JUL
2020 29

Exhibitions, TEACHING, Uncategorized, WASTE

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

OCT
2019 14

MEDIA COVERAGE, MEHRWERTPAVILLON, PUBLICATIONS, RESEARCH, WASTE

archello: Added.VALUE.Pavilion

Students, researchers and professors of KIT Karlsruhe, together with the architects’ office 2hs, realized this circular pavilion from recycling materials at the Federal Garden Show 2019 in Heilbronn. The ‘Mehr.WERT.Pavillon’ is part of the so-called ‘Mehr.WERT.Garten’, a partner project of the Ministry of the Environment of Baden-Württemberg with the Entsorgungsbetriebe of the city of Heilbronn. It explores the question how we and future generations can live well and how we can develop our economy positively without consuming any of the scarce resources of our planet. More information here.

APR
2019 29

Events, WASTE

KIT master students win 1st and two 3rd prizes as well as two recognitions at the Urban Mining Student Award 2018/19

Success for KIT master students: at the second Urban Mining Student Award cycle, students of the Master course “Glück auf am Theodorschacht” organized and taught by the Professorship of Sustainable Construction at the Faculty of Architecture were extremely sucessfull. They won the first, two 3rd and two recognition prizes. The age of using fossil resources is coming to an end. Far away from the Ruhr area the last days are counted for the German hard coal mining. The Ibbenbüren colliery in the northernmost tip of North Rhine-Westphalia was one of the last two of its kind and was closed at100

APR
2019 17

MEHRWERTPAVILLON, WASTE

Mehr.WERT.Pavillon officially opened!

In a grand opening ceremony today, the Federal Garden Show BUGA 2019 in Heilbronn opened its doors to the public in the presence of German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and state premier Winfried Kretschmann. Located at the center, the Mehr.WERT.Pavillon now houses and represents for the next 6 months an exhibition on resource use and re-use, focusing on Baden-Württemberg and the built environment. The pavilion was designed by KIT students and staff of the professorships Sustainable Construction, Structural Design and Building Technologies, and realised in cooperation with the office 2hs Architekten und Ingenieur PartGmbB. For more information on the pavilion, please100

FEB
2019 17

WASTE

Circular Construction – Urban Mining

Future economic and ecological development is strongly connected to the question where our resources for future prosperity come from. As our mines run dry and CO2levels are reaching alarming levels, we need to think radically different in all economic sectors. The building industry alone is responsible for 40% of our solid waste production, for 40% of the use of primary energy resources and for 40% of CO2emissions world-wide. We need to change. Our natural resources are extracted from the earth and then – in a linear process – disposed of. They are literally consumed rather than being temporarily borrowed from100

JAN
2019 08

PUBLICATIONS, WASTE

The new DGNB Report Circular Economy with contributions from the Professorship of Sustainable Construction at KIT

We are happy to announce the publication of the new DGNB (German Association of Sustainable Construction) report on Circular Economy with several contributions from the Professorship of Sustainable Construction at KIT Karlsruhe, including next to several projects carried out by the team over the past months (UMAR Experimental Unit in Dübendorf, Switzerland and the MycoTree project for the Seoul Biennale, South-Korea) also a pedagocical concept of a new Material Library at the Faculty of Architecture at KIT Karlsruhe. The concept of a Circular Economy is intended to ensure the availability and quality of resources for future generations through appreciation, reuse100

OCT
2018 18

CONFERENCES, WASTE

<b>take. build. repeat.</b> 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 resource100

JUL
2018 18

MEDIA COVERAGE, PUBLICATIONS, WASTE

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 econmy100

APR
2018 25

Nest, WASTE

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 und100

APR
2016 27

HIGHLIGHTS, WASTE

Peter Baccini: From break to breakthrough – operating in large-scale metabolic systems

