karlsruhe

View the exhibition: https://zkm.de/en/exhibition/2020/05/critical-zones

Tremendous possibilities – the city as a raw materials warehouse

KIT professor Dirk E. Hebel writes about Germany as a country with an incredibly large anthropogenic material store but with a lack of ideas how to use it. Our cities have the potential to be transformed into urban mines, to consumers and suppliers of resources. The challenge of an infinite cycle of resources lies in new construction methods and technologies to reach a new generation of building materials and methods that are qualitatively sustainable, ecologically harmless, technically pure, economically attractive and endlessly recyclable.

The Mehr.WERT.Pavillon serves as a clear example for this. All materials used in the project have already gone through at least one life cycle, in the same or modified form. The Mehr.WERT.Pavillon proves overall the applicability of the raw material warehouse – also in structural applications – and shows the beauty inherent in the respective materials.

Radio interview: Architecture of mushroom and bamboo – Dirk E. Hebel talks about constructing sustainability

Marie-Dominique Wetzel, cultural correspondent from SWR2, talks with KIT professor Dirk E. Hebel about his vision of sustainable architecture as a part of the movement against climate change and the destruction of the environment. He emphasizes the importance of research on new building technologies in consideration of the fact that the earth’s resources are more and more declining. Therefore a change in awareness to the cycle-oriented and gradual use of building materials is inevitable for present and future architects.

Video on: https://www.swr.de/swr2

Rammed earth garden house near Freiburg

Loam is produced by the natural weathering of rocks. It can be found almost everywhere and is considered a local building material – even on the Upper Rhine. It consists of different rock or particle sizes, from sand to silt to clay. If dried loam is combined with sufficient water, it becomes plastic again and can be brought into a new form.

In a joint seminar of the KIT Professorships of Sustainable Construction and Building Technology, a small rammed earth garden house is currently being built near Freiburg. After the material has been tested and suitable formwork has been built, the clay is currently being brought in and compacted.

The students received the basic and background knowledge in advance and currently have the opportunity to gain practical experience in this construction method under adapted conditions, to obtain technical know-how and to experience the materiality of rammed earth live.

Images: Katharina Blümke, Faculty of Architecture, KIT Karlsruhe

KIT Material Library – dismantling work completed

After the demolition work has been completed, the material library shines as a light-flooded room. The next steps of the renovation are already in progress and will be shown here soon.

The renovation of the premises is supported by Wacker Chemie AG.

Images: Bernd Seeland, Faculty of Architecture, KIT Karlsruhe

KIT Faculty of Architecture students win Urban Mining Student Award

The winners of the third Urban Mining Student Award have been announced: From the total of 20 submitted design proposals, the jury awarded two first prizes and five recognitions. One of the two first prizes went to Jan Matthies & Andrea Santos Rodríguez from the KIT Faculty of Architecture. Hannah Hopp, Viola Winterstein, Laura Ganz and Pia Thisssen were delighted to receive recognitions. The design of Jan Matthies and Andrea Santos Rodríguez convinced the jury mostly by their consequent use of existing building elements coming from the urban mine and their ability to create unique and high quality spatial arrangements adequate for young children.

This year the planning task of the German-wide, open student competition was to plan a travelling school project for Cologne in order to cope with the immense investment backlog regarding reorganization measures in German schools. In order to ensure the continuation of the school operations during these construction measures, the City of Cologne needs an alternative that provides temporary, flexibly relocatable and pedagogically valuable alternative rooms. For KIT, the competition was accompanied by the Professorship of Sustainable Construction, Dirk E. Hebel, Katharina Blümke and Felix Heisel.

From shed to spatial object / Vom Gartenhaus zum Räumling

The student exercise ‘Vom Gartenhaus zum Räumling’ aimed to validate the potential of the urban mine. Using a garden shed near Karlsruhe as material depot, we carefully deconstructed the house and diligently documented each element. As a group, the students then designed a spatial installation utilizing only the harvested elements using no glue or permanent fixtures. After all, also this installation had to be designed for disassembly, providing building materials for yet another structure.

