FEB
2025
24

The Exhibition “HIRZBERG+”

Last week, the final reviews of Design Studio “HIRZBERG+ – Micro-Multifunctional Room for a Kindergarten in Freiburg” took place. Congratulations to all students! The Haus für Kinder am Hirzberg in Freiburg is to be expanded to include a micro-multifunctional room due to a lack of space on its own property. This was the focus of the semester project and will be realised in cooperation with the Freiburg-based architecture office hotz + architekten. The room is to serve as a lounge and work space for employees, as well as a space for curative education activities and parent-teacher meetings. The design centred around a100

APR
2024
22

Exhibition “Pilzpaläste und Tütentürme” in Junge Kunsthalle Karlsruhe

What could sustainable construction look like in the future? The exhibition is an invitation to try out new things with existing resources and lots of creativity. Beaches are disappearing, entire islands are drowning because their sand is needed to produce building materials such as concrete and glass. Other raw materials are also becoming increasingly rare, so creativity is required – clever minds and playful hands are needed to grow new building materials or harvest old ones and try them out. From April 27 to November 3, young visitors are invited to the exhibition “Mushroom Palaces and Bag Towers – Building100

FEB
2024
27

MODEL EXHIBITION Design Studio Hebel

Last week, the final reviews of Design Studio Hebel “Thought to the point – Contemporary living in the historic Henkels lace factory in Wuppertal” took place. Congratulations to all students! A selection of designs will be nominated for the Urban Mining Student Award 2023/24, which is seeking visions for the sustainable conversion of the existing building stock. The KIT Faculty of Architecture has already won this competition three times in recent years and we want to tackle the assignment again this year, focusing on the respectful conversion and circular redevelopment of the historic factory site of the former lace factory100

FEB
2024
10

‘Plastic: Remaking Our World’ has now opened at the National Museum of Singapore

Plastics have shaped our daily lives like no other material. From food containers to electronic devices, from furniture to cars, from fashion to prefab buildings. With their almost limitless malleability, versatility, and economic production, plastics have spurred the imagination of designers and architects for decades. While they have been associated with convenience, progress, and even revolution, in recent years, they have lost their utopian appeal. Plastics are omnipresent – often as waste. Moving away from a linear economy towards a circular one will require a combination of different strategies and approaches: mechanical, chemical, and biological recycling; a shift from oil-based100

JAN
2024
30

Bending the Curve – Knowing, Acting, Caring for Biodiversity | Panel discussion with Sandra Böhm on February 13

As already teased in a Trailer, the fascinating exhibition “Bending the Curve – Knowing, Acting, Caring for Biodiversity” is still ongoing at Frankfurter Kunstverein. This month, exciting evening events will accompany the current exhibition: Topics ranging from justice in climate change, to the role of hope and climate activism, to sustainable construction and criminal law in the climate crisis will be covered. Two events have been organized together with the Research Centre Normative Orders at Goethe University Frankfurt. On February 8 at 6:30 pm, the climate philosopher Prof. Dr. Darrel Moellendorf will give a lecture entitled “Mobilizing Hope. Climate activism,100

Bending the Curve – Knowing, Acting, Caring for Biodiversity | Trailer

Without biodiversity, human existence on planet Earth would not be possible. However, this biodiversity has been declining for far too long, and at an alarming rate. This realisation unites the curatorial team of the Frankfurter Kunstverein, which has invited the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and Frankfurt Zoo to collaborate in the form of an interdisciplinary partnership. The result is the new exhibition titled Bending the Curve – Knowing, Acting, Caring for Biodiversity, which alludes to the concept of ‘Bending the Curve of Biodiversity Loss’. The exhibition explores how the negative trend can be halted – or even reversed.100