Hebel, Dirk (2016). From break to breakthrough – operating in large-scale metabolic systems, in Breakthroughs – Ideas at ETH Zurich that shaped the world, Gerd Folkers, Martin Schmid (Hg.), ETH Zürich, Chronos Publishers, Zürich, Switzerland. Every day and perhaps even every hour, there’s a scientist somewhere in the world making the next scientific breakthrough. Indeed, scientific development cannot take place in a vacuum; rather it thrives in an environment that offers inspiration and the necessary framework. One such place is ETH Zurich; it has flourished in this role over the course of its more than 150-year history. It is not100

MAR
2016 02

Events, WASTE

a+u publishes `Building from Waste` in Japanese

The publication Building from Waste (Hebel/Wisniewska/Heisel; Birkhäuser, 2014) will be published by a+u in Japanese. The book provides a conceptual and practical look into materials and products which use waste as a renewable resource for architectural, interior, and industrial design. The inventory ranges from marketed products to advanced research and development, organized along the manufacturing processes: densified, reconfigured, transformed, designed and cultivated materials. ”Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recover“ is the sustainable guideline that has replaced the ”Take, Make, Waste“ attitude of the industrial age. Based on their background at the ETH Zurich and the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore, the100

AUG
2015 26

BAMBOO, Events, SAND, WASTE

Sand, Bamboo and Waste research exhibited at BodenSchätzeWerte

On August 24, focusTerra opened its new exhibition entitled “BodenSchätzeWerte” or Earth’s Treasures at the ETH Zurich NO Building. Focusing on the past and future’s use of our earth’s resources, the exhibition also features several research topics of the Assistant Professorship for Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel. From the curator: Mineral resources play a fundamental role in our daily lives. We take their availability for granted and their worldwide consumption is steadily on the rise. What are the long-term consequences of our increasing use of non-renewable resources? What challenges lie ahead for us? This exhibition is about the formation,100

JUL
2015 01

Events, WASTE, Waste Vault

Waste Vault – ETH Zürich Pavilion

Watch the ETH Zurich Pavilion being built.

JUN
2015 17

MEDIA COVERAGE, PUBLICATIONS, RESEARCH, WASTE

CNN: FCL Singapore developes ideas to steal from

Future Cities: Singapore focuses on the exceptionally forward-looking urban approach of the island nation to learn about the challenges of planning for future generations. (CNN) Singapore is small, hot and heavily populated — the 5.5 million residents of the tropical city-state live in less than 750 square kilometres of land. And population is expected to reach 6.9 million by 2030. Despite these challenges, Singapore continues to be amongst the most liveable and economically successful cities in the word, with a GDP equaling that of leading European countries. With more than 50% of the world’s population living in cities already (a100

JUN
2015 03

LECTURES, WASTE, Waste Vault

“In the Future, There Will Be No Waste …”

Full House on May 30th at the ETH Zurich Pavilion in New York, as it hosted a public panel discussion with Asst. Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, Prof. Philippe Block, Asst. Prof. David Benjamin and Asst. Prof. Mark Wasiuta. The panel, hosted by the AIA Center for Architecture New York Chapter, brought an overwhelming response to the pavilion. The IDEAS CITY Festival theme for 2015, The Invisible City, borrows from Italo Calvino’s classic novel exploring the invisible constructs that holds a city together. Two panels pursued this theme further by asking “What cultural practices define the future smart city, and where can100

JUN
2015 03

Events, LECTURES, WASTE

Meet the Future – a tour through the ETH Zurich Pavilion

On May 30th, Felix Heisel gave a public guided tour through the ETH Zurich Pavilion, and the connected exhibit of 25 building materials produced from waste.

MAY
2015 28

Events, WASTE

ETH Zurich Pavilion now open for the public

ETH Zurich Pavilion: New York NY, Image (c) Albert Vecerka/Esto On May 27th, the ETH Zurich Pavilion was officially opened by Ambassador André Schaller, Consul General of Switzerland in New York, Juerg Brunnschweiler, Director of ETH Global, and Felix Heisel, project architect of the ETH Zurich Pavilion. The Pavilion will now be open to the public from May 28-30, 11am to 10pm daily. Please come by and join us for the exciting program.