Project credits:
Mohammad Mouaz Alez, Katharina Blümke, Laura Maria Ganz, Felix Heisel, Ann-Kathrin Holmer, Hannah Hopp, Marie Kamp, Sophie Klaß, Antonia Kniep, Jan Matthies, Katrin Oldörp, Manuel Rausch, Andrea Cecilia Santos Rodríguez, Pia Antonia Thissen, Arta Topallaj, Lars-Erik de Vries

From shed to spatial object / Vom Gartenhaus zum Räumling by Felix Heisel on Vimeo.

KIT Material Library under construction

The Professorship of Sustainable Construction was entrusted with the reorganisation of the Material Library of the KIT Faculty of Architecture.

In addition to setting up a digital material library, the premises will also be restructured and brought up to a contemporary standard. After the renovation, the materials library will offer the opportunity to obtain comprehensive information about historical, most used, unusual and new materials. The materials can be physically experienced and personal advice can be obtained. The materials library becomes a place of encounter, exchange, research and investigation.

The renovation of the premises is supported by Wacker Chemie AG.

Images: Bernd Seeland, Faculty of Architecture, KIT Karlsruhe

changelab.exchange goes online!

The ChangeLab! website is online. The WACKER / KIT Innovation Platform for Pioneering Sustainable Construction is aiming to bring together KIT students, architects, engineers and construction experts seeking new approaches in the field of materials development and construction methods for a circular economy.
More information at: changelab.exchange

ChangeLab!

WACKER / KIT Innovation Platform for Pioneering Sustainable Construction

We are pleased to announce that WACKER Chemie AG is supporting the KIT Faculty of Architecture by setting up a new innovation platform for sustainable construction. The project “ChangeLab! WACKER / KIT Innovation Platform for Pioneering Sustainable Construction” is aiming to bring together KIT students, architects, engineers and construction experts seeking new approaches in the field of materials development and construction methods for a circular economy. Public lectures, symposia and ideas competitions are planned. All activities of the platform will be posted publicly on the website changelab.exchange, which goes live today.

The goal of the innovation platform is to forge stronger ties between researchers and practitioners at the various stages of the construction-sector supply chain. Events such as the “grow.build.repeat.” symposium, likely to be held in KIT’s Faculty of Architecture on December 3-4, 2020, will encourage discussions on the biological material cycle within the construction industry. (More information about “grow.build.repeat.”)

“The fact that we have gained WACKER’s support for the ChangeLab! platform is a huge boost for our work at the faculty and will prove highly inspirational for all those seeking to become involved in the future of construction,” explains Dirk E. Hebel, Professor of Sustainable Construction and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at KIT.

The Munich-based chemical Group WACKER also expects to gain major impetus from this collaboration with KIT. “Even in times of the coronavirus, sustainability remains a top priority for us,” says Peter Summo, president of the WACKER POLYMERS business division. “We are deliberately laying down a marker for the development of sustainable technologies in the construction sector. This is a matter of strategic importance to us.”

Sandra Böhm with her furniture series “Prei” at SWR

The furniture series Prei is made up of used paper and includes a variety of
stools, a bench, trash bins and a shelf. The project was already born several years ago out of the wish to create hand-crafted products from recyclable materials. Used paper is a ressource that constantly surrounds us. The addition of natural additives creates a stable material. Vegetable dies give the objects their final charakter and offer a color variety.

Video on: www.ardmediathek.de

More information on: www.sandraboehm.de

Seminar: Stampflehm – von der Technik bis zur Anwendung

Ein Stampflehm-Gartenhaus im Raum Freiburg Lehm entsteht durch die natürliche Verwitterung von Gesteinen. Er ist fast überall zu finden und gilt als lokales Baumaterial – auch am Oberrhein. Er besteht aus verschiedenen Gesteins- oder Partikelgrössen, von Sand über Schluff bis hin zum Ton. Wird getrockneter Lehm mit genügend Wasser in Verbindung gebracht, wird er wieder plastisch und kann in eine neue Form gebracht werden. Lehm ist somit das „einzige Baumaterial, das unbeschränkt und ohne Qualitätseinbußen wiederverwendet werden kann“ (Martin Rauch). Stampflehmbau ist eine jahrtausendealte und sehr weit verbreitete Bautechnik. Dabei wird die krümelige, erdfeuchte Lehmmasse lagenweise in eine Schalung eingebracht und durch Stampfen verdichtet.