JUL
2023
19

MaterialLab at IBA’27: RoofKIT and Material Samples

A large hands-on exhibition on new (and old) building materials is located in a warehouse in the future Backnang-West neighborhood: programmed wood, insulation made from old clothes, concrete foam. Selected exhibits from research and industry are on display. The focus is on various materials and their further development. There is also an exhibition contribution from the KIT Faculty of Architecture, which consists of a documentation of the RoofKIT project and an excerpt from the material library. Among others, the University of Stuttgart, ILEK/ITKE/Biomat, FRA UAS Frankfurt and selected industrial partners are also involved. The exhibition is open from 07.07. to100

MAY
2023
12

KIT Campustag and Reinschauen 2023

On Saturday, May 13, the KIT Campustag will take place again. All KIT faculties will present their study programs and offer great hands-on activities, experiments, guided tours and much more. In addition, there will be a stage on the forum, where a colorful live program will be offered. Various bands, science slam, theater groups, university groups, and many more will show what KIT has to offer besides studies. The Faculty of Architecture at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology also cordially invites you to its annual exhibition “Reinschauen”. From May 11 to 17, 2023, all professorships, workshops and studios will present100

APR
2023
18

KIT Material Library goes BAU2023

At this year’s BAU World’s Leading Trade Fair for Architecture, Materials, Systems in Munich from April 17 to 22, 2023, the KIT Material Library of the Department of Architecture is presented. An excerpt from the physical sample stock of the material library is shown. On a small exhibition area, some material samples of different material groups, especially materials from secondary raw materials and biological building materials, will be displayed. In addition, the ideas and goals of the already existing cooperation of the Materialbibliothek Deutscher Hochschulen (MDH) are presented. We cordially invite you and you to stop by at booth 210.B100

NOV
2022
25

“Plastic: Remaking Our World” at V&A Dundee in Scotland

The exhibition Plastic: Remaking Our World, which was initially on show at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, will be on display at the V&A Dundee in Scotland from 29 October 2022 until 5 February 2023. The exhibition examines the history and the future of this controversial material. From its early origins when it was intended as a sustainable alternative to natural resources, to its meteoric rise in the twentieth century. More information here.

OCT
2022
24

Exhibition “Plastic: Remaking Our World” now at V&A Dundee in Scotland

The exhibition Plastic: Remaking Our World, which was initially on show at the Vitra Design Museum, will be on display at the V&A Dundee in Scotland from 29 October 2022. The contribution of the Sustainable Building Professorship will also travel from Weil am Rhein to Dundee. Plastic: Remaking Our World will again feature prototypes, new technologies, and cutting-edge materials as designers grapple with a material that has changed our world.  The exhibition will feature product design, graphics, architecture and fashion from the collections of the V&A and Vitra Design Museum, as well as collections all over the world. This is the first exhibition produced100

OCT
2022
10

MycoTree in the Natural History Museum in Karlsruhe

As part of the 17th “Karlsruher Frischpilzausstellung” of the Natural History Museum in Karlsruhe, the MycoTree was exhibited in the pavilion in the Nymphengarten on the 8th and 9th October. The exhibition displayed 250-300 species of mushrooms and presented various literature on mushrooms. The weekend exhibition was visited by almost 1300 people interested in mushrooms. The MycoTree, a spatial structure made of the cultivated materials mushroom mycelium and bamboo, supplemented the exhibition with the topic area ‘Building materials from natural resources’. At 2 p.m. on both days, Sandra Böhm and Elena Boerman gave a short lecture on the exhibited project,100

JUN
2022
06

Anupama Kundoo: Co-Creation. Architecture is collaboration

The exhibition shows, among other projects, student work from the design studio “Circularity – Architecture as a Mechanism of Waste Capture”, which took place in the winter semester 21/22 as part of Anupama Kundoo’s sto visiting professorship at KIT, Chair of Sustainable Building. Supervisors Prof. Dr. Anupama Kundoo and Daniel Lenz. The exhibition can bee seen until September 30th in Roca Gallery Barcelona http://www.rocabarcelonagallery.com/expositions/anupama-kundoo-co-creation-architecture-is-collaboration All Photos (c) Roca Gallery Barcelona

