The Goodness of Contamination, Part I - Discovering plants & architecture of the Völklinger Hütte

While architects and urbanists propose solutions to issues of climate change more and more within their field, they do what they do best: They invent theoretical concepts that are defined by “container” terms, such as “The Sponge City” of Chris Zevenbergen, “The 15-minute city” of Carlos Moreno, etc.. As architects, we are slowly learning that sustainability can’t be achieved only with Excel-Sheets and certificates, we also start to perceive that we need a deeper understanding of ecology.

It is an existential question that we learn to conceive of the urban landscapes as an all-encompassing ecological system. While more than often we experience that green-facades, eco-ducts, and urban-gardening are implemented as mere cosmetic applications, most importantly we have to change our perspective and work towards a human-made environment that is fully integrated in natural processes.

The first step to design is understanding. For this combined seminar we propose to analyze and document the negotiation between nature and the large built structure of Völklinger Hütte, located at the Southwest End of the German federation right at the border of France. This industrial monster, occupying 75.000 m2 of land was constructed at the times of high-end industrialization. Now abandoned, it shows the ignorance of this era towards sustainability; and yet, ironically, it has become a fascinating display of how easy nature is claiming back its existence in this place. In fact, because of its size and diversified structure, the Völklinger Hütte, supports a multitude of microclimates and micro-habitats where rich plant-biotopes are thriving.

This combined course offers an introduction to understand the creative and flexible strategies of plants to make use of a human-made structure and claim a strange anthropogenic environment. We will learn and develop skills to document, interpret and exhibit the intelligent strategies of plants with the help of architectural tools of documentation, as an example: drawing and modeling, as well as other media.

The combined seminar includes a theoretical research focusing on the relationship between plants and architecture, short excursions, sidelined by experts related to the fields of plant biology, ecology, heritage, landscape architecture, architecture, etc.. During the seminar we will explore and train different methods of documentation exploring how plants coexist with human-structures before we head off to a 4 days expedition to the Völklinger Hütte at the beginning of May. In this place you will implement your field of interest by finding instances of a relationship between plants and architecture that you’ll define, analyze, and document.

One of the aims of the seminar is for your research and documentation to become part of an exhibition.

First meeting: 22 March 2023, 14:00, Room 214