In einem gemeinsamen Seminar der Fachgebiete Nachhaltiges Bauen und Bautechnologie wollen wir ein kleines Gartenhaus im Raum Freiburg in dieser Bauweise errichten. Sie werden lernen, wie man das Baumaterial testet ob es geeignet ist für den Baueinsatz, wie man es mischt falls nötig, wie man eine Schalung baut und einbringt, wie man das Material verdichtet und schlussendlich Strukturen damit errichten kann. Ebenfalls werden wir Ihnen Grundlagen und weiteres Hintergrundwissen vermitteln. Wir werden für dieses Kompaktseminar im August Gäste im Garten einer jungen Familie im Raum Freiburg sein, die sich auf Ihr Kommen freut und einrichtet. Es wird die Möglichkeit bestehen, dass Sie vor Ort übernachten können oder von Karlsruhe aus pendeln, wie es für Sie am einfachsten einzurichten ist. Aufgrund der Corona-Pandemie werden schon einige Vorarbeiten getroffen sein (Fundamente, Mischen des Lehms), so dass wir im Seminar sofort mit dem eigentlichen Lehmbau beginnen können.

Mehr Information (Reader) hier.

Solar Decathlon Europe 2021: Team RoofKIT goes online

The RoofKIT website is online. It informs about the work of the Team RoofKIT in the Solar Decathlon Europe 2021 competition and shows first results of the Wintersemester 19/20 at the KIT Faculty of Architecture.
More information at: www.roofkit.de

The reorganisation of the KIT Faculty of Architecture Material Library

The Professorship of Sustainable Construction was entrusted with the reorganisation of the Materials Library of the KIT Faculty of Architecture. The conceptual and content-related reorganization is based on establishing a broad collection of the most used building materials in Europe. On top, new research and materials adressing questions of a circular construction economy as well as alternative building materials coming from either the urban mine or biological renewable ressources will establish a unique feature in Karlsruhe.

The setup and the management of the material library itself is the subject of research. The description and presentation of the materials is developed with the aim of enabling students, staff and guests of KIT to use the library for their own research the most easiest and low-threshold way. In near future, materials will be digitally and physically viewable, experiencable and comparable in order to establish an active place of exchange, debate and research within a motivating environment.

We’re running out of sand!

The quantities are gigantic: mankind currently consumes 40 to 50 billion tons of sand per year. This is the result of a study carried out by the UN Environmental Programme UNEP in 2019, making sand one of the most important trading raw materials of all and the second largest traded and mined resource of our time after water.

Prof. Dirk E. Hebel in: Sakowitz, Sven (2020). Uns geht der Sand aus, HÖRZU Wissen.

Dr. Nazanin Saeidi MIT Technology Review’s emerging innovator

Dr Nazanin Saedi, as of April 2020 part of the KIT research team at the Professorship of Sustainable Construction, was named one of the 20 emerging innovators in Asia Pacific by MIT Technology Review for her work on sustainable construction materials.

Dr Nazanin Saeidi is among MIT Technology Review’s ‘20 Innovators Under 35’ for the Asia Pacific region. In association with EmTech Asia 2020, the list celebrates 20 researchers, inventors, and entrepreneurs who are changing the world. As postdoctoral researcher in the Alternative Construction Materials project headed by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore, Dr Saedi works on transforming organic waste, specifically mycellium, to create a mycelium-​bound composite material for the construction industry. She is among awardees selected from a pool of 200 exceptional candidates, including researchers, inventors, and entrepreneurs whose work include applications in agriculture, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, construction, energy, new materials, robotics, and water.

“The 20 ‘Innovators Under 35’ are a group of exceptional young scientists pursuing research that — in many cases — relates to substantial challenges facing humanity. The potential impact of their research is further increased when it becomes the foundation of one or more products that form the core of a Deep Tech startup,” said Steve Leonard, Founding CEO, SGInnovate.

