In January 2020 BAUART reported on the Urban Mining and Recycling (UMAR) and Research Seminar ‘Bau auf! (Build up!). The magazine focuses on regional building culture, recently also through its online presence, which complements the haptic magazine.
UMAR was designed by Werner Sobek with Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel, Bernd Köhler, Frank Heinlein, while the seminar was held at the Professorship of Sustainable Construction at the KIT Faculty of Architecture under the direction of Sandra Böhm and Dirk E. Hebel.

The Urban Mining and Recycling (UMAR) housing and research unit in NEST, the modular Research and Innovation Building of Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf (Switzerland), is demonstrating what a paradigm shift in the construction industry reacting to the limitation of the world’s natural resources might look like. Turning away from linear material-consumption and towards an economy of material recycling, multiple use, alternative construction methods and the use of entirely separable materials – UMAR works as a material laboratory but also as a material depot. It is a proof that the responsible use of natural resources, the recycling of materials and modern architecture can go hand in hand. The design team consists of Werner Sobek with Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel, Bernd Köhler and Frank Heinlein.

Traditional materials combined with new technologies: the building material ceramic is undergoing a revival in the research seminar „Bau auf! Kreislaufgerechte Architektur in der Lehre“, offered by the Majolika Karlsruhe and the Department of Sustainable Construction at Karlsruhe’s KIT. The creation of awareness that traditional materials and old material knowledge combined with digital planning methods can lead to innovative solutions was one of the main objectives of the seminar. In the end, innovative facade systems, shading elements and plantable spatial structures were created. Sandra Böhm and Dirk E. Hebel were in charge of the Seminar leadership.

BAUART digital: https://bauart.digital
BAUART Magazin: https://www.bauartonline.de/phone/index.html

The Urban Mining and Recycling (UMAR): http://nest-umar.net

Read more about the Professorship of Sustainable Construction at the KIT Faculty of Architecture here.