Reconnecting with Nature: How the New European Bauhaus is implementing solutions for nature- and climate-adapted spaces
September 2024. “Yes, there are problems. But we also have solutions!” With this, Andrea Gebhard welcomed the guests in the auditorium of the Munich Urban Colab to the NEBourhoods Deep Dive on DLD Nature. The task, she said, was to collect and replicate these solutions.
And so the project partners of Creating NEBourhoods Together presented short pitches for projects on the topic “Reconnecting with nature” which we are implementing in Neuperlach for the New European Bauhaus as spaces adapted to nature and climate.
Sebastian Clark Koth kicked things off by reminding us of the value of public spaces and of solutions that serve “public comfort”. His focus is on the challenge of increasing heat stress in our cities: urban heat islands. The answer developed for Neuperlach is replicable shading architecture for places where no natural shade providers, no trees, can be planted – architecture that simultaneously serves to generate energy via solar modules.
Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig then introduced the “vision of a Baubotanik street with tree faces”: In contrast to technologically constructed buildings, Baubotanik structures are in active exchange with their environment. They can maintain and repair themselves and change the microclimate of their immediate environment – “buildings as trees”.
“Architecture needs to connect.” With the ECOLOPES research group, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Weisser is putting his idea into practice: the group has developed a software plug-in that allows ecological information to be integrated into the architectural design of building envelopes as habitats for various species – plants and animals alike. The prototype of a climate-adaptive and animal-friendly facade element that he brought with him was immediately convincing.
Prof. Dr. Thomas E. Hauck also reminded us that contact with nature makes people healthier and happier, and his method of Animal-Aided Design was used in Neuperlach to create the “Nesting Stool”, among other things. Their underlying approach sounds as simple as it is good: in the planning process, animals and plants are viewed as stakeholders.
Marlene Stechl, on the other hand, transforms agricultural waste into high-quality building materials. As part of NEBourhoods, she and her start-up HopfON were networked with local businesses in Neuperlach. They have now completed their first major project: 14 square metres of acoustic panels made from hops were installed in the NEXT MANNHEIM Sustainable Living Lab.
Circularity is also the focus of Prof. Dr. Werner Lang and his team in Neuperlach. What we need to change to make the transformation of our neighbourhoods a success starts much earlier: we have to move away from planning in linear structures and instead think in terms of systems, of alternatives, from different perspectives – "design thinking". This is the key to finding sustainable solutions. Together.
Recording of the Deep Dive from 12 September 2024 “Reconnecting with nature: How the New European Bauhaus is implementing solutions for nature- and climate-adapted spaces”
Picture Credits: NEBourhoods/Architekturgalerie München, Cornelia Hellstern