Quo Addis? – Conflicts of Coexistence

The Professorship of Sustainable Construction at KIT Faculty of Architecture together with Marc Angelil of ETH Zürich and Bisrat Kifle of EiABC in Addis Ababa are presenting their long-standing research on Ethiopia and its capital Addis Ababa at the Venice Biennale 2020.

In Addis Ababa, the hybridization of territory comes in the form of shiny ensembles overshadowing indigenous settlements, traffic arteries disrupting the labyrinth of pedestrian paths, and agro-industries springing up next to what is left of subsistence farms, to mention just a few of the more striking spatial juxtapositions – and all this superimposed on the residue of past layers of nation-building processes. 

Woven into this already complicated spatial hybrid are mixed modes of social organization (ethnic affiliations, religious groups, agricultural cooperatives, neighborhood associations, trade unions), along with various modes of production (agricultural, industrial, microentrepreneurial, service-oriented), all coexisting in multiple forms to produce a composite economy, including those practices that are considered informal.

This is the terrain on which the coming iterations of Ethiopia will have to be articulated, rather than it being wished away in some blank-slate development venture or beautification scheme.

The installation Quo Addis? – Conflicts of Coexistence (in the Co-habitats section of the exhibition) includes a fictional model of the city of Addis Ababa. The model is made of multiple layers, each representing a particular political regime whose traces remain in Addis Ababa’s urban socio-spatial fabric: (a) the Age of Empire, 1889–1936; (b) the Italian occupation, 1936–1941; (c) US- and European-sponsored modernization under Haile Selassie, 1941–1974; (d) the USSR-backed socialist regime, 1974–1991; (e) European Development Assistance, 1991-2005; (f) Meles Zenawi’s grands projets, 2005-2012; and (g) contemporary mega-development ventures sponsored by foreign actors – UAE, Saudi Arabia, China, etc. (2012-today).

To this amalgam, one more layer is added – namely, one foregrounding alternative ways of how Addis Ababa might live together.

Team: Marc Angélil, Dirk Hebel, Felix Heisel, Jenny Rodenhouse, Bisrat Kifle Woldeyessus

Willy Abraham, Nikolai Babunovic, Emmanuel Bekele Fulea, Katharina Blümke, Elena Boerman, Uta Bogenrieder, Sascha Delz, Sarah Graham, Andreas Heil, Ben Hooker, Philipp Jager, Anita Knipper, Ephrem Mersha Wolde, Manfred Neubig, Manuel Rausch, Bernd Seeland, Cary Siress, Sonja Steenhoff, Marta H. Wisniewska

Luca Diefenbacher, Georg Heil, Sebastian Kreiter, Selin Onay, Rouven Ruppert, Philipp Schmider, Julius Schwartz, Clemens Urban

Symposium postponed!

grow.build.repeat. Symposium on sustainable construction.

Nov/Dec 2020 / 18:00 – 20:30 h / Keynote
Nov/Dec 2020 / 09:30 – 18:00 h

Department of Sustainable Construction
KIT Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Egon-Eiermann Lecture Hall (HS 16)
Englerstrasse 7, Building 20.40

The symposium grow.build.repeat. at the KIT Faculty of Architecture deals with one of the most urgent questions of our time: how can we drive forward a radical change of the existing construction industry while increasingly considering the breeding, cultivation, seeding, and harvesting of biological building materials and their system cycles? The symposium is the second in a series on the topic of sustainable construction. The first event (take.build.repeat. in autumn 2018) dealt mainly with mineral and metallic material cycles in the field of urban mining and its potential for sustainable construction. The second symposium, grow.build.repeat, now addresses the biological material cycle and presents future-oriented examples from construction practice and research. Representatives from science and industry, research, practitioners, decision-makers within our democratic society, as well as teachers and students will come together to discuss the future of construction in lectures and discussions and subsequently to actively participate in shaping it.

The event is organized by the Professorship of Sustainable Construction (Faculty of Architecture, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT) and is kindly supported by Wacker Chemie AG.

With 4 hours, the event is recognized as a continuing education measure of the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects.