MAY
2015 28

Events, Exhibitions, LECTURES, WASTE

Building from Waste: swissnex San Francisco highlights

In April 2015 swissnex San Francisco together with Chair of Architecture and Construction at ETH Zurich organized a one week event called ‘Building From Waste’. During this time everyone interested in the issues of rethinking the use of waste could participate in a series of presentations, a panel discussion, a hands-on workshop and an exhibition.

MAY
2015 25

Events, WASTE

ETH Zurich Pavilion – Construction Day 3

On the eve of Construction Day 3, the first shell of the ETH Zurich Pavilion is closed and lighting experiments are taking advantage of the dusk.

MAY
2015 25

Events, WASTE

ETH Zurich Pavilion – Construction Day 2

Construction Day 2 of the ETH Zurich Pavilion concluded with the first few ReWall arches go up and span over the First Street Green. Stay tuned!

MAY
2015 05

Events, WASTE, Waste Vault

ETH Zurich Pavilion at the IDEAS CITY Festival in New York

Commissioned by ETH Global, the Assistant Professorship of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel and the Professorship of Architecture and Structure Philippe Block will be building a pavilion at New York City’s First Street Garden as part of the New Museum’s IDEAS CITY festival, May 28 – 30th, 2015. Using waste products as construction material, the structure aims to redefine our perception of refuse, acknowledging its capacity as a substance from which to construct new cities. Waste was seen for centuries as something specific which neither belonged to the family of natural resources nor to the one of finished products. Waste was a100

MAY
2015 04

Events, LECTURES, WASTE

Design workshop at SWISSNEX San Francisco

[slideshow_deploy id=’3420′] Can design reduce waste production? How can small adjustments in the typical life cycle of everyday products drastically minimize waste flow? The search for the answers to those and other refuse-related questions were the goals of this year’s ‘Constructing from Waste’ workshop in San Francisco led by Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel. Participants with different background and experience, including students, school teachers, architects and product designers, worked on eight different proposals. Andreas Müller of Birkhäuser, publisher of the Building from Waste book, awarded the best three proposals with recent publications. The Constructing Waste: Upcycling and Rethinking Trash workshop100

MAY
2015 02

Events, WASTE

`Building from Waste` exhibition at SWISSNEX San Francisco

[slideshow_deploy id=’3416′] The exhibition Building from Waste: Material Showcase accompanied the Building from Waste book promotion week, which took place at swissnex San Francisco between April 20 – 25, 2015 The Asst. Professorship of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel brought the Building from Waste: Material Showcase to swissnex San Francisco, items of loan from the Baubibliothek of the ETH-Bibliothek. Visitors had a chance to experience over 20 alternative construction materials produced from waste. The exhibited materials cover a wide range of building elements made from straw or PET bottles, fibers extracted from old newspapers, juice and milk containers, denim jeans, and many more. Additionally100

MAY
2015 01

CONFERENCES, Events, WASTE

Waste Not: `Building from Waste` panel discussion at SWISSNEX San Francisco

[slideshow_deploy id=’3399′] Waste Not Panel Discussion at swissnex San Francisco on April 21, 2015 started a week-long event organized by Mary Ellyn Johnson and the swissnex SF team around the launch of the Building from Waste book for the US market. Future resilient cities will be constructed out of their own refuse. This hypothesis was the spark for the book, Building from Waste: Recovered Materials in Architecture and Construction by Dirk E. Hebel, Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel from ETH Zurich and the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore. Felix Heisel and Marta H. Wisniewska gave a conceptual and practical look at materials and products that use waste as100

