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Mehr.WERT.Pavillon

credit: Felix Heisel

The 2019 German Federal Garden Show (BUGA) in Heilbronn is both garden and city exhibition. The newly built city quarter Neckarbodenis intends to be a test bed for a new urban area that exemplifies how people live well together in a densely populated urban setting. In this context, the relevance of the question of resources that will still be available and sustainably used in the future cannot be overestimated.

Situated on a central lot of the BUGA terrain, the Mehr.WERT.Garten (translation: Added.VALUE.Garden) and its pavilion address the question how we can perform a paradigm shift in the way we use our resources, from the currently dominant linear economy (take, make, throw) towards a circular economy of closed and pure material cycles. The Mehr.WERT.Pavilion is the shell, as well as main element of an exhibition on local and global resource use, alternative materials as well as their applications in a circular design and construction. On the one hand, the pavilion makes use of the existing urban mine – all materials used in the project have already undergone at least one life cycle, either in the same or in a different form. On the other hand, it acts as a material depot, which will become available again for future constructions at the end of the exhibition. As such, materials utilised in the construction of the Mehr.WERT.Pavillon are specified and employed in a way that allows their complete re-introduction into pure and type-sorted material cycles for reuse, recycling or bio-degradation after the decommissioning and deconstruction of the building. The pavilion’s objective is to proof that it is possible already today to design, detail and construct according to the principles of the circular economy.

The pavilions building materials are separated into four groups: (1) the load-bearing structure is largely made from reused steel originating from a disused coal-fired power plant in north-western Germany. It consists of four inclined supports that fan out like trees and are connected to each other by a rigid steel frame structure. (2) The façades and roof are clad in panels manufactured from recycled bottles glass and industrial glass waste. (3) The furniture is built from recycled HDPE plastic waste, while the chairs are 3D printed from plastic household waste. (4) The floor of the pavilion as well as the landscape design of the garden forms an assemblage of various reused and recycled materials and products made from mineral construction and demolition waste.

Mehr.WERT.Pavillon serves as a laboratory and test run for future construction projects as well as their building processes. The aim is to discuss important issues of construction and the associated use of resources with decision-makers from politics, construction planning and implementation and to develop new innovative concepts, applications and methods, both in practice and in teaching. The pavilion design originated in the design studio Building from Waste of the Professorship of Sustainable Construction at KIT Karlsruhe. It was further developed by KIT students Lisa Krämer, Simon Sommer, Philipp Staab, Sophie Welter, and Katna Wiese in collaboration with the Professorships Tragkonstruktionen (Prof. Matthias Pfeifer / Certification engineer) and Bautechnologie (Prof. Rosemarie Wagner / Structural form finding), as well as the office 2hs Architekten und Ingenieur PartGmbB. 

Project credits

Client:
Entsorgungsbetriebe der Stadt Heilbronn
Ministerium für Umwelt, Klima und Energiewirtschaft Baden-Württemberg
Bundesgartenschau Heilbronn 2019 GmbH

Pavillon:
Design: Lisa Krämer, Simon Sommer, Philipp Staab, Sophie Welter, Katna Wiese, Professorship of Sustainable Construction, KIT Karlsruhe
Planning, structural design and execution: 2hs Architekten und Ingenieur PartGmbB Hebel Heisel Schlesier with Lisa Krämer and Simon Sommer
Structural form finding: Prof. Rosemarie Wagner, Fachgebiet Bautechnologie, KIT Karlsruhe
Certification engineer: Prof. Matthias Pfeifer, Karlsruhe, Germany
Object construction: AMF Theaterbauten GmbH
Electrical and lighting design: Udo Rehm / FC-Planung GmbH
Lightning protection: Gebr. A. & F. Hinderthür GmbH
Electrical installation: Elektro-Scheu GmbH
Furniture construction: Kaufmann Zimmerei und Tischlerei GmbH
Visualizations: Manuel Rausch
Video Documentation: Fülmbüro – Videoproduktion Stuttgart

