Research Center for the History of Ecological Building at the University of Kassel

The sources are historically and critically researched and contextualized, and the research results are published in the new series Fundamente Ökologisches Bauen (Foundations of Ecological Building) by Jovis Verlag. Special focus is placed on the history of the Gesamthochschule Kassel (now the University of Kassel). Germany's first research center on the history of ecological building not only aims to close a gap in recent architectural history, but also to make an important contribution to current issues relating to the building revolution.

The legacy of Gernot Minke

The UniArchiv of the University of Kassel is delighted to be able to take over an important building block for the Research Archive for Ecological Building in the form of a generous donation from the architect Gernot Minke. Gernot Minke is a pioneer of earth building and a key player in the development of ecological building since the 1970s. From 1974, Minke headed the Department of Load-bearing Structures and Experimental Building at the Kassel University of Applied Sciences, where he founded the Research Laboratory for Experimental Building (FEB). This resulted in around 50 research and development projects on topics including low-cost construction, building with clay, building with straw bales, building with bamboo, green roofs and vertical gardens. The estate includes plans and drawings of all realized and planned buildings, an indexed slide collection with 18,000 photographs, records and documentation of all teaching events and research projects from 1975-2005, correspondence and an extensive collection of publications by and about Minke. With the acquisition of further bequests and estates, the UniArchive will continue to expand in the coming years and position itself as an international contact point for the history of ecological building.

Series Fundamente Ökologisches Bauen

The publication series Fundamente Ökologisches Bauen, published by Jovis Verlag, serves as a publication tool for the research center and makes historical documents and research results accessible. It combines the thematization of historical positions with current issues of environmentally and socially responsible building. The series is edited by Philipp Oswalt and Alexander Stumm, Department of Architectural Theory and Design at the University of Kassel.

Publications on the demolition question, Gernot Minke's Experimental Architecture 1962-86, the work of Mike Wilkens 1973-95 and Lucius Burckhardt's teaching research projects 1973-93 are in preparation.

The cooperation partners

The aim of the FGÖB is to network the collection infrastructures at the University of Kassel under a thematic focus. The research center is a project of the Departments of Architectural Theory and Design and Landscape Architecture I Design in cooperation with the UniArchiv, the doku:lab - Documentation and Media Workshop of the ASL Faculty and the Foundation Archive of the German Women's Movement (AddF). The UniArchiv preserves the pre- and posthumous estates of outstanding architects and university lecturers as well as the institutional heritage of the Faculty of Architecture - Urban Planning - Landscape Planning. Since 1974, the doku:lab has focused on collecting the work of students, while the Archive of the German Women's Movement contains works on feminist approaches in architecture and planning. The analog document collections are supplemented by digital repositories (videos, documents, e-publications). The research center is committed to networking and cooperation with thematically related (university) archives in an international context. The FGÖB is headed by Prof. Dr. Philipp Oswalt and Dr. Alexander Stumm.

The founding of the FGÖB is part of the University of Kassel 's strategy to raise its profile as a university for sustainability. It strives for long-term sustainable and equal development in ecological, economic and social terms. For this reason, research focuses and study programs are being further developed that are oriented towards sustainability issues.

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Background/ Those involved:

The Department of Architectural Theory and Design, headed by Prof. Dr. Philipp Oswalt, is currently dedicated to the early phase of the Gesamthochschule Kassel, founded in 1971, as an important driving force for the establishment of ecological building. Major research projects in recent years include building for the new mobility in rural areas, the Bauhaus project, the research center and research network on the work and impact of Hannes Meyer and spatial practices of the Documenta. The department was founded in 1974 as the Department of Planning and Architectural Theory and was headed by Michael Wilkens until 1989.
http://www.uni-kassel.de/go/ath

The Department of Landscape Architecture I Design, headed by Prof. Ariane Röntz, is concerned with the teaching of landscape architecture in Kassel. It began in 1948 at the Werkakademie with Hermann Mattern, who was followed in the following decades by Günther Grzimek, Peter Latz and Dieter Kienast, among others, who provided important impulses for the discipline far beyond Germany. The intersection of environmentally conscious, in a broader sense, site-appropriate and social planning with a decidedly spatial-aesthetic design approach can be seen as a unifying basis for otherwise very different landscape architects, most of whom are not initially counted among the narrower circle of actors in ecological building.
https://www.uni-kassel.de/fb06/institut-fuer-landschaftsarchitektur-und-landschaftsplanung-1/fachgebiete/landschaftsarchitektur-i-entwurf/startseite

The ARCHITECTURE CITY ECONOMY | Construction Industry and Project Development department, headed by Prof. Dr. Gabu Heindl, deals with the range of socio-economic aspects of planning: the interdependencies of the construction industry and the housing crisis, ownership and affordability, financing and project development as well as comprehensive eco-social cost calculation in the context of climate and distributional justice.
https://www.uni-kassel.de/fb06/architektur-1/fachgebiete/architektur-stadt-oekonomie-bauwirtschaft-i-projektentwicklung/startseite

The UniArchive is the central office for safeguarding and documenting the cultural and scientific heritage of the University of Kassel. It preserves archival documents, estates and collections, indexes them according to ISAD(G) and makes them accessible to the public. The UniArchive was founded in 2021 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the university as an Office of the University Library. The foundation of the collection is formed by the founding files of the Gesamthochschule, which were returned to Kassel from the Hessian State Archives in Marburg in 2022.
https://www.uni-kassel.de/ub/uniarchiv/

The doku:lab, founded in 1974 under the name Infosystem Planung (ISP) / Grauer Raum, is the documentation center of the Faculty of Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape Planning at the University of Kassel, which manages, among other things, grey literature from architects, planners, institutions and authorities since the 1970s, the Lucius Burckhardt Archive, the Migge Archive and the archive of student work.
https://www.uni-kassel.de/fb06/organisation/dokulab-dokumentationsstelle/startseite

The Archive of the German Women's Movement (AddF) is a research institute and documentation center on the history of the German women's movement in Kassel. It conducts its own research into the history of the women's movement between 1848 and 1970 and encourages work in the field of 19th and 20th century women's and gender history. The AddF is a non-university research institution of the state of Hesse and is institutionally funded by the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art.
https://addf-kassel.de/

Website of the FGÖB :
www.uni-kassel.de/fb06/sverbuende/projektseite-fgoeb

Press contact:

Prof. Dr. Philipp Oswalt
oswalt[at]asl.uni-kassel[dot]de

Dr. Alexander Stumm
stumm[at]uni-kassel[dot]de