ECOLOGY.DESIGN.SYNERGY Behnisch Architekten + Transsolar ClimateEngineering

The Stuttgart-based practices Behnisch Architekten and TransSolar ClimateEngineering have been collaborating for many years in an endeavour to develop solutions for a sustainable and responsible architecture. This collaboration has extended to both international competitions and realised projects in Germany and abroad.The common foundation of this collaboration is the confidence that high-quality built enviroments can be realized with less consuption of natural resources. The media provide us with reports every day about the imminent climate disaster, melting ice-caps and the ever-increasing hole in the ozone layer. The problems we are about to face are overwhelmingly large; we cannot offer correspondingly all-embracing solutions. Despite this, we must work on linking future economic development and the exploration of the enviroment and nature in such a way that coming generations are not deprived of opportunities in their lives and development. This cours of action is defined as sustainability. It is one of our most important task for the future, and it presents contemporary architecture with a particular challenge:what we build today, and the way we build it, will help to determine the future. The exhibition, which is a cooperation with the ifa- Institut for foreign culture relations and the forum of architecture Aedes attempts to detach the term "sustainability" from the common quantitative understanding and to highlight the multiple aspects of sustainability which constitute qualities in themselves. Both common and company-specific projects are presented in an attempt to assess the results of previous collaboration, as well as perspectives for the future. Among other projects it will be schown the RiverParc Development in Pittsburgh, the Senscity Paradise Universe in Las Vegas/Nevada and the Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hannover. By orientating the arragment to the sensous perception of mankind the curator Frank Ockert illustrates that a sensitive and responsible approach to the built environment is not only a matter for experts, but for each individual person. Behnisch Architekten, Stuttgart was established in 1989 as a branch office of Günter Behnisch's practice Behnisch & Partner (founded in 1952) which became known worldwide with the facilities for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Under the leadership of Stefan Behnisch this branch office became independent in 1991. In the following years it realised numerous buildings both in Germany and abroad; among them the Institute for Forestry and Nature Research in Wageningen/the Netherlands (1998), the Genzyme Center in Cambridge/Massachusetts (2003), and the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular, Biomolecular Research for the University of Toronto/Canada (2005) and the marine museum "Ozeaneum" in Stralsund/Germany (2002–2007). Behnisch Architekten is directed by Stefan Behnisch and partners Martin Haas and David Cook. The branch office in Venice/California was founded in 1999, and is directed by Stefan Behnisch and Christof Jantzen. Transsolar was founded in 1992 in Stuttgart as a climate engineering consulting company by Matthias Schuler, Peter Voit, and others. Today the firm is represented in Stuttgart, Munich and New York. The most important projects are the Mercedes-Benz-Museum in Stuttgart, the Bangkok International Airport and the headquarters for the Manitoba Hydro Company in Winnipeg/Canada. One of the most well-known joint projects completed by Transsolar and Behnisch Architekten is the Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hannover/Germany (2002). Transsolar is directed by Thomas Auer, Matthias Schuler, Peter Voit, Thomas Lechner, Volkmar Bleicher and Stefan Holst. IFA Coming up (preliminary dates): Apr 1, 2010 — May 30, 2010 Los Angeles, CA Jun 14, 2010 — Jul 11, 2010 Toronto, ON In co-operation with Goethe-Institut Toronto