Garden and exhibition:
Landscape architecture: Frank Roser Landschaftsarchitekten PartGmbB
Landscaping: GrünRaum GmbH
Exhibition design: Idee-n, Büro für nachhaltige Kommunikation
Exhibition construction: ING.Büro Wegweiser
Recycling workshop: Kunststoffschmiede / Konglomerat e.V.
E-waste art: Prof. Abraham David Christian, Vito Pace, Fakultät Gestaltung, Hochschule Pforzheim

Project partner:
AMF Theaterbauten GmbH, Deutsche Foamglas GmbH, Glas Trösch GmbH, Hagedorn GmbH, Handy-Aktion Baden-Württemberg, Heinrich Feeß GmbH & Co. KG, Institut für Umwelt- und Zukunftsforschung – Sternwarte Bochum, Magna Naturstein GmbH, Really ApS, Schröder Bauzentrum GmbH / DeFries, Smile Plastics, SPITZER-Rohstoffhandelsgesell. mbH Selb, StoneCycling BV, Studio Dirk Vander Kooij

Main sponsors:
GreenCycle GmbH
DSD – Duales System Holding GmbH & Co. KG
SER Sanierung im Erd- und Rückbau GMBH

credit: Jonathan Preker – Copterbrothers

Fresh off the press! ADDIS ABABA: A Manifesto on African Progress

We are excited to announce the arrival of our newest book publication. Today, Addis Ababa: A Manifesto on African Progress by Dirk E. Hebel, Felix Heisel, Marta H. Wisniewska and Sophie Nash was published by Ruby Press.

This publication is centred around twelve manifesto points towards a people-centred urbanism and an architecture of belonging in times of rapid global urbanisation. Based on the authors’ eleven year research experience, the book draws conclusions from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, as its case study. It contains essays on the historic development and the current housing situation of the city by local experts and numerous project examples. Adressing policy makers, architects and urban planners alike, the manifesto gives a series of clues and guidelines for a sustainable urbanisation of contemporary African metropolis.

244 p, ills colour & bw, 19 x 26 cm, pb, English – Available here.

take. build. repeat. symposium for resource-respectful construction.

take. build. repeat. Symposium für ressourcengerechtes Bauen.
09.11.2018 / 9:30 – 18:00 Uhr

Fachgebiet Nachhaltiges Bauen
KIT Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
Egon-Eiermann-Saal, Englerstr. 7, Geb. 20.40

The symposium take.build.repeat. questions the currently practiced throw-away mentality of today’s construction industry: Resources are taken, consumed and subsequently disposed of. Contrary to this linear concept of ressource destruction are ideas of closed material cycles, of newly conceived (re-)building technologies and, in particular, new business models of the circular economy. The symposium addresses the important question of how we can build our cities of the future in times of ever-growing global population and increasing resource scarcity without continuing to exploit and pollute our natural environment. The built environment must represent both a responsible present-day solution as well as the material bank for the future.

The one-day symposium will bring together representatives of science and industry, theoretical and practical approaches as well as practitioners and students to jointly shape the future of building through lectures and discussions. Speaking will be Prof. Dr. Werner Sobek (Werner Sobek Group / University Stuttgart), Prof. Dr. Walter R. Stahel (Product Life Institute), Prof. Annette Hillebrandt (University of Wuppertal), Peter van Assche (Bureau SLA), Jasper Brommet (StoneCycling), Stefan Rohrmus (Schüco) and Sabine Oberhuber-Rau (Madaster). The recently opened Urban Mining and Recycling unit (UMAR) at the Empa NEST in Switzerland by Werner Sobek with Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel will be presented in detail.

The event on 09. November 2018 is organized by Sustainable Construction at the Faculty of Architecture of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT and is recognized as Weiterbildungsmaßnahme by the Chamber of Architects Baden-Württemberg with 4 hours.

Registrations at http://www.arch.kit.edu/aktuelles/take_build_repeat.php

More information at www.nest-umar.net

Urban Mining

Dirk. E. Hebel, our Urban Miner of the month October, is professor for Sustainable Construction. Currently he teaches at the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie. One of his latest projects using exclusively recycled building materials was UMAR. In his answers he puts the focus on his work and points out, that the Netherlands are the leading nation in the field of reuse and recycling in the building sector.

