HORTITECTURE – more nature within the artefact

Prof. Almut Grüntuch-Ernst, architect and partner of Grüntuch Ernst Architects, heads the IDAS (Institute for Design and Architectural Strategies) at the TU Braunschweig, where she builds up research at the intersections of architecture, biology, and technology in order to transfer the knowledge gained to the design of buildings. She introduces the topic and advances the awareness and expertise needed to develop a nature-based urban architecture with projects, ideas and experiences of international experts who have exchanged ideas at three symposia at the TU Braunschweig.

Plants and architecture: two seemingly opposite elements. How can we combine them to plan future cities that are closer to nature? What synergies can we explore? Hortitecture (from the Latin "hortus" for garden and the English "architecture“) seeks to discover the creative and constructive potential of vital plant material, and explores its applications in ecosystem services and urban food production. Nature-based architectural strategies aim for more urban vitality - they aim to activate surface areas in the city - between, around and on buildings to offer direct access to a maximum of private, collective and public outdoor spaces. Current projects by Grüntuch Ernst architects illustrate the conceptual approach how to integrate and activate biodiversity within office buildings.

Power YES - Skin NO

Prof. Florian Nagler, architect and founder of Nagler Architekten, heads the Chair of Design and Construction at the Faculty of Architecture, Technical University of Munich. After an apprenticeship as a carpenter, Florian Nagler studied architecture at the University of Kaiserslautern. Visiting and substitute professorships took him to the Gesamthochschule Wuppertal, the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen and the Hochschule für Technik in Stuttgart. Florian Nagler is a founding member of the Stiftung Baukultur and has been a member of the Akademie der Künste, Baukunst section in Berlin and the Bayerische Akademie der schönen Künste since 2010.

Florian Nagler's chair is primarily concerned with the connection between design and construction and the direct implementation of analytical studies in designs. The research work revolves around the theme of "simply build" and attempts to make a contribution to the uncomplication of building:
www.einfach-bauen.net