In order to put innovative professional training into practice on objects, and to stimulate the public discussion regarding resource-saving , future-oriented building techniques, a “recycled building” has been developed by the zukunftsgeraeusche GbR , of Berlin and Munich, together with the Department of Construction Physics and Structural Design(Fachgebiet Bauphysik und Baukonstruktionen) of the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin). The building—which can be assembled and disassembled, and consists of “plattenbau” components (industrial prefabricated building elements)from both east and west Germany—serves as an educational construction site for trainees in the construction field, and as a teaching aid and space for studies and professional advanced training.
It has also been used at TU Berlin and other locations as a medium and an event space in which to consciously connect the current debate surrounding sustainability in urban development, building culture, production and consumption, with living history and art. Following its stay at TU Berlin the project moved to the former Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, where the mobile building is currently located.
There as well it has been the scene of educational construction sites, countless workshops, presentations, discussions, film screenings, theatre and art events. In solidarity with more than 40 participants from the fields of science, education, economics, skilled crafts and trades and the arts, those responsible for the project have been successful in transforming sustainable thinking and practice into first-hand experience.
The project’s sponsors and materials partners were also integrated into the training activities as educational partners, through training sessions and workshops. Thus research into re-use of materials is being practically implemented, and those materials and building products are being successfully evaluated and tested for their capabilities as regards multiple, repeated application. At the end of November 2011 the project was cited as a “UN Decade Project” and in early 2012 as a “Werkstatt N Project”.