Read full texte here

SESSIONS ON TERRITORY – URBANISM AND THE ANTHROPOCENE


19 .11. 2 018
Eva Pfannes & Sylvain Hartenberg, Rotterdam in conversation with DIRK HEBEL

SESSION ON TERRITORY is a series of public debates on the political economy of architecture and territory. Focusing on how the epoch of the Anthropocene reframesbour conceptions of the urban and shapes new ecologies,mthe seminar’s objective is to unravel contemporary forces at work in the formation of the built and natural environment, and, as importantly, to spur debates that challenge the status quo. Every intervention by a guest speaker is followed by a panel discussion with invited respondents.

Design Courses Winter Semester 2018

In the winter semester 2018/19, Sustainable Construction offers a bachelor and a master design studio, a seminar as well as a Stegreif. For more details please refer to the respective posters or detailed information in the navigation on the left.

We wish all students a successful beginning of the new semester!

Lecture Series SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION 18/19

In the Winter Semester 2018/19, the KIT Faculty of Architecture will offer a lecture series on Sustainable Construction, organized by the chair of Sustainable Construction, Dirk E. Hebel. In total 14 lectures will address the history, state of the art, and alternative futures within the theme. Speakers are: Michael Dax, Felix Heisel, Dörte Meinerling, Daniel Fuhrhop, Roland Hischier, Prof. Andreas Wagner, Prof. Matthias Pfeifer, Prof. Petra v. Both, Prof. Markus Neppl, Jan Wurm, and Prof. Dirk E. Hebel. Please refer to the poster for actual dates. The lecture is held every Wednesday, 09:45 am in Lecture Hall 9 (HS09) at KIT Campus South, Building 20.40.

Poster Design: Uta Bogenrieder

Lecture Series MATERIALS 18/19

In the Winter Semester 2018/19, the KIT Faculty of Architecture will offer a lecture series on Materials, organized by the chair of Sustainable Construction, Dirk E. Hebel. In total 13 lectures will address conventional and alternative building materials and their use in construction. Speakers are: Sandra Böhm, Waltraud Vogler, Peter Schöffel, and Prof. Dirk E. Hebel. Please refer to the poster for actual dates. The lecture is held every Friday, 09:45am in Lecture Hall Egon-Eiermann at KIT Campus South, Building 20.40.

Poster Design: Uta Bogenrieder

Harvard GSD Guest Lecture by Felix Heisel

In his capacity as 2018 Harvard GSD Guest Lecturer, Felix Heisel is presenting a lecture titled ‘Resource-Adequate Construction’ on 26th September 2018 at Gund Hall, Cambridge, USA within the reCyclo Design Studio by Visiting Associate Professor in Architecture Caroline O’Donnell. For more information please click here.

Dirk Hebel speaks at Detail Kongress 2018 »No Waste! Ressource Bau«

On October 16th 2018, Prof. Dirk E. Hebel is speaking at the Detail Kongress 2018 »No Waste! Ressource Bau« about the NEST Unit Urban Mining and Recycling by Werner Sobek with Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel. Located at the Oktagon of Zeche Zollverein in Essen, the congress brings together partitioners, researchers and positions aiming to promote a more respectful resource and energy use in the built environment. 

Registration at detail.de/detailkongress

Watch the Making-Off Video of MycoTree at the Seoul Biennale

MycoTree nominated for Beazley Design of the Year Award 2018

Our 2017 MycoTree for the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism is nominated for the Beazley Design of the Year 2018 Award. #BeazleyDesignsoftheYear

MycoTree is a spatial branching structure made out of load-bearing mycelium components. Its geometry was designed using 3D graphic statics, keeping the weak material in compression only. Its complex nodes were grown in digitally fabricated moulds.

