We travel to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. While modern architecture dominates the cities, the rural areas are traditionally characterized by “tukuls” – round, simple loam houses. A contemporary reinterpretation of this construction method is being developed as part of the Building Week: The “Tukul 2.0” combines the traditional architecture of Ethiopia with rammed earth technologies known in Europe. In collaboration with students from the School of Built Environment (formerly EiABC) at Addis Ababa University, prototypes will be created that enable a more robust, durable and yet simple construction method. The focus is on the intercultural exchange of knowledge100

The materials library houses conventional building materials as well as recyclable building materials made from secondary and renewable raw materials. The seminar focuses on biological insulation materials, which serve both – thermal insulation and summer heat protection. Against the backdrop of climate change and the resulting high relevance of an optimized building envelope, the opportunities and limitations of these insulation materials are examined. Students will conduct independent and critical research on selected insulation materials, aiming to present sustainable alternatives based on detailed data sheets and physical material samples. The seminar will be accompanied by supervision, workshops, lectures, and excursions. First100

Cities are spaces of complex co-existence. Be it among ourselves or with the multiplicities of elements of nature, the question of co-existence is increasingly challenged by our collective actions. In our experiment to find a hopeful and sustainable way of coexistence, the continent of Africa offers a vast space of enquiry. In just 25 years, close to a billion additional people are expected to claim the hope that urban living offers in Africa. Such a mass of need creates a vast opportunity to reimagine new forms of urbanism.  Recognizing the vastness and multidimensionality of Africa, the seminar will be a space of optimistic100

We are travelling to Copenhagen by train to explore how Denmark has managed to become the most successful protagonist of sustainable construction in Europe, using the example of the northern European metropolis. We want to learn from it. By visiting innovative pioneering projects – by Lendager, EFFEKT, C.F. Moeller and others – we are made aware of a climate-resilient citie´s potential, concepts of circular construction and intelligent approaches to CO2 balancing. Academic guest lectures will provide us with state oft he art insights and Exploring the concept of Hygge will complete the program of our academic journey. Supervised by: Prof. Dirk E.100

Redensification concepts for Würzburg-Gartenstadt *to add, to fill, to refill, to recharge Due to the structural and sociological changes in society and the associated increase in awareness of ecological, economic and socio-cultural sustainability, existing buildings are becoming increasingly important. In addition to avoiding construction waste, conserving primary resources and limiting emissions, the use of existing architectural buildings can also promote the sustainable and future-oriented development of cities, which in turn helps to preserve existing functioning structures and thus the urban appearance. Overall, dealing with existing buildings helps to achieve a balance between economic, technical and architectural development, environmental protection and100

A Research Seminar of the KIT Material Library The KIT Materials Library of the Faculty of Architecture offers an extensive collection of materials that, in addition to conventional building materials, focuses on building materials made from secondary raw materials, alternative biotic raw materials and recyclable building materials.  Addressing such material focal points of sustainable construction makes future generations of architects understand the value of varietal purity, the necessity of using secondary materials and the preservation of value when reused or recycled. In the research seminar Future-oriented Building Materials, Master’s students gain a detailed insight into this class of innovative, endlessly recyclable100

A journey across the Alpine region During Whitsun week, we want to travel to the Alpine foreland to experience Peter Zumthor’s buildings and his work with space, light and material. The region, rich in diverse architecture, has numerous other projects to offer. Our aim during the four days of our trip is to develop an understanding of regional materials, the places associated with them and processing technologies. We will get to know multifaceted industrial and residential architecture, but also visit museums and, last but not least, religious buildings. In addition, we will take the opportunity to meet the people behind the100

Contemporary living in the historic Henkels lace factory in Wuppertal As part of the Urban Mining Student Award 2023/24, visions for the sustainable use of existing buildings are being sought, both in the sense of redensification and in the sense of preserving important building culture in German cities. The KIT Faculty of Architecture has already won this competition three times in recent years and this year we want to take on the task again. The focus of the task is the respectful conversion and cycle-compatible redevelopment of a historic factory site on the grounds of the former lace factory A.&E.100

Research Seminar / Sustainable Construction The building stock is becoming increasingly important. Through the preservation of buildings – compared to new construction – immense resources and emissions can be saved, which significantly reduces the ecological footprint and at the same time preserves and strengthens our building culture. In our seminar we want to lay the basics for understanding the existing building stock. From learning professional measuring techniques and adapted photo documentation to sketching and understanding the most important architectural elements, we will look at an existing building in Würzburg. In the process, a basic knowledge is taught that will later100

On 18 July 2023, the day the KIT Materials Library reopened, the first event in the new premises already took place with the final presentation of the research seminar “Future-Oriented Materials”. The students had worked intensively in groups on five materials each, so that they actively contributed to the material library through their research and also gained insights into the work in the backend of the material database. In addition, there were exciting input lectures and even a workshop in which the material hemp-lime was worked with. The result of the seminar was 30 material data sets, which will be100

24.09.023 – 01.10.2023Workshop week as part of the 18th Architecture Biennale in Venice Take advantage of this great opportunity not only to experience Venice and the Architecture Biennale, but also to expand your network, meet international students and architects and develop your creative skills. In cooperation with KOEN Institute of TU Graz and Baukreisel e.V. (Collective for Transformation and Design) Supervised by: Barbara Gruber, Jonas Läufer Participants: 10 persons (TU Graz) + 10 persons (KIT)Costs: € 200 (including accommodation, entrance fees and documentation, individual travel)Accommodation: Laboratori occupato Morion, Calle de Morino Registration by mail: info@baukreisel.orgINFO MEETING FOR THE WORKSHOP: 20.07.2023 in the left inner courtyard100

