What if we were no longer allowed to construct new buildings? What if today's climate were already three degrees warmer, or if we honestly asked ourselves how much space and comfort we really need? Questions like these are the starting point for the exhibition curated by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). The DGNB is a non-profit association based in Stuttgart that has been promoting sustainable, responsible construction for 18 years. With the DGNB Certification System, it has developed an internationally recognized planning and optimization tool for assessing sustainable buildings and quarters. The exhibition invites visitors to question entrenched ways of thinking and rediscover the core of sustainable architecture: buildings and neighborhoods that offer people a good home, are affordable and provide answers to the climate crisis. A red thread traces the development of sustainable construction, flanked by five thematic areas and the winning projects of the German Sustainability Award for Architecture.
Winner of the German Sustainability Award for Architecture 2023: U-Halle Mannheim, Hütten & Paläste © BUGA 2023 gGmbH | Winner of the German Sustainability Award for Architecture 2020: Alnatura Campus Darmstadt, haascookzemmrich Studio2050 © Brigida Gonzalez
Visitors are invited to question familiar patterns of thought and action in relation to sustainable building and to open themselves up to new perspectives. The exhibition highlights the multifaceted nature of sustainable architecture and situates the developments of recent decades within this context. At the same time, it provides impulses for how everyone can contribute to change – without a wagging finger.
“We want to invite people to return to the essence of sustainable architecture – tied to the question of what defines good buildings and neighborhoods: places where people feel comfortable, that remain affordable, and that at the same time provide answers to the most pressing climate challenges,” explains Dr. Christine Lemaitre, Chief Executive Director of the DGNB, describing the conceptual approach of the exhibition. “That may sound trivial, but it isn’t, because we have forgotten how to question ingrained routines. A shift in perspective is needed, and it is precisely this shift that we want to encourage in all visitors.”
In this spirit, What If: A Change of Perspective is also a plea for an open, honest look at what becomes possible when we are willing to think differently. And it is an invitation: to reflect, to rethink, to think further – and to help shape together a built environment that is both livable and future-proof. The exhibition is an appeal to learn from good solutions of the past instead of constantly reinventing the wheel. Standing as examples are the previous winning projects of the German Sustainability Award for Architecture, which the DGNB has been awarding annually since 2013 together with the German Sustainability Award Foundation.
“Most of the projects we have recognized were ahead of their time, because they addressed aspects of the wide-ranging field of sustainable building in exemplary ways – aspects that, at the time of their design, were anything but self-evident,” says DGNB President Prof. Amandus Samsøe Sattler.
Winner of the German Sustainability Award for Architecture 2017: wagnisART Munich, bogevischs buero © Julia Knop, HH | Winner of the German Sustainability Award for Architecture 2013: Ravensburg Art Museum, LRO © Roland Halbe, Stuttgart
The Exhibition
In addition to a figurative red thread that explains the development and discourse of sustainable building, the exhibition focuses on five key thematic areas. These are illustrated through visual and textual materials as well as the 13 previous winning projects of the German Sustainability Award in the “Architecture” category. Experts from the fields of architecture, planning, real estate, politics, and public administration provide insights into the diversity, opportunities, and challenges of sustainable building as they encounter them in their work.
German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)
Founded in 2007, the DGNB is today Europe’s largest network for sustainable building, with more than 2,800 member organizations. The content-driven association aims to promote sustainability in the construction and real estate sectors and to firmly anchor it in public awareness. With the DGNB Certification System, the independent non-profit organization has developed a planning and optimization tool for assessing sustainable buildings and quarters, helping to increase actual sustainability in construction projects. Through its training and continuing education platform, the DGNB Academy, more than 11,000 people in over 60 countries have already been qualified as experts in sustainable building.
Catalogue
An Aedes catalogue will be published.