Utilising only mycelium and bamboo, the structure represents a provocative vision of how we may move beyond the mining of our construction materials from the earth’s crust to their cultivation and urban growth; how achieving stability through geometry rather than through material strength opens up the possibility of using weaker materials structurally and safely; and, ultimately, how regenerative resources in combination with informed structural design have the potential to propose an alternative to established, structural materials for a more sustainable building industry.

MycoTree is the result of a collaboration between Sustainable Construction at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Block Research Group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich and the Alternative Construction Materials Unit of the Future Cities Laboratory Singapore. It was the centrepiece of the “Beyond Mining – Urban Growth” exhibition at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 in Seoul, Korea curated by Hyungmin Pai and Alejandro Zaera-Polo, and was on display in Pavilion i7 at the Donuimun Museum Village from September 1st 2017 to March 31st 2018.

Neues Leben für alte Bekannte

You can not create living space or a new business models in and with old tobacco sheds? But on the contrary. Students of the University of Karlsruhe present innovative usage concepts for some of the historic buildings. The only question is whether visions can ever become reality.

Read full article here (German)

Happy End für Haynas Tabakschuppen

What do you do with a building that towers high into the sky, that radiates with its charm and not only makes some inhabitants of the village Hayna nostalgic? 16 students from the Faculty of Architecture at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) spent more than four months investigating this question. At the beginning of August, the students introduced themselves and their concepts for using the vacant tobacco sheds in Hayna.

read the full article here (German)

Bauwelt 14.2018: Interview with Werner Sobek and Dirk E. Hebel

For materials that are no longer needed, there was for the longest time only one word: waste. Following this linear mentality of “take, make and waste” the term “disposable society” came up in the second half of the 20th century. With the start of the oil crisis in the 1970s this ideology started slowly to be rethought. Today, people talk less about waste when dealing with materials they no longer need. One speaks of “ressources”. In form of an interview, Werner Sobek and Dirk E. Hebel take their latetst building project UMAR to discuss future concepts of a circular econmy within the built environment. They formulate where in their view future research, teaching concepts and practical work need to address one of the most important questions of the 21st century: where to source the materials to build for more with less.

Read the full interview here (in German).

Lecture Material Architektur at ILEK Stuttgart

On 3rd Juli, Dirk E. Hebel will be speaking at the SFB1244 lecture series “Adaptivität als Utopie” at Stuttgart University. Titled “Material Architektur”, the lecture will start at 7pm at the ILEK, Pfaffenwaldring 14. For more information, please click here.

Innovative Baukonzepte für das 21. Jahrhundert – Lecture at Re-Cycle, Re-Use Conference

On 03. Juli, Felix Heisel is speaking at the Re-Cycle, Re-Use conference in Cologne about “innovative building concepts for the 21st century”. The full program and a link for registration can be found here.

Buchvorstellung CULTIVATED BUILDING MATERIALS

 
Im Zuge der Industrialisierung hat sich unsere Bauindustrie verstärkt auf mineralische, endliche Materialquellen konzentriert, die aufgrund des intensiv betriebenen Abbaus unweigerlich zur Neige gehen. Das 21. Jahrhundert ermöglicht nun einen Paradigmenwechsel: Eine Umorientierung vom Abbau zum Anbau zukünftiger Ressourcen. Cultivated Building Materials stellt industrialisierte Wachstumsmethoden und innovative, kultivierte Baumaterialien vor, wie z. B. Zement aus Bakterien, Ziegel aus Pilzmycel oder Bambusfasern als Betonverstärkung. Mit dem Ziel, eine Brücke von der wissenschaftlichen Forschung zur Produktentwicklung und -anwendung zu schlagen, beschreibt das Buch den Beitrag einer breiten Palette von Fachleuten und Innovatoren.

Dienstag 12.06.2018, 17:00 Fakultätsbibliothek Architektur, Englerstraße 7, 1. OG, Geb. 20.40

UMAR on the cover of current DAB issue

Echte Innovationen für ein nachhaltigeres Bauen finden nur sehr langsam den Weg auf die Bau­stelle – auch weil niemand das Risiko eingehen möchte, sie als Erster unter realen Bedingungen zu testen. Ein ganz besonderes Haus nahe Zürich schafft Abhilfe.