APR
2022
07

(H)Austausch! Ausstellung beim Tag der offenen Tür in Pfrondorf

On 2 April 2022, nestbau AG Tübingen invited to an open day at the “Neschtle” in Pfrondorf. In addition to a greeting by Gunnar Laufer-Stark from nestbau AG and the presentation of the timber construction planned on site in Pfrondorf (architecture bürohauser), the event also included a small exhibition of student work from the design course “(H)Austausch!”, which was created in the winter semester 2020/21 at KIT. The students dealt with the question of how a synergetic solution can be found for the two coinciding phenomena of housing shortage (e.g. for young families who need space) on the one hand100

MAR
2022
30

Opening of the Vitra Exhibition “Plastic: Remaking Our World”

An exhibition by the Vitra Design Museum, V&A Dundee and maat, Lisbon The Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein presents the exhibition ‘Plastic: Remaking our World’ as an exploration of the history and future of the controversial material. Plastics have symbolized a world of carefree consumerism and revolutionary innovation, opening the doors for designers and architects for decades. Of course today, the dramatic consequences of the plastic boom have become so obvious that the material has lost its utopian connotation. The exhibition begins with a large-scale video installation spotlighting the conflicts linked to the production and use of plastic.100

FEB
2022
23

“Plastic: Remaking Our World”

An exhibition by the Vitra Design Museum, V&A Dundee and maat, Lisbon “Plastics have shaped our daily lives like no other material: from packaging to footwear, from household goods to furniture, from automobiles to architecture. A symbol of carefree consumerism and revolutionary innovation, plastics have spurred the imagination of designers and architects for decades. Today, the dramatic consequences of the plastic boom have become obvious and plastics have lost their utopian appeal. The exhibition »Plastic: Remaking Our World« at the Vitra Design Museum will examine the history and future of this controversial material – from its meteoric rise in the100

JAN
2022
26

“Environmental Hangover” – A Human Body made of Mycelium in the Kunsthalle Basel

The KIT Professorship of Sustainable Construction (Nazanin Saeidi and Alireza Javadian) was asked by the Brazilian-Swiss artist Pedro Wirz to build a human figure out of mycelium, which has since become part of his exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel. With the playful and colourful exhibition “Environmental Hangover”, the artist pleads for more sustainability. He draws attention to the fossil age in various ways and, on this occasion, also deliberately softens the boundaries between nature and technology in places. In addition, he uses the contents of the exhibition to criticise the unmistakable permanent traces that humans leave on the earth and in100

JAN
2022
12

How do we build in the Future? – The RoofKIT exhibition in the Architekturschaufenster

The “Solar Decathlon Europe” is one of the most important competitions for students in the field of architecture and construction. Here, in a multi-semester effort by interdisciplinary teams, solutions are to be found for the enormous challenges facing our society and its architecture. The KIT Faculty of Architecture is participating with the RoofKIT project. The exhibition uses the project as an example to show what these challenges are and how we can face them: Radical reduction of energy consumption, circular construction, use of the city as a resource, use of renewable raw materials in modular and single-variety construction, space-saving forms100

MAY
2021
31

Exhibition in the DAZ Berlin: Concern about the building stock

The DAZ in Berlin hosts an exhibition by the BDA as a plea for the preservation of the existing. In the exhibition, named after the publication “Sorge um den Bestand. Zehn Strategien für die Architektur” published in November 2020, architects and urbanists present their concern for the existing building stock, for grown social structures and for the continuation of the earth. In addition to Dirk E. Hebel from the Professorship of Sustainable Building at KIT, Katja Fischer, Roland Gruber, Jörg Heiler, Ayşin İpekçi, Maria Isabettini, Simon Jüttner, Jan Kampshoff, Kamiel Klaasse, Andreas Krauth, Urs Kumberger, Tabea Michaelis, Peter Nageler, Michael100

