Traveling Germany: A Guide to Sustainable Buildings and their Construction Methodology

Architecture, Bertrand, Kaylee, Dray, Jessica, Mentor, Oral Presentation, Project, School and College, School of Architecture & Urban Planning, Student, Wasley, James

Jessica Dray and Kaylee Bertrand, “Traveling Germany: A Guide to Sustainable Buildings and their Construction Methodology”
Mentor: James Wasley, Architecture
Oral Presentation Block 2

Sustainable building is the future of architectural practice. Every day, architects are working to improve the footprint of their buildings and to better understand the relationship between natural and built environments. Germany is much more advanced than the United States in terms of implementing specific methods of this sustainable building into construction. Our research, as such, focuses on green buildings in Germany and documents the various methodology used to create them. Through our research, we have developed a Microsoft Excel sheet that serves as a database to catalog these projects. It includes basic information for each building such as the name, architect, location, year of construction, and sustainable features. Within this database, each cataloged project has a number associated with it that corresponds to an in-depth case study of the building. These case studies contain more detailed information on the building that is gathered through an intensive look at the project, occasionally through the online-assisted translation of sources from German into English. These case studies also include photographs and architectural drawings of the existing work. There are three main categories of these case studies that serve as the primary focal points of our research: adaptive reuse, ecodistricts, and net-zero buildings. In addition to these defined foci, a Google Earth file has been developed as a component of this data collection that pinpoints the exact location of each of these projects; when one of these buildings is clicked on, the corresponding case study becomes viewable for the user. The results of this research and its organization into a collective whole will be used to inform future travel opportunities within Germany. It will form a comprehensive guide that provides the user with factual and readily accessible information while visiting a site.