Photo Gallery 'Reduce/Reuse/Recycle'
Is it possible for humans to live on this planet and not leave any footprints while at the same time saving on heating costs? It may sound a bit exaggerated, but that seems to be the unfulfilled wish behind much of today's environmentally friendly architecture. The problem is that even if these homes are passive and are energy-efficient, it takes a lot of energy to build them. The production of the materials, transport and construction are all energy-intensive and also offset the environmental gains made by these buildings. The numbers are even worse if one first tears down a building in order to erect a new one.
Under the title "Reduce/Reuse/Recycle," this year's Germany pavillion at the Venice Architecture Biennale focuses on this criticism and offers some prescriptions for a better future.
Rather than constantly building new things, the message goes, we should recycle more and make better use of existing structures. As ironic as this might be at one of the world's leading architectural forums, this thinking could actually lead us to use less architecture in the future than more. The logic is that those who do not build also do not consume energy.
The fact that the idea is an attack on the self-image of many architects, who view themselves as artists, is self-evident ...
... because any work done on an existing building requires the architect to consider what has already been created and also what the original architect's intentions might have been. That doesn't always leave much room for art.
But Muck Petzet, who is responsible for this year's German participation in the Biennale, is convinced that new thinking is needed.
He believes we need to rethink architecture and come up with a new style of building that is compatible with the energy revolution, Germany's plan to shift to renewable energies by the middle of the century.
