Haus Döschnitz verfolgt die transdisziplinäre Weiterentwicklung des ehemaligen Wohngebäudes der Brauereifamilie Böttner zu einem gemeinwohlorientierten Lern- und Produktionsort zwischen Stadt und Land.

Earth building techniques such as earth bricks, cobb, rammed earth, and wattle & daub are among the oldest building methods known to mankind and are still of great importance in today’s highly technologised building industry. Due to its potential for life-cycle construction and its positive effect on interior room climate, earthen materials offer considerable advantages to architects and clients. In the seminar we will learn the theoretical and practical basics for the application of earth building materials using different techniques. As part of a cooperation with Gropius Bau and artist Kerstin Brätsch, we will explore potential applications for these construction techniques in the context of a planned intervention in Gropius Bau in Spring 2025 in the form of large-scale prototypes and mock-up finishes 

As part of the exhibition YOYI! Care, Repair, Heal in Gropius Bau, 30 students from Natural Building Lab realised the Bee Hive - an 8m diameter dome, constructed from bamboo and earth - as a setting to exhibit films from artist Tabita Rezaire. The exhibition features perspectives from 25 artists on the entangled themes of care, repair and healing. Tabita’s works - including Singing Bee Garden (2021) - focus on how local, scientific and spiritual knowledge is handed down through generations and the installation should invite visitors to “rest within the womb of the earth”.

The transformation to a post-fossil future will require change on all scales. We believe that the next generation of architects have a key role to play in defining how we respond to the huge challenges posed by climate change and the increasing social costs of maintaining our global urban lifestyle.

In a post-fossil future, where resource scarcity and climate change have become an unavoidable reality, new spaces and typologies will be required for us to find answers to the challenges facing humanity.

The community Eden is located near to Oranienburg, just outside of Berlin; this year they will celebrate their 125th anniversary making them the oldest exisiting lebensreform community cooperative in Germany.