Read the full article here.

Rettet die Tabakschuppen / SWR and ARD report on Hayna design studio

German television SWR and ARD reported on this semester´s design studio “Tabakschuppen Hayna” of the Professorship of Sustainable Construction in a clip screened on 27.04.2018. “Im südpfälzischen Hayna stehen viele historische Tabakschuppen leer und verfallen. Was könnte Kreatives daraus entstehen? Dem Projekt haben sich jetzt Architekturstudenten angenommen.”

Watch the full report in German here.

DETAIL: Living Unit as an architectural model for the circular economy / Wohnmodul aus Recycling-Material

»Die Stadt der Zukunft unterscheidet nicht zwischen Abfall und Vorrat«, umschreiben die Wissenschaftler den zugrundeliegenden Forschungsansatz der Experimentaleinheit mit einem Zitat von Mitchell Joachim, Vorreiter eines ökologischen Planungsansatzes. Die Urban Mining & Recycling (UMAR)-Unit ergänzt seit Februar 2018 als experimentelles Wohnmodul das modulare Forschungs- und Innovationsgebäude NEST auf dem Campus der Eidgenössischen Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt (Empa) in schweizerischen Dübendorf. Der Entwurf stammt von Werner Sobek mit Dirk E. Hebel und Felix Heisel. Sobek ist Leiter des Instituts für Leichtbau Entwerfen und Konstruieren der Universität Stuttgart, Hebel und Heisel sind Leiter und Forschungsverantwortlicher des Fachgebiets Nachhaltiges Bauen am KIT Karlsruhe und am Singapore ETH-Centre.

Read the full article here.

Exhibition Opening MaterialArchitektur at KIT Library

We are pleased to invite you to the opening of the exhibition MaterialArchitektur in the foyer of the KIT Library at Campus Süd on 12th April 2018 at 3:30pm.

The KIT Library, the Library of Architecture, the Materials Library of Architecture and the Department of Sustainable Construction have jointly conceived an exhibition that is intended to raise awareness of the topic of materials in architecture. A selection of relevant publications from the last 167 years is shown. Selected material samples represent the subject matter of the books.

In addition to the treatment of established building materials, this exhibition also deals with the search for alternative building materials. There are books presented that show solutions and provide an overview of the current state of research.

Prof. Dirk E. Hebel will speak a few introductory words at the opening of the exhibition.
If the weather is fine, we offer a refreshment outside after the opening (in the rondel between the KIT library and the canteen).

Summer Semester 2018 – Seminar Abbau / Anbau / Aufbau

Summer Semester 2018 – Design Studio Tabakschuppen Hayna

world-architects Editorial reporting on UMAR

On February 8th at Empa in Dübendorf, Switzerland, the “Urban Mining & Recycling” residential unit (UMAR) was inaugurated inside NEST. Designed by Werner Sobek with Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel, the unit aims “to advance the construction industry’s transition to a recycling economy.”
Read the full article here.

Signalling System for the Federal Garden Show in Heilbronn

From 21.02.2018 until 08.03.2018, students of the KIT faculty of architecture can participate in a Stegreif to develop a new signalling system for the coming federal graden show Heilbronn 2019. For more information, please click here.

Urban Mining and Recycling opened at Empa NEST

Prof. Dr. Werner Sobek, Government councillor of the Canton of Zurich Markus Kägi, NEST Innovation Manager Enrico Marchesi, Prof. Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel (Photo Empa)

On February 8th 2018, Werner Sobek, Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel officially opened Urban Mining and Recycling UMAR, the newest addition to the Empa NEST. The project is underpinned by the proposition that all the resources required to construct a building must be fully reusable, recyclable or compostable. This places life-cycle thinking at the forefront of the design: Instead of merely using and subsequently disposing of resources, they are borrowed from their technical and biological cycles for a certain amount of time before being put back into circulation once again. Such an approach makes reusing and repurposing materials just as important as recycling and upcycling them (both at a systemic and a molecular/biological level, e.g. via melting or composting). This conceptual emphasis means that UMAR functions simultaneously as a material laboratory and a temporary material storage.

