PLANET HOME TOWARDS A CLIMATE-FRIENDLY ARCHITECTURE IN CITY AND COUNTRY - Bund Deutscher Architekten
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PLANET HOME TOWARDS A CLIMATE- FRIENDLY ARCHITECTURE IN CITY AND COUNTRY
PLANET HOME Our imaginations, our visions for how we It’s not only the ecological, but also the
want to live in the future, are of utmost social consequences of climate change
importance. We’re creating that future that grow increasingly urgent. Climate
Towards a Climate- now. The way we conceive cities, infra justice affects all humanity. Internatio
structures, residential buildings, manu nally – and even within the European
Friendly Architecture in facturing facilities, and offices will deter Union – the far-reaching consequences
City and Country mine whether or not humanity can bring of climate change undermine trust in so
itself into harmony with the environment. cial and political systems and threaten
Architects and urban planners generate our peaceful coexistence.
impulses, and their built works can be
Prologue catalysts for change. The quality of architecture and construc
tion is of fundamental importance. Only
The dream of everlasting growth has Ten years ago, in the climate manifesto a building that proves itself over decades
come to an end. Reduction is not a fash “Common Sense for the World,” archi of use, far beyond the current “most
ion statement, but a necessity for survi tects, urban planners, and engineers for economical” lifespans of 30 to 50 years,
val. Ecological overhaul requires creati mulated a voluntary commitment to can truly live up to the concept of sus
vity and ideas. work with the construction industry and tainability and thereby be valuable to
property owners to achieve ecological society.
What kind of legacy do we want to leave change in planning and building (www.
behind? Earth is the only home we have. klima-manifest.de). In order to make good on our commit
As architects and urban planners, we’re ment, we need an acknowledgement on
doing too little to preserve it. Changes have indeed been made in the the part of public and private building
intervening years, but they’ve barely owners, the construction industry and
scratched the surface of what’s needed craftspeople, and the real estate and
for environmental protection. That’s housing industries that something needs
partly due to an implicit assignation of to change. The preservation of our exis
roles whereby governments are expec tence must not be left to the free play of
ted to establish framework conditions markets.
beyond which autonomous action fails
to materialize. We’ve long since reached
the limits of our current approach, a
combination of mild contrition, status
anxiety, and lack of courage to radically
change our everyday reality, which still
remains driven by the idea of growth.
We must do more to fulfil the responsibi
lities of our profession, especially given
the relevance of architecture in the face
of climate crisis. Architects and planners
alone, of course, will not save the world.
But our shared responsibility for the glo
bal impact of steadily increasing re
source consumption requires us to be
come pioneers of a climate-friendly
architecture. By agitating in one context,
we can initiate a rethinking in others.Postulate
I
Think politically and get involved
III
Respect for the existing building stock
Enough is enough. Every day, we threa Architecture and planning must make do
ten our future existence; every day, so without new construction. Instead, prio
cieties and governments threaten our fu rity should be given to the preservation
ture existence. The western attitude and development of existing materials,
towards life, whereby we feel entitled to rather than their frivolous demolition.
do and have anything at any time, must The “gray energy” contained in existing
change. We must reorient our lives buildings, from material to transport to
around new, more ecologically friendly construction, must become the yardstick
criteria. for energy assessment both in the plan
ning process and in legal regulations. We
We can no longer be patient with hesita need a new culture of maintenance and
tion and temporization, driven by lob repair.
byists. We must think and act politically;
IV
we must get involved, develop our own
initiatives, practice civil disobedience.
We must show that there is an alterna
tive to the daily environmental madness Simply intelligent
of unchecked sprawl, mobility fetishiza
tion, and the prioritization of new buil Technical upgrading to “intelligent buil
dings. Otherwise, we need no longer dings” and an excess of often ecologi
even think about the future. It’s our turn cally questionable insulation materials
to act. will not produce long-lasting and ener
getically sustainable construction.
II
New narratives for the future
Through typological, constructive, and
thermal structures, climate-friendly ar
chitecture exploits and regulates local
climatic conditions for the well-being of
We’re called upon to imagine, enable, users. Traditional local construction me
and design an ecologically responsible thods can serve as a reference. The sim
life. With vision, creativity, and concep ple is ultimately superior to the overly
tual thinking, architects and urban plan technological.
ners can conjure an inspiring image of
the future.