Registration cand more information at www.arch.kit.edu/aktuelles/grow-build-repeat

Download Agenda: grow.build.repeat._Description&Programme (1,1 MB)

Diskrepanz zwischen Anspruch und Realität ist groß & Die Stadt wird zum riesigen Rohstofflager

Ulrich Coenen, BNN: Interview with Prof. Dirk E. Hebel (2020)

The two-part-interview is about Sustainable Thinking, Acting and Building, technical and biological circulations, unmixed and pure construction methods and the application and practice of urban mining. Furthermore they discuss practices of energetic redevelopment of existing buildings and the establishment of new building materials and future energy efficient technologies.

in: Badische Neueste Nachrichten, 11th & 18th February 2020: no. 34 & 40

Urban Mining and Recycling (UMAR) and Research Seminar ‘Bau auf!’

Urban Mining and Recycling (UMAR)

The Urban Mining and Recycling (UMAR) housing and research unit in NEST, the modular Research and Innovation Building of Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf (Switzerland), is demonstrating what a paradigm shift in the construction industry reacting to the limitation of the world’s natural resources might look like. Turning away from linear material-consumption and towards an economy of material recycling, multiple use, alternative construction methods and the use of entirely separable materials – UMAR works as a material laboratory but also as a material depot. It is a proof that the responsible use of natural resources, the recycling of materials and modern architecture can go hand in hand. Design Team: Werner Sobek with Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel, Bernd Köhler, Frank Heinlein

Bau auf! Kreislaufgerechte Architektur in der Lehre

Traditional materials combined with new technologies: the building material ceramic is undergoing a revival in the research seminar „Bau auf! Kreislaufgerechte Architektur in der Lehre“, offered by the Majolika Karlsruhe and the Department of Sustainable Construction at Karlsruhe’s KIT. The creation of awareness that traditional materials and old material knowledge combined with digital planning methods can lead to innovative solutions was one of the main objectives of the seminar. In the end, innovative facade systems, shading elements and plantable spatial structures were created. Seminar leadership: Sandra Böhm, Dirk E. Hebel

in: BAUART – Architektur und Kultur, inspiriert durch Heimat, Ausgabe 03/2020

Michael Hosch receives honorable award in the University Competition for Modern Expansion and Lightweight Construction 2018/19

Michael Hosch received this honorable mention award with his semester project “MICMAC – MICRO UNITS – MACRO BENEFITS”, conceived in the 5th semester of bachelor studies at KIT under the guidance of the Professorships Sustainable Construction (Hebel, Lenz, Rausch), Building Physics (A. Wagner) , Structural Design (M. Pfeifer) and Building Economy (K. Fischer). The university initiative “Modern Expansion and Lightweight Construction” has set itself the task of working together with universities to advance teaching in this field by organizing – among other activities – this university competition.

Image © copyright by Thomas Müller

       
 
 
 
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
Fakultät für Architektur
Institut Entwerfen und Bautechnik

Professur Nachhaltiges Bauen
Englerstr. 11, Geb. 11.40, Raum 25
D-76131 Karlsruhe
 
Tel: +49 (0)721/608-42167
 
 
 
Recent Publications:  
 

    Organic Architecture – Fungus mycelium and flax as materials for the ecological building transition

    February 13, 2024

    Klaaßen, Lars. “Organische Architektur – Pilzmyzel und Flachs als Materialien für die ökologische Bauwende.” In Deutsches Architektur Jahrbuch 2024, edited by Peter Schmal Cachola, Yorck Förster, and Christina Gräwe, 198–209. Berlin, Germany: DOM publishers, 2024.

     
     

    Circular construction – Circulation instead of demolition in “BUND-Jahrbuch 2024”

    January 18, 2024

    Streiff, Peter. “Zirkuläres Bauen – Kreislauf statt Abriss.” BUND-Jahrbuch – Ökologisch Bauen & Renovieren 2024, January 2024.

     
     

    Redesigned Material Library at KIT in ‘Mitteilungsblatt des VDB-Regionalverbands Südwest’

    January 8, 2024

    Mönnich, Michael, and Sandra Böhm. “Neu gestaltete Materialbibliothek am KIT.” Südwest-Info: Mitteilungsblatt des VDB-Regionalverbands Südwest Nr. 36 (2023), 2023.

