The future: the recycled home
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How houses can be built in the future is currently being trialled. In Hanover's Kronsberg district, for example, there is a house built entirely from recycled materials. It is a prototype that is an example of recycling-orientated and resource-saving planning.
Clinker bricks made from old roof tiles, flooring made from recycled waste wood, awnings and roller blinds made from old PET bottles - the market for recycled products is booming. When it comes to building and modernising, there is already a wide range on offer from specialist and online retailers. The Recyclinghaus in Hanover shows what is possible. For the first time in Germany, a detached house is made entirely from reused or recycled building materials. Used fibre cement panels and wooden slats from old sauna benches were used for the façade and old bricks for the terrazzo floor. The windows come from the demolition of a former factory building.
What has also been described in the media as a "house made of rubbish" has received numerous awards, nominations and prizes: the special sustainability prize at the German Façade Award, the innovation prize in the "Sustainability" category of the BFW property association; the house was shortlisted for the Lower Saxony State Prize for Architecture and received nominations for the DAM Prize and the Federal Ecodesign Prize as well as a "special prize" at the Federal Environment and Building Prize. The list shows: This construction method is still the exception.
Anyone building a house today has many options. Innovative approaches are needed on the way to more environmentally friendly architecture. For example, researchers have reinterpreted half-timbered houses and will be exhibiting them at the State Garden Show in Wangen im Allgäu until 6 October 2024. Innovations in the construction industry also include building with prefabricated modules. They enable great variety and significantly shorten the construction time. The new Serial and Modular Construction 2.0 framework agreement delivers 25 pioneering concepts for fast, cost-effective and high-quality residential construction in a Europe-wide process.
(Photo: © cityfoerster.net / Gundlach / BHW Bausparkasse, image no. 6624)