In order for ecologically responsible be
haviors to be accepted and implemen
ted, they must be imaginable and tangi
ble, sensual and realistic. In both urban
and rural contexts, architecture can be a
strong motivator for ecological change,
allowing it to be experienced not as a
loss, but as a gain for both individuals
and society.V
Building as material resource
VII
New forms of mobility
IX
Culture of experimentation
All materials required for construction Mobility is more than just a matter of in Never before has there been such a di
must be fully reusable or compostable. frastructure. It determines the quality of versity of ideas and suggestions for cli
That is the only way to reduce the enor life in our cities and the environmental mate-friendly living – that is, for ways to
mous amount of packaging, secondary impact of the way we move within them. assure succeeding generations a future
packaging, and materials used in buil In order for our mobility norms to be on planet earth.
ding processes and buildings come fundamentally ecological and cli
themselves. mate-friendly, mobility must be under By experimenting and learning, by
stood as a conceptual and design task for reworking and updating these ideas, we
Architectural design must make creative architects and urban planners. can generate innovations that will facili
use of recycled materials in new con tate ecological behavioral change. To
structions and renovations and ensure As a guiding principle for holistic de that end, a network of decentralized
that building components can later be velopment, the “city of short routes” pri field laboratories can act as catalysts,
come resources. This requires an ecologi oritizes pedestrians, cyclists, and public places where architects and urban plan
cal approach both to the materials them transport over individual motor traffic. ners can experiment with intelligent and
selves and the way that they’re used. Combined with attractive and appealing collective solutions in cooperation with
public spaces, it helps ensure that our ci other actors.
VI
ties remain dynamic. The connection
X
between city and surrounding area must
also be taken into consideration; instead
Complete decarbonization of increasing traffic, a new infrastructure
must constitute the basis for new forms Political laboratories
Decarbonization requires a paradigm of mobility.
shift in the use of materials and energy. New ideas cannot be tested without
VIII
Avoiding materials whose manufacture adequate political laboratories. Experi
emits significant amounts of CO2 must mental clauses in legal frameworks cre
supersede energy efficiency as an im ate the necessary space for innovation
portant ecological criterion. Encourage polycentricism and ensure that policy can be adjusted
in the face of new developments. Expe
Instead of focusing on energy-intensive Germany’s growing polycentricism must rimental spaces are an important pillar
materials like concrete and steel, be encouraged in order to limit the eco of a contemporary politics and adminis
emphasis must be placed on natural ma nomy-driven growth of cities on the one tration committed to sustainability.
terials like stone, wood, and clay. In ad hand and the rapidly increase of commu
dition, emission-free construction ma ter traffic on the other. Small and medi
chinery must be used throughout the um-sized cities should be cemented as
building process and a CO2-neutral great places to live and work thanks to
energy supply secured for the building. their cultural and social offerings and
economic foundations.
As building blocks for a new ecologically
oriented understanding of community
and region, urban planning and architec
ture can help expand the range of cli
mate-friendly living options in Germany.Looking towards Architects and urban planners are cre Decided at the 15th BDA Day on 25 May
ators. Our designs are the physical and 2019 in Halle / Saale
the future visible manifestations of a new sense of
responsibility. We can strengthen the
belief in the future of sustainable de
velopment by demonstrating how crea
tive omissions and reductions can give
rise to new living environments. We
thereby insist that a conceptual rethin
king of that which already exists in our
urban and rural spaces become part of
the social narrative – one that doesn’t
moralize, but rather makes palpable the
benefits of ecological change. To that
end, we must exploit the opportunities
of new fields of activity and take on the
challenge of more complex processes.Publisher Bund Deutscher Architektinnen und Architekten BDA Federal Headquarter Wilhelmine-Gemberg-Weg 6 10179 Berlin Phone +49 30.2787990 Fax +49 30.27879915 kontakt@bda-bund.de www.bda-architekten.de Berlin 2019 Translation by Jenna Krumminga
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