MAR
2015 24

Exhibitions, LECTURES, WASTE

Waste not: Exploring Alternative Building Materials

Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel will be leading several events from 21st – 25th of April at Swissnex San Fransisco in order to promote the recent publication “Building from Waste” in the United States. For detailed information on the events please see here and register your attendance through the swissnex website: 21.04.2015 – 6:30 pm: Lecture Series “Waste Not” with Philip Ross, Thom Faulders, Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel 21.04. – 25.04.2015: “Building from Waste” Exhibit with 25 construction products made from refuse 25.04.2015 – 9:00 am: Constructing Waste: Upcycling and Rethinking Trash Workshop with Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix100

FEB
2015 02

BAMBOO, Events, RESEARCH, WASTE

‘Future Cities: Research in Action’ exhibition opened at the URA Centre Singapore

The ‘Future Cities: Research in Action’ exhibition opened on 23 Jan 2015 at the URA Centre atrium in Singapore It will run till 13 Mar 2015. Focused on cities, urbanisation, and global environmental sustainability, it presents research conducted by FCL towards the development of sustainable future cities. In this context, the Assistant Profesorship of Dirk E. Hebel (who also curated the show) exhibits their work on alternative future building materials. In general, the exhibition features the work of more than 120 FCL researchers from over 30 countries over the past four years. Integrating science, design and technology, they tackle urban100

JAN
2015 21

WASTE

Wundermaterial mit Langzeitfolgen

270.000 tons of plastic waste particles are floating in our oceans. Asst. Prof. Dirk E. Hebel is writing on garbage swirls and plastic materials in the ETH Zukunftsblog (article in German only). Click here to read the article.

NOV
2014 28

Exhibitions, WASTE

Building from Waste exhibition at Baumuster Centrale

A selection of twenty alternative construction materials produced from waste will be on display at the Baumuster Centrale Zürich until January 15th 2015, to be experienced hands-on. The material samples are part of the recent publication “Building from Waste – Recovered Materials in Architecture and Construction” by Dirk E. Hebel, Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel.

NOV
2014 24

LECTURES, WASTE

AUFGERÄUMT «Bauen aus Müll»

Public lecture “Building from Waste” by Felix Heisel and Marta H. Wisniewska on Thursday November 27, 2014 at the Baumuster Centrale in Zürich, Switzerland. The event, combining a talk and a small exhibition of selected waste materials, explains the approach of the Professorship of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel to understand waste as a possible resource for the construction of future cities. “The city of the future does not distiguinsh any more between waste and resource”. Quote by Mitchell Joachim

NOV
2014 06

BAMBOO, CONFERENCES, WASTE

Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel presented at World Sustainable Building Conference

At this years World Sustainable Building Conference, the Chair of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel presented two papers. In Session 48, Felix Heisel talked about “Bamboo Reinforcement – a Sustainable Alternative to Steel”, while Marta H. Wisniewska presented “Waste – a Resource for Sustainable and Resilient Future Cities” in Session 90.

OCT
2014 20

Exhibitions, WASTE

Building from Waste Book Vernissage and Exhibition

Building from Waste has been successfully launched and is now available online and in book stores. Together with the book vernissage, also the exhibition Building from Waste was opened on October 8th 2014 at the Baubibliothek at ETH Hönggerberg.

SEP
2014 04

PUBLICATIONS, WASTE

Building from Waste selected as “Book of the month”

Dirk E. Hebel / Marta H. Wisniewska / Felix Heisel Building from Waste Recovered Materials in Architecture and Construction The book provides a conceptual and practical look into materials and products which use waste as a renewable resource for architectural, interior, and industrial design. The inventory ranges from marketed products to advanced research and development, organized along the manufacturing processes: densified, reconfigured, transformed, designed and cultivated materials. A product directory presents all materials and projects according to their functional uses. Take a look inside the book here.