A new digital workshop for the KIT Faculty of Architecture The Faculty of Architecture at KIT urgently needs a new digital workshop. Funds are being made available by KIT for this purpose in order to go into realisation following the semester. The semester task is to further design, plan and realise a circular replacement building as a digital experimental workshop between the buildings 11.40 and 20.40. The aim is to build a new digital workshop. At the end of the semester, a first building block is to be presented as a real-built mockup with the help of digital tools. The100

A Research Seminar of the KIT Material Library The Materials Library of the Faculty of Architecture at KIT, which is currently being reorganised as part of the “Materialbibliothek Deutscher Hochschulen” cooperation, offers an extensive collection of materials that, in addition to conventional building materials, focuses on building materials made from secondary raw materials, alternative biotic raw materials and recyclable building materials. As a pioneer of sustainable building, this special group of materials makes it possible for future generations of architects to understand the value of purity, the necessity of using secondary materials and the preservation of value in the case100

A round trip among traditional and future building  In the seminar week we want to take a round trip between traditional and future building methods and explore the connections of hand and material. We want to look at new manufacturing techniques in craftsmanship and technology, their interdependencies and dare a look into the future of construction towards digital fabrication. The journey will take us from Karlsruhe, via Stuttgart to the alpine foothills and then via Zurich and Laufen back to Baden.  Some of the costs will have to be covered by the students themselves. We are striving to keep this100

Resource-efficient housing concepts for a growing city Cities play a crucial role in the struggle for a sustainable and climate-friendly future. This is where housing, production, trade, transport and energy consumption all come together. In addition, our cities are gigantic stores of raw materials. In some areas, the resources tied up in the current building stock have long since exceeded the raw material deposits that can be reached with reasonable effort in the earth’s crust. This urban mine needs to be tapped. The city of Heidelberg has set itself ambitious sustainability goals and wants to lead the way as a100

A laboratory for future building The Faculty of Architecture and the Department IV Natural and Built Environment of KIT have set themselves the goal to become a pioneer of circular and sustainable building in Germany and Europe. This requires a new research, teaching and experimental laboratory for future building, in which research, teaching and practical applications can be interlinked and practiced.  Topics of sustainable building should not only be researched, but the building should already show and demonstrate them. The laboratory is to become a showcase for research into future building for the entire society and an attractor for the100

The deconstruction friendliness of a construction and the reusability of materials are decisive parameters for circular planning and building. For high-quality recycling and reuse of materials, material layers as well as components must be planned and installed in a detachable way. The aim of the seminar is to determine the qualitative material value of a separated component and to present it graphically, as well as to find new joining techniques. From the analysis, conclusions are to be drawn for the planning of new circular component constructions as well as to show ways for the design of alternative joining techniques. The100

The Schelling Studienpreis is the student counterpart of the renowned Schelling Architekturpreis, which is awarded every two years by the Schelling Architecture Foundation in Karlsruhe to international architects. The study prize was awarded for the first time in 2015. This year, nine former students who completed their Master’s degree in the past two years have been nominated. The main award is endowed with 2,000 euros. Three of the nine nominated master’s theses were submitted to the Professorship of Sustainable Construction. These included the thesis by Hanna Wollny entitled “Gebäude als Materialressource – Am Beispiel eines temporären Hörsaalgebäudes” (Hebel/Wagner) from the100

Regina Gebauer and Anne-Catherine Greiner are two of a total of ten winners of the aed neuland 2021 young talent competition in the Architecture and Engineering category. They each received the silver award for their semester designs, which were both created at the Professorship of Sustainable Construction at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and were supervised by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, Manuel Rausch and Daniel Lenz. In her project “Bis sich alles bewegt” (“Until Everything Moves”), Regina Gebauer deals with the inward densification of urban spaces in European city centres in an exemplary manner in terms of sustainability. The addition100

Urbanisation in Europe reached approximately 75%, and the tendency is growing; thus, European cities face several urgent problems, which should be solved to comply with the EU targets to fight climate change. To name a few critical problems aligned with the scope of the project:  Available living space is getting rare within the existing boundaries due to the increasing rate of migration from people into cities and the constant growth of the consumption of square meter per person. Environmental quality in cities is strongly affected by pollution, mainly caused by combustion (traffic, heating), and increasing temperatures as well as heat100

Komm ins Team RoofKIT! Solar Decathlon Europe 202106.04.2021, 17 Uhr auf zoom Sommersemester 2021: Mitarbeit am SDE21(Seminar, Praktikum,…) Thema: Introduction to RoofKITUhrzeit: 6.Apr..2021 05:00 PM Amsterdam, Berlin, Rom, Stockholm, Wien Zoom-Meeting beitretenhttps://kit-lecture.zoom.us/j/63671528170?pwd=MFd6czlzQXNMWDBZdUhYWTJ4ZWJrUT09 Meeting-ID: 636 7152 8170Kenncode: 567334 Mehr Informationen über RoofKIT und den SDE21: https://roofkit.de

“The future city makes no distinction between waste and supply.”Joachim Mitchell, New York How can we create social-economic fair living space without destroying our natural resources? And how can we create ecologically sensitive building structures, acknowledging the finite state of natural material supplies, and avoid any state of “waste”, but understand the existing building stock as an urban material bank for the future? How can we create alternative solar harvesting systems as part of an urban mining ideology and propose paradigm-shifting innovations as first-of-their-kind worldwide? And how can we apply urban mobility systems as an integrative part of the immobile building100