     
     

    RoofKIT Wuppertal, Germany; Interview with Prof. Dirk Hebel

    November 20, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “RoofKIT Wuppertal, Germany; Interview with Prof. Dirk Hebel: The aim is clear, we must forge the path ourselves.” In Sustainable Architecture & Design 2023/ 2024, edited by Andrea Herold, Tina Kammerer, and InteriorPark., 46–55. Stuttgart, Germany: av edition GmbH, 2023.

     
     

    The existing building stock is the future resource

    November 16, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Der Bestand ist die künftige Ressource – Den linearen Umgang mit Baumaterialien schnellstmöglich stoppen.” Planerin – Mitgliederfachzeitschrift für Stadt-, Regional- und Landesplanung, Oktober 2023.

     
     

    Article: Investigation of mechanical, physical and thermoacoustic properties of a novel light-weight dense wall panels made of bamboo Phyllostachys Bambusides

    October 30, 2023

    Gholizadeh, Parham, Hamid Zarea Hosseinabadi, Dirk E. Hebel, and Alireza Javadian. “Investigation of Mechanical, Physical and Thermoacoustic Properties of a Novel Light-Weight Dense Wall Panels Made of Bamboo Phyllostachys Bambusides.” Nature Sientific Reports 13 (October 26, 2023). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-45515-3

     
     

    Building Better – Less – Different: Clean Energy Transition and Digital Transformation

    October 16, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E., Felix Heisel, Andreas Wagner, und Moritz Dörstelmann, Hrsg. Besser Weniger Anders Bauen – Energiewende und digitale Transformation. Besser Weniger Anders Bauen 2. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, 2023.

     
     

    From hunting, breeding and harvesting future building materials

    September 27, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Vom Jagen, Züchten Und Ernten Zukünftiger Baumaterialien.” Baukultur Nordrhein Westfalen, September 2023.

     
     

    Building Circular

    September 21, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E., Ludwig Wappner, Katharina Blümke, Valerio Calavetta, Steffen Bytomski, Lisa Häberle, Peter Hoffmann, Paula Holtmann, Hanna Hoss, Daniel Lenz and Falk Schneemann, eds. Sortenrein Bauen – Methode Material Konstruktion. Edition DETAIL. München: DETAIL Business Information GmbH, 2023.

     
     

    Fungi

    September 18, 2023

    Schweikle, Johannes. “Fungi.” In Earthlike, 1:70–75, 2023.

     
     

    Recent Contributions in “wohnen”

    September 18, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Die Stadt als Rohstofflager.” wohnen – Zeitschrift der Wohnungswirtschaft Bayern, August 2023.

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Das RoofKIT-Gebäude der KIT Fakultät für Architektur – Gewinner des Solar Decathlon 2021/22 in Wuppertal.” wohnen – Zeitschrift der Wohnungswirtschaft Bayern, August 2023.

     
     

    The City as Materials Storage

    July 14, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Die Stadt Als Rohstofflager.” Aktuell – Das Magazin Der Wohnung- Und Immobilienwirtschaft in Baden-Württemberg, 2023.

     
     

    Building-Circle instead of One-Way-Economy

    June 30, 2023

    Ellinghaus, Tanja. “Bau-Kreislauf Statt Einweg-Wirtschaft.” Transition – Das Energiewendemagazin Der Dena, 2023.

     
     

    Pure construction methods – circularity-based self-conception in architecture

    June 14, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Sortenreines Konstruieren – Kreislaufbasiertes Selbstverständnis in der Architektur.” Baumit, 2023. https://www.calameo.com/read/0011023184a57c4715124.

     
     

    Building as a Project of Circularity

    June 14, 2023

    Reddy, Anita. “Bauen Als Kreislaufprojekt.” Engagement Global GGmbH, October 20, 2020. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/frankfurt/frankfurt-setzt-auf-recycling-nach-abriss-stadt-wird-baustofflager-18707619.html.

     
     

    Vivid Cycles: Reopening of RoofKIT on the KIT Campus

    May 17, 2023

    Lux, Katharina. “Anschauliche Kreisläufe: Wiedereröffnung Des RoofKIT Auf Dem KIT Campus.” Baunetz CAMPUS(blog), May 16, 2023. https://www.baunetz-campus.de/news/anschauliche-kreislaeufe-wiedereroeffnung-des-roofkit-auf-dem-campus-8235818.