Felix Heisel, Empa CEO Prof. Dr. Gian-Luca Bona and Prof. Dirk E. Hebel (Photo Empa)

Visitors were very interested in the materials used in UMAR, in this case the mycelium wall insulation MycoFoam (Photo Empa)

 

UMAR unit now has its own website: www.nest-umar.net

The Urban Mining and Recycling unit now has its own website. At www.nest-umar.net you can find all information about Empa NEST, the unit UMAR, as well as the making of the unit. Additionally, the website offers a material library of the materials used including data sheets and company contacts.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports on UMAR installation

On January 5th, 2018, Swiss Newspaper Neue Züricher Zeitung reports on the successful installation of the NEST Unit Urban Mining and Recycling in Dübendorf. Read the full article here.

MycoTree in Dezeen’s top 10 list of unusual materials

In 2017, a number of designers explored the structural properties of new, environmentally friendly materials – but mushroom mycelium was one of the most unusual. It was used to create a tree-shaped self-supporting structure in South Korea.

The Guardian: Addis has run out of space

As Addis Ababa creaks under the weight of a mushrooming populace, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest housing project is under way. But who benefits? Wrapped in a white shawl and sporting a wide-brimmed cowboy hat, Haile stares out at his cattle as they graze in a rocky patch of grass. “My family and I have been here since I was a child,” he says, nodding at the small, rickety houses to his right. “But we will have to leave soon.” In the distance loom hulking grey towers, casting long shadows over his pasture. This is Koye Feche, a vast construction site on the edge of Addis Ababa that may soon be sub-Saharan Africa’s largest housing project.

The Guardian, by Tom Gardner in Addis Ababa, Interview with Felix Heisel. Photographs by Charlie Rosser.

Construction starts at NEST Unit Urban Mining & Recycling

One working day, two cranes and a well attuned team: on 21 November 2017, the woodworkers from the Austrian company Kaufmann Zimmerei und Tischlerei placed the seven prefabricated modules of the new “Urban Mining & Recycling” unit with utmost precision between the projecting platforms of NEST, the research and innovation building of Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf. The interior finishing will be implemented in the next weeks. The apartment will be ready in the spring of 2018 and will accommodate two tenants.

The NEST unit “Urban Mining & Recycling” is simultaneously an apartment, a material storage, and a material lab. The unit is based on the idea that all resources required to construct a building must be fully reusable, recyclable or compostable. Werner Sobek, director of the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design of the University of Stuttgart and owner of the Werner Sobek Group, together with Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel of the Chair of Sustainable Construction at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), are responsible for the design. The general contractor of the project is Kaufmann Zimmerei und Tischlerei. The seven modules that form the new unit were prefabricated in their factory in the Reuthe, Austria.

The structure as well as large parts of the facade are made of untreated wood. The innovation lies in the connections and the material-oriented use: all connections of the system subjected to tension and compression can be easily undone. Adhesive connections had been omitted in favor of plug and screw connections. The wood being used is applied in such a way that an otherwise standard coating is not necessary, thus making purely type-sorted recycling or purely biological composting possible.

Recycling stones and borrowed floor slabs

The facade consists of aluminum and copper. Both metals can be melted and recycled according to type. Inside, various serially-processed building products had been used, the different materials of which can be recycled in a type-sorted manner and without residue. Among other things, grown wall panels consisting of mushroom-based mycelium, innovative recycling stones, recycled insulation materials, as well as borrowed floor coverings are also being used in the unit. Through the use of such new “material leasing concepts“, the construction of this unit also calls into question the existing economic concepts prevalent in the construction industry. During a second construction phase, the unit will then also address research questions regarding the sustainable use of energy through a retrofittable solar heating system.

