Behnisch Architekten + Transsolar Climate Engineering, Stuttgart
The exhibition is a cooperation with ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V., which also organizes the international tournee.
After the presentation in Berlin the installation will be presented at numerous locations in North America. The exhibition project “Redefining Comfort - Rethinking Conventions” presents combined outstanding architectural and engineering performances.
The Stuttgart-based practices Behnisch Architekten and TransSolar Klimaengineering have been collaborating for many years in an endeavour to develop solutions for a sustainable and responsible architecture. This collaboration has extended to both international competitions and realised projects in Germany and abroad. Current common projects include the marine museum “Ozeaneum” in Stralsund/ Germany; Harvard’s Allston Science Complex in Cambridge/ Massachusetts; Senscity Paradise Universe in Las Vegas/Nevada and the Arizona State University Gateway Project in Tempe/Arizona.
This joint exhibition attempts to detach the term “sustainability” from the common quantitative understanding and to highlight the multiple aspects of sustainability which constitute qualities in themselves. Both common and company-specific projects are presented in an attempt to assess the results of previous collaboration, as well as perspectives for the future. The exhibition addresses architects, engineers and students of related faculties, political, scientific and economic decision-makers, and, beyond this, all those who care about sustainability and social responsibility for our built environment. It does not intend to present modules for sustainable architecture; it attempts to provoke a re-definition of the term of sustainability by focussing on the role of human beings and their environment.
The exhibition design is a synthesis of content and form. The topic of the exhibition, sustainability and its many aspects, is also highlighted by the exhibition design. By addressing the five senses it underpins the central objective to the exhibition: not only to address the intellect, but also the emotions of the visitors in order to make it clear that a sensitive and responsible approach to the built environment is not only a matter for experts, but for each individual person.
Behnisch Architekten, Stuttgart was established in 1989 as a branch office of Günter Behnisch’s practice Behnisch & Partner (founded in 1952) which became known worldwide with the facilities for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Under the leadership of Stefan Behnisch this branch office became independent in 1991. In the following years it realised numerous buildings both in Germany and abroad; among them the Institute for Forestry and Nature Research in Wageningen/the Netherlands (1998), the Genzyme Center in Cambridge/Massachusetts (2003), and the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research for the University of Toronto/Canada in 2005. Behnisch Architekten is directed by Stefan Behnisch and partners Martin Haas and David Cook. The branch office in Venice,/California was founded in 1999, and is directed by Stefan Behnisch and Christof Jantzen.
Transsolar was founded in 1992 in Stuttgart as a climate engineering consulting company by Matthias Schuler, Peter Voit, and others. Today the firm is represented in Stuttgart, Munich and New York. The most important projects are the Mercedes-Benz-Museum in Stuttgart, the Bangkok International Airport and the headquarters for the Manitoba Hydro Company in Winnipeg/Canada. One of the most well-known joint projects completed by Transsolar and Behnisch Architekten is the Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hannover/Germany (2002). Transsolar is directed by Thomas Auer, Matthias Schuler, Peter Voit, Thomas Lechner, Volkmar Bleicher and Stefan Holst.
Stefan Behnisch is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Eero Saarinen Chair of Yale School of Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut; Matthias Schuler of Transsolar teaches at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in Cambridge/Massachusetts, and Thomas Auer of Transsolar also teaches at Yale School of Architecture in New Haven/Connecticut.
Speakers at the opening will be:
Kristin Feireiss, Aedes
Dr. Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, BMVBS
Dr. Ursula Zeller, ifa Stuttgart
Prof.
Dr. Falk Jaeger, Berlin
Aedes Catalogue
