Archive
Lifting of the wooden bridge in Tuttlingen
The first half of the footbridge in Tuttlingen was lifted into place today on the north side of the Danube. The second part will be installed in the coming week and will complete the wooden bridge body.
The new construction will replace the dilapidated, badly damaged bridge at the same location. The new Rathausbrücke connects to the Danube cycle path and, with a width of six meters, creates a spacious and accessible link to Tuttlingen city centre.
Competition win in Offenburg
Birk Heilmeyer und Frenzel Architekten win the design competition for the new building of the Offenburg district school centre: "With a triad of a three-storey school building, a two-storey compact gymnasium and a repurposed existing factory building, the architects have succeeded convincingly in rounding off the existing school campus to the south, whilst the smaller footprints of the new buildings create generous, varied open spaces. The staggered building volumes in conjunction with the varying building heights are a logical progression within the urban grammar of the district school centre. To the south-east a broad open space forms the entrance to the campus. (...)
The proposed timber/timber hybrid construction of the new buildings in combination with a low-tech approach and the conservation of the existing building stock for the district media centre meets the requirements for a judicious use of materials and resources. In terms of the design, the architects demonstrate the principles of timber construction in both the school and the sports building by means of a clear grid, sound proportions and fine, unobtrusive detailing." (Excerpt from the jury's assessment)
Institute for Solar Physics completed
The Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) in Freiburg conducts basic research in astronomy and astrophysics with a particular focus on solar physics. After two and a half years of construction, the new building of the research facility, located opposite the SC Freiburg football stadium on the former airfield, was completed and handed over to the users to move in. The various functions of the institute, such as offices, laboratories, workshops and seminar areas, are brought together in a compact structure organized around a spacious atrium.
The new institute building is a solid construction. The window openings in the masonry, load-bearing outer shell have a vertical format, corresponding to the tectonics of the building. To reinforce the monolithic effect of the structure, the window elements in the perforated façade are set inwards.
Transmission losses are reduced as much as possible thanks to the compact structure, a glazing ratio of approx. 30% and the building envelope designed to passive house standards. A photovoltaic system is located on the roof, which provides additional electrical energy for operation and lighting in the building. (Photographs: Bernhard Strauss, Freiburg im Breisgau)
Connections for circularity in wooden buildings
The article "Connections for circularity in wooden buildings" by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Graf, Prof. Stephan Birk, Viktor Poteschkin and Marcel Balsen is published in DETAIL 1/2.2024: "t-lab, a research partner of the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), has made an experimental arena for the erection of trial buildings available in the Palatinate Forest. The first building erected using a design-research-build-process was the Diemerstein Fabrication and Research Hall. The timber structure is designed for effective circularity. In addition to circularity, this approach includes other characteristics to promote a circular economy. Among them are not only durability and material efficiency, but also flexibility of use, modularised and standardised elements, reversible connections, digital documentation and an integrated design culture. One of the features in the construction of the hall was the use of newly developed reversible connection details made from compreg..."