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 networked100

OCT
2020
30

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 the100

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 up100

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, Manuel100

MAR
2020
18

Quo Addis? – Conflicts of Coexistence

[slideshow_deploy id=’6969′] 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 residue100

JUN
2019
13

Exhibition “Build up!” in the Majolika Manufaktur Karlsruhe

The research-seminar “Build up!” (“Bau auf!”) was held in cooperation with the Staatliche Majolika Manufaktur Karlsruhe and the Professorship Sustainable Construction of the Faculty of Architecture at KIT. The students got to know the material ceramics as well as its traditional production methods. The challenge in the development of a ceramic building material was the synthesis of tradition and innovation. The production based on 3D printing, had to be justified in the construction or the materiality of the product. The results of the seminar include ideas such as individually combinable shading elements for facades, structures that can be planted and100

KIT Material Library: Exhibition “Local Stone”

The exhibition “Local Stone” gives an insight into the new focus “Building Materials from Local Resources of our Region” of the KIT Material Library. Stone as a natural resource seems to be endlessly available. At the same time it is the result of a process that has been going on for millions of years and it`s mining always means a drastic intervention in ecosystems. Because of that the sensitive renaturation of former mining areas and the observance of short transport routes are essential. Finally, a sustainable, efficient and recyclable use of the material in architecture or other fields of application100

MAY
2019
24

“WENIGER.ANDERS.BESSER!” Exhibition 21.05.–25.05.2019

The Exhibition “Weniger.Anders.Besser!” opened on 21.05.2019 in the Architekturschaufenster Karlsruhe. Dr. Simone Kraft from Architekturschaufenster, Katharina Helleckes from Volkswohnung GmbH and Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, KIT welcomed numberous curious visitors. The Exhibition Design is a collaboration between KIT 3rd year Bachelor Students and the Professorship of Sustainable Construction Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, KIT. It was made possible due to kind support of Architekturschaufenster, Volkswohnung GmbH, Wienerberger AG and Holzhandel Kuhmann & Dill, Karlsruhe. The Exhibition is opened until 25.05.2019. For more information see here.

MAY
2019
16

Exhibition Opening “WENIGER. ANDERS. BESSER!”

The existing lack of affordable urban housing also concerns Karlsruhe. Socially acceptable densification is therefore one of the great challenges of these days. Architecture students in their 5th semester at KIT therefore devoted themselves to the question of how good and forward-oriented living can be achieved in the future. The question was how living can be thought BETTER, so that OTHER typological models lead to a rethinking of architectural approaches in urban space, while consuming LESS land, as all designs were asked to be top-up additions to an existing structure in central Karlsruhe. Ten of those design proposals are shown100

Local Wood – Exhibition in the KIT Material Library

One of the new focal points of the KIT Material Library is “Building Materials from Local Resources of our Region”. This topic stands in addition to the reuse, recycling and cultivation of building materials, for a responsible use of resources. Through the worldwide ruthless extraction of the most diverse raw materials and their transport across the globe, we have severely damaged our natural environment. It has been and continues to be exploited that in many countries there are insufficient or no regulations to protect nature. In addition to research into alternative building materials, we therefore also focus on the environmentally100

Build up! Innovative building materials through ceramic 3D printing

For a long time, ceramics were mostly used for pragmatic construction solutions. Today, a number of innovative technologies have given it a new significance within architecture. These innovations can be found in the material development, in manufacturing processes or in individual application scenarios. Generative technologies offer high potential in terms of resource-efficient production. This is because the layer-by-layer additive manufacturing process only makes material necessary where it is required due to aesthetic criteria and mechanical stress. In the research seminar “Build up!” students dealt with the development of innovative building materials using ceramic 3D printing. The seminar was held by100

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 with100

NOV
2017
16

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.