The “Urban Mining & Recycling” unit will be connected to the NEST backbone and the interior will be completed in the coming weeks. The official opening of the unit will take place in early February 2018. Shortly thereafter, the first two tenants will move into the new residential unit and subject the materials to a practical test.

Cambodia School Update

The video shows the construction of the first 5 houses of the Cambodia School project within the months of July to October 17. The good progress allows for the first 140 children to start their kindergarden year this November within not only a completely new building, but also a holistic pedagogical concept. Read more here.

MycoTree exhibited at ELMIA Subcontractor fair ‘Material Revolution’

Invited by Haute Innovation and Dr. Sascha Peters, KIT’s Sustainable Construction and ETH Zürich’s Block Research Group are exhibiting their recent MycoTree at the ELMIA Subcontractor fair ‘Material Revolution’ from 11. to 14. November in Jönköping, Sweden. MycoTree is a spatial branching structure made out of load-bearing mycelium components. Its geometry was designed using 3D graphic statics, keeping the weak material in compression only. Its complex nodes were grown in digitally fabricated moulds.

Hans and Roger Strauch Visiting Critic Lecture at Cornell University

On October 30th, Prof. Dirk E. Hebel gave the Hans and Roger Strauch Visiting Critic Lecture at Cornell University. Each semester the Department of Architecture of Cornell University hosts a rich and varied lecture series that serves to extend the pedagogy of classes and design studios. Invited speakers represent a range of professional, teaching, and research interests that engage issues vital to the study and practice of architecture.

Detail RESEARCH: Baustoffe kultivieren – Pilzmyzelium als Werkstoff

On 01. November, Detail RESEARCH featured MycoTree on their website. The article in German describes the aim of the Chair of Sustainable Construction, as well as the Block Research Group to find ways to extend the palette of building materials beyond the conventional choices towards more sustainable and renewable options. The next print edition of Detail will further discuss the exhibition ‘Beyond Mining – Urban Growth’ at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. You can read the full article here.

ARTE/ZDF filmcrew at Chair of Sustainable Construction

The Chair of Sustainable Construction hosted this week a filmcrew of ARTE/ZDF to shoot a XENIUS episode on the research of bamboo materials of the team. It will be shown shortly on public German TV. Our thanks go to Prof. Hans-Joachim Blass, Matthias Frese and Alexander Klein and the rest of the team for using the VAKA hall for the event. Also thanks to Karsten Schlesier of our team organizing the day.

Lecture Series MATERIALS

Starting in the Winter Semester 2017/18, the KIT Faculty of Architecture will offer a lecture series on Materials, organized by the chair of Sustainable Construction, Dirk E. Hebel. In total 13 lectures will address conventional and alternative building materials and their use in construction. Speakers are: Sandra Böhm, Wayne Switzer, Karsten Schlesier, Andreas Mägerlein, Felix Heisel, and Prof. Dirk E. Hebel. Please refer to the poster for actual dates. The lecture is held everyFriday, 09:45am in Lecture Hall Egon-Eiermann at KIT Campus South, Building 20.40.

Poster Design: Uta Bogenrieder

Lecture Series SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION

Starting in the Fall Semester 2017/18, the KIT Faculty of Architecture will offer a lecture series on Sustainable Construction, organized by the chair of Sustainable Construction, Dirk E. Hebel. In total 14 lectures will address the history, state of the art, and alternative futures within the theme. Speakers are: Michael Dax, Daniel Fuhrhop, Monika Goebel, Prof. Petra v. Both, Felix Heisel, Prof. Andreas Wagner, Prof. Matthias Pfeifer, Prof. Thomas Lützkendorf, Jan Wurm, and Prof. Dirk E. Hebel. Please refer to the poster for actual dates. The lecture is held every Wednesday, 09:45 am in Lecture Hall 9 (HS09) at KIT Campus South, Building 20.40.

