connect! - CHANGELAB!

“The building sector is one of the most resource-intensive industries in Europe, responsible for about half of all extracted building materials, half of all energy consumption, one third of water consumption and one third of waste”. [1] These numbers from a study of the European Commission on the sustainability performance of buildings clearly show the important role of the construction sector in meeting the German government’s climate targets. By 2050, Germany should be greenhouse gas neutral so that an increase of the global average temperature of no more than 2 degrees is not exceeded. [2]

To achieve this goal, we believe that a comprehensive change in the construction industry towards a sustainable circular economy is necessary. ChangeLab!

With the innovation platform “ChangeLab! – Wacker/KIT Innovation Platform for Pioneering Sustainable Construction”, we, the KIT Faculty of Architecture, together with our sponsor, Wacker Chemie AG, and with partners outside and inside KIT, want to publicly address and deal with this challenge. We want to take our responsibility seriously and encourage a joint discourse and exchange for a sustainable construction industry. On the newly founded platform, experiments and open results are to be tried out, discussed, and anticipated, locally, nationally, and internationally. A science blog within the “ChangeLab!” therefore offers the opportunity to discuss different perspectives on a sustainable construction industry through cross-sectoral contributions. This discourse is also continued by symposia, exhibitions and publications, and can also be experienced and designed by students via special teaching offers at the KIT Faculty of Architecture.