Dezeen reports on the opening of MycoTree at Seoul Biennale

“While some architects have been experimenting with mushroom mycelium as a cladding material, architect Dirk Hebel and engineer Philippe Block have gone one step further – by using fungi to build self-supporting structures. Hebel, who leads the Sustainable Construction unit at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and Block, who founded the Block Research Group at ETH Zürich, have created a tree-shaped structure consisting almost entirely of mycelium. According to the duo, the material – which is formed from the root network of mushrooms – could provide the structure of a two-storey building, if it is designed with the right geometries.” Read the100

Beyond Mining – Urban Growth to open at Seoul Biennale

Opening on 2nd September 2017, the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism is entitles Imminent Commons: In an age of environmental decay and unprecedented wealth inequality, the cities of the world gather in Seoul to explore the urban parliaments where the politics of resources and technologies is enacted. The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 is an experimental platform for an imminent urbanism that goes beyond human-centered function, ownership, and consumption to a commons of resources, technologies, and production. The cities of the world stand at a crossroads. Amidst radical social, economic, and technological transformations, will the city become100

Material exhibition at KIT faculty of architecture open day

The Professorship of Sustainable Construction, as part of the yearly open day of the faculty of architecture at KIT Karlsruhe, is displaying material samples of its current research projects at the material library, Room 141.1. The event takes place on July 19th 2017 in the main building 20.40, from 4pm onwards. For details on the faculty’s program, please click here.

MAY
2017
12

Chair of Sustainable Construction exhibits at Cologne Design Fair interzum 2017

The Chair of Sustainable Construction of KIT Karlsruhe exhibits outcomes of its newest material research at the Cologne Design Fair 2017 together with Haute Innovation und their contribution Circular Thinking – from Upcycling to Biofabrication. “Alternative raw materials are increasingly being identified across different manufacturing industries and production systems being optimised with a view to reusing recyclable materials. Ideally, at the end of the product lifecycle, there should be no waste produced, but instead high-quality materials that can be used as a starting point for a new product lifecycle. Recycling becomes upcycling, so waste is not produced at all and100

MAR
2017
07

Bamboo Composite Reinforcement at SuperMaterial in London

SuperMaterial is a major public exhibition by The Built Environment Trust celebrating the essential, and often hidden, elements of our surroundings. Delving into the world of academia and science, we identify the latest laboratory-based discoveries and demonstrate how they will change our world – informing the R&D departments of today and transforming the buildings of our future. The project will also explore how the historical application of raw elements and minimally processed goods – the ‘super materials’ of their time – have shaped our urban fabric. The show exhibits bamboo composite reinforcement produced by the Assistant Professorship Dirk E. Hebel at100

JUL
2016
01

Dirk E. Hebel at University of Tokyo – Lecture and Exhibition

Dirk E. Hebel, on the invitation of a+u `Japan Architecture and Urbanism` magazine and the Faculty of Architecture, lectured on June 29th 2016 at the University of Tokyo on his research on Cultivated Building Materials. In particular he introduced the teams research on new bamboo fiber materials, which was featured in the last three consecutive issues of a+u magazine from May to July 2016. Also, an exhibition on Green Steel – Advanced Fiber Composite Materials in Architecture and Construction accompanied his lecture in Tokyo. a+u will also feature the book publication `Building from Waste` (Birkhäuser 2014) in Japanese language later100

JUN
2016
06

Bamboo Composite Materials at Constellation.s in Bordeaux

On Thursday June 2nd, constellation.s – an exhibition by arc en reve centre of Architecture in Bordeaux, France – opened its doors with a contribution by the Assistant Professorship Dirk E. Hebel entitled Bamboo Composite Materials. The show displays test samples from the material research, especially focusing on the interface of bamboo composites and concrete. From the curators: “In response to the worldwide transformations that are profoundly affecting the conditions in which we live, constellation.s will present individual and collective initiatives providing perspectives on tomorrow’s challenges in terms of how the urban environment is made.
 In response to fear, inward-lookingness, and extremism, constellation.s encourages100