Poster Design: Uta Bogenrieder

Public lecture by Felix Heisel at Cornell University

On October 13 – 12pm, Felix Heisel holds a public lecture at Milstein Hall as part of his engagement as Hans and Roger Strauch Visiting Critic at Cornell University, USA. The talk – titled “rethinking abundance, resource-adequate building, and the example of UMAR” – follows the conviction that all resources required to construct a building must be fully reusable, recyclable, or compostable. This places life-cycle thinking at the forefront of the design. Instead of merely using and subsequently disposing of resources, they are borrowed from their technical and biological cycles for a certain amount of time before being returned into circulation once again. Such an approach makes reusing and repurposing materials just as important as recycling and upcycling them (both at a systemic and a molecular/biological level). For event details, please click here.

       
 
 
 
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:  
 

    WEtransFORM – On the Future of Building

    June 22, 2025

    BUNDESKUNSTHALLE, ed. WEtransFORM – Zur Zukunft Des Bauens. Berlin: jovis Verlag, 2025.

     
     

    Henkels Wuppertal

    June 4, 2025

    Renaissance AG, ed. Henkels Wuppertal – DenkWerkStadt. Wuppertal: renaissance Immobilien und Beteiligungen Aktiengesellschaft, 2025.

     
     

    Building for the world of tomorrow

    April 24, 2025

    Monkenbusch, Helmut. „Bauen für die Welt von morgen.“ Hörzu, 24.1.2025

     
     

    Funghi – underground networkers

    April 24, 2025

    Hebel, Dirk E., Tanja Hildbrandt. „ Pilze – Netzwerker im Untergrund“. alverde, dm-Magazin, April 2025.

     
     

    Fungi are versatile

    February 24, 2025

    Merkert-Andreas, Carolin. “Pilze Sind Vielseitig.” Wohnglück, January 2025.

     
     

    “RoofKIT – Carbon storage and Material storage”

    January 9, 2025

    Boerman, Elena, and Dirk E. Hebel. “RoofKIT – Kohlenstoffspeicher Und Materiallager.” Architektur.Aktuell, vol. 12.2024, no. Tradition und Innovation, Dezember 2024, pp. 98–109

     
     

    Interview: “From a Linear to a Circular System”

    November 13, 2024

    Hebel, Dirk E. Interview: “Vom linearen zum zirkulären Kreislaufsystem.” Interview by Sandra Hofmeister, DETAIL 11.2024, Nov. 2024.

     
     

    Building with renewable materials – Nature as a resource depot

    October 29, 2024

    Hebel, Dirk E., Sandra Böhm, Elena Boerman, Hrsg. Vom Bauen mit erneuerbaren Materialien – Die Natur als Rohstofflager. Stuttgart: Fraunhofer IRB Verlag, 2024.

     
     

    Guest contribution: ‘Thinking, designing and operating in circular ways.’

    June 27, 2024

    Hebel, Dirk E. “In Kreisläufen denken, entwerfen und wirtschaften.” MÄG – Mein Häfele Magazin, 2024.

     
     

    Interview: ‘Mycelium power for the construction industry’

    June 10, 2024

    Rubel, Maike, and Patricia Leuchtenberger. Interview: “Pilzpower für die Bauindustrie.” competitionline, 7 June 2024, https://www.competitionline.com/de/news/schwerpunkt/pilzpower-fuer-die-bauindustrie-7283.html.

     
     

    ‘Future building materials: mushroom, hemp and algae’ in neubau kompass

    May 27, 2024

    Müller, Janek. “Baumaterialien der Zukunft: Pilze, Hanf und Algen.” neubau kompass – Neubauprojekte in Deutschland, May 3, 2024. https://www.neubaukompass.de/premium-magazin/.

     
     

    Interview: ‘We have disposed of valuable materials’

    May 7, 2024

    Sören, S. Sgries. “Interview: ‘Wir haben wertvolle Materialien weggeworfen.’” Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, April 27, 2024, SÜDWEST I 28 edition, sec. Sinsheimer Nachrichten.

     
     

    Built on mushroom

    April 24, 2024

    Schweikle, Johannes. “Auf Pilz gebaut.” Stuttgarter Zeitung, April 23, 2024, sec. Die Reportage.

     
     

    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 Cachola Schmal, 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.