     
     

    Solar and Circular Construction

    May 15, 2023

    Wagner, Prof. Andreas, Nicolás Carbonare, Regina Gebauer, Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, Katharina Knoop, and Michelle Montnacher, eds. “RoofKIT.” In Solares und kreislaufgerechtes Bauen, 186–213. Wuppertal: PinguinDruck, 2023.

     
     

    The built environment as a Resource

    April 5, 2023

    Blümke, Katharina, Elena Boerman, Daniel Lenz, and Riklef Rambow. “Die gebaute Umwelt als Ressource – Mit RoofKIT vom linearen zum zirkulären Verständnis des Bauens.” ASF Journal, March 28, 2023.

     
     

    Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22

    March 29, 2023

    Voss, Karsten, and Katharina Simon, editors. Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22: Competition Source Book. 2023.

     
     

    Mushrooms as a promising building material of the future

    February 1, 2023

    Wenk, Holger. “Pilze Als Vielversprechender Baustoff Der Zukunft.” BG Bau Aktuell – Arbeitsschutz Für Unternehmen, vol. 04/22, no. Rohbau, Sept. 2022, pp. 12–13.

     
     

    Go into the mushrooms

    December 20, 2022

    Jeroch, Theresa. “In Die Pilze Gehen.” Die Architekt, November 2022.

     
     

    How we build in the future

    December 15, 2022

    Niederstadt, Jenny. “Wie Wir in Zukunft Bauen.” Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, December 12, 2022. https://www.helmholtz.de/newsroom/artikel/wie-wir-in-zukunft-bauen/.

     
     

    The RoofKIT project as a demonstrator of solutions for today and tomorrow

    December 15, 2022

    RoofKIT, Karlsruhe. “Le Projet RoofKIT Comme Démonstrateur de Solutions Pour Aujourd’hui et Demain.” Translated by Régis Bigot. NEOMAG, December 2022.

     
     

    Interview: Will we be building houses from mycelium in the future?

    December 14, 2022

    Niederstadt, Jenny, and Dirk E. Hebel. Bauen wir künftig Häuser aus Pilz? Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, December 12, 2022. https://www.helmholtz.de/newsroom/artikel/bauen-wir-kuenftig-haeuser-aus-pilz/.

     
     

    Where fungi become building materials

    December 14, 2022

    Blaue, Carsten. “Wo Pilze Zu Baustoffen Werden.” Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, December 6, 2022, Nr. 282 edition. https://www.rnz.de/region/metropolregion-mannheim_artikel,-karlsruher-kit-wo-pilze-zu-baustoffen-werden-_arid,1015503.html.

     
     

    RoofKIT: Award-winning vision from Karlsruhe

    November 16, 2022

    Baden-Württemberg Stiftung GmbH. “RoofKIT: Preisgekrönte Vision aus Karlsruhe.” PERSPEKTIVEN, October 2022.

     
     

    Building connects: International Cooperation at the KIT Department of Architecture

    November 2, 2022

    Justus Hartlieb, “Bauen Verbindet: Internationale Zusammenarbeit an der KIT-Fakultät für Architektur”, LookKITINTERNATIONAL, no. 03/2022 (November 2022).

     
     

    Building Stock as a Resource

    October 19, 2022

    Lenz, Daniel, Elena Boerman, and Dirk E. Hebel. 2022. “Gebäudebestand als Ressource.” nbau, no. 03/2022 (Oktober). https://www.nbau.org/2022/10/12/gebaeudebestand-als-ressource/.

     
     

    Building Better – Less – Different: Circular Construction and Circular Economy

    October 11, 2022

    Hebel, Dirk E., Felix Heisel and Ken Webster, eds. Building Better – Less – Different: Circular Construction and Circular Economy. Building Better Less Different 1. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, 2022.

     
     

    Ideas for the Future

    September 21, 2022

    Klaaßen, Lars. 2022. “Ideen Für Die Zukunft.” Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 17, 2022.