Evening by the fireside: architects discussed the topic of sustainability in construction

More than 90 guests from Grafschaft Bentheim, Emsland and the Osnabrück region as well as the Ruhr area and Bremen accepted the invitation to Deppe Backstein's 8th evening by the fireside at Frenswegen Abbey on 2 November 2021.

Moderated by Uta Winterhage, the panel of experts consisting of Prof. Christoph Mäckler (Mäckler Architekten), Nils Nolting (cityförster Architekten, Hanover), Adrian Nägel (Architects for Future) and Jurriaan van Stigt (LEVS Architecten, Amsterdam) discussed the topic "what does real sustainability in construction look like"?

Jurriaan Van Stigt summed up the philosophy of Levs Architecten as follows: "We should not assume that the construction industry can become climate-neutral with one single step. There are many smaller intermediate steps that can be taken right now that can help us achieve significant CO2 reduction while maintaining our ability to build high quality, sufficient and durable buildings. We have found that sustainability can sometimes look deceptively unrevolutionary." For Prof. Mäckler, building with durable materials is the main solution, as he believes that the long service life of buildings is the best form of sustainability. Nils Nolting and Adrian Nägel took a more uncompromising approach to the topic: C02 emissions must be reduced now, they rely, among other things, on converting existing buildings and thus building less and call for the use of low-emission building materials such as clay bricks. 

Thank you for the ideas and suggestions that we, and certainly some of the visitors, will take away from the discussion and process in order to realise a better and, above all, sustainably built environment. 

We would like to thank all listeners as well as all discussants and the moderator Uta Winterhager for the atmospheric evening.