AUG
2014 18

BAMBOO, Events, WASTE

Marta H. Wisniewska and Alireza Javadian at the World Sustainable Building Conference 2014

At this year’s World Sustainable Building Conference in Barcelona WSBC2014, the Chair of Architecture and Construction is presenting two papers on its recent research. Marta H. Wisniewska is speaking on “Waste – a Resource for Sustainable and Resilient future Cities” on 29th October between 3pm and 4:30pm in Session 90: “Construction systems and materials”. Alireza Javadian is presenting “Bamboo Reinforcement – A Carbon Alternative to Steel” on 29th October between 10am and 11:30am in Session 48: “Resources and Waste”. For the Conference program, please visit here.

JUN
2014 02

MEDIA COVERAGE, WASTE

CNN article on alternative building materials quotes Dirk E. Hebel

Kieron Monks asks in his recent article on CNN Innovations “Would you live in a house of sand and bacteria? It’s a surpassingly good idea”. The article gives an overview on recent developments in the field of alternative building materials and quotes Prof Dirk E. Hebel referring to mushroom bricks that “I could imagine every structure you would built out of bricks. No high-rises, but smaller scale structures and houses. The material is stronger than concrete, with better insulation capacities”. Read the full article here.

MAY
2014 08

PUBLICATIONS, WASTE

Vertical Networking

The CREATE Tower in Singapore sets the scene for vertical networking among its various entities. This kind of setting fosters interactions between the institutions on many levels, informally as well as professionally. Marta H. Wisniewska sees this as a strength. For the full article, please click here.

MAR
2014 28

PUBLICATIONS, WASTE

We built this city…from Waste

What we throw away may be a valuable renewable resource for building materials. Marta H. Wisniewska explains the future destiny of refuse in her newest blog entry for the ETH Intranet. For the full article, please click here.

FEB
2014 05

LECTURES, WASTE

Zurich meets New York: Future Resilient Cities

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel in New York City at the “Zurich meets New York” festival on May 20th, 2014. ‘Resilient cities are those that are able to master a crisis and which are able to exit the state of crisis stronger than before. Resilient cities have the capacity to learn, to remember, and to transform findings of the past into strategies for the future. Sustainability is a good basis for resilience. Resilient cities have a high degree of recycling and turn waste into new and useful materials. Resilient cities transform urban farming, energy generation, information sensing and processing100

FEB
2014 05

LECTURES, WASTE

Salzburg Congress on Urban Planning and Development

Keynote presentation by Dirk E. Hebel at the Salzburg Congress on Urban Planning and Development on May 16th, 2014. Imagine cities where our current concepts of waste are thrown away, and instead we envision a city’s waste as resource. In our world, where scarcity and excess define the chasm between the haves and have-nots; exploring the social, environmental and economic dimensions of waste will help us understand more deeply how we manage our Earth’s resources and how we may help to address the inequities intrinsic to this dichotomy. SCUPAD’s 2014 Congress will explore a paradigm shift where cities and regions can100

JAN
2014 20

Events, WASTE

Pavilion Prototype Construction from Recycled PET Bottles

CoReSing successfully constructed its second prototype of a pavilion structure made out of recycled PET bottles. The vacummized arches will be used as the exhibition design in the upcoming Zurich meets New York Exhibition. Three pavilions constructed from ‘waste’ will be the spatial framework for different events and exhibitions of this festival. Here is a short movie of the set-up at the ETH Hoenggerberg:

NOV
2013 07

Events, WASTE

First prototype development for “Zurich meets New York”

A first prototype out of vacuumized PET bottles was build for the “Zurich meets New York” event in May next year in New York City. CoReSing together with ETH Professor Dr. Philippe Block and Juerg Brunnschweiler from ETH Global developed an architectural concept for part of the event. From May 16-24, 2014, artists, scientists, architects, and public intellectuals from both sides of the Atlantic will converge in New York City for the multi-venue, citywide festival “Zurich Meets New York”. The festival is a joint partnership between the City of Zurich, the Consulate General of Switzerland in NY, ETH Zurich, and100