The Institute for Grey Energy develops new strategies for resource-saving and social-oriented activation of vacant building as part of the redevelopment in rural areas. The focus is on research, conservation and reuse of "Grey Energy" stored in buildings. Our first project - the Oßmannstedt granary – serves as a laboratory and physical center for our mostly digital activities. Here, a public interface for spatial development is created, where inclusive concepts for vacancies can be disseminated.
Regional
Germany
Eastern Germany
Mainly rural
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Insitut für Graue Energie Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Fridtjof Florian Last name of representative: Dossin Age: 27 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Gender: Male Nationality: Germany Function: Head of Association Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Bahnhofstraße 9 Town: Ilmtal-Weinstrape Postal code: 99510 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 3643 583285 E-mail:post@graue-energie.de Website:https://www.graue-energie.de
The Institute for Grey Energy is a platform for the production of knowledge on the conversion and reuse of buildings in post-industrial and shrinking rural areas. Under the aspect of “embodied energy”—that in German due to its invisible character translates to “Grey Energy”—we develop strategies against demolitions and for resource-saving and socially oriented activation of this embodied “Grey Energy”.
The use of natural resources to shape our environment requires the use of energy that is invisibly inherent in materials as so-called “grey energy”. In the sense of the resource-saving construction, this energy must be made visible and used in a new way. Particularly in formerly industrial regions, new ways of productive conservation and utilization are necessary and the goal of the “Institute for Grey Energy”. Understanding how to deal with grey energy forms the basis of a holistic approach towards material, social, aesthetic and inclusive sustainability for the development of cities and regions. In this way, the Institute contributes to the resource-conserving and sustainable development of rural areas.
The Institute is composed of three divisions. The Atelier is a collective of young planners who develop strategies of radical conservation on the object. The Archive becomes a place for the generation and storage of knowledge: Here we explore the emergence of concepts of “embodied energy” since the beginning of modernity, its interdisciplinary meaning and its transformation as a current challenge of the 21st century. The first Real-life Laboratories, a derelict granary in Oßmannstedt and an empty green house in Hohenleuben in the Vogtland (Thuringia), show the relevance of these approaches. Here, public centers for collaborative spatial development are being created, in which inclusive and productive planning approaches for spaces beyond the metropolises are being conceived.
transformation
vacancy
rural commons
productive regional development
post-industrial regions
The construction industry uses an enormous amount of energy, both in the production and demolition of buildings, which already today is ecologically and socially unjustifiable. It is obvious that the most sustainable solution to the crisis in the construction sector is not resource-saving new construction, but radical conservation of existing buildings. Our contribution to building in the face of climate catastrophe is therefore new strategies for dealing with existing and previously unused “Grey Energy” in rural regions: Inventories must be thoroughly recorded. Existing substance must always be preserved; demolition is always the ultima ratio and subject to approval. If this appears unavoidable, local reuse of the material is to be preferred to its reprocessing. The transformation of a derelict building is also based on what already exists. The necessary interventions are to be designed reversible and repairable in the long term in the sense of the circular building economy. Existing systems are to be preferred to new technological and energy-intensive transformations. Since uses have shorter life cycles than buildings, they should always be understood as interim uses. A building cannot be developed conclusively, but smaller low-threshold uses can serve as nuclei for the revitalization of large complexes.
In the real laboratories, these approaches are applied in an exemplary manner and with a high public profile. Here, the approaches pursued can be analyzed in terms of their ecological impact and social impact. Through various communication formats, the approaches are already presented, discussed with the (expert) public and, at best, transferred to other (still) vacant reallabs.
Rural areas have been threatened for decades by a lack of services of general interest and social transformations that have created spatial imbalances. In particular, deindustrialization has hit some parts of rural regions harder than cities and has deeply inscribed itself in the countryside of the industrial cultural landscape. Using the example of Eastern Germany, the Institute for Grey Energy takes a close look at buildings and areas that were previously perceived as inconvenient or even as "eyesores". The preservation and research of the Grey Energy bound up in them enables new sustainable narratives and perspectives.
An initial goal is to halt the deterioration of the property, end vacancy, and preserve existing aesthetic qualities. Beyond aspects of use, this first step is already visually perceptible. A closer look quickly reveals that these objects in particular are characterized by impressive architecture and urban structure, shape the local and landscape image and are an essential part of the aesthetic identity of a region. For a new quality of experience, therefore, the next step is to open up the places that have long been legally inaccessible and to address the narratives previously attached to them. For the Reallabor, for example, this means questioning the perception of the site as an agricultural center, as well as the significance of the National Socialist background to its origins. This understanding is the basis of a new perception.
However, further handling should not be limited to restoration and conservation. The reuse should be productive in the sense of new value chains and develop its own creative expression. For the real-life laboratory this means the preservation of the 24m high granary in the sense of an ecological agricultural production and an interim use as an association office of the Institute for Grey Energy.
A long-term rethinking of Grey Energy can only succeed with a consensus on its value throughout society. With the Institute, we link accumulated knowledge, in-depth experience and new ideas with previous strategies of conservation. The Institute therefore sees itself generally as an open and interdisciplinary collective. It offers an open center for all interested parties and wants to actively foster their collaborative participation on site.
The success of the project depends on the participation of as many professional and social perspectives as possible, which we integrate through active networking, in particular with other rural actors. Beyond our existing cooperations, we want to inspire new people for the joint work. The first basis is the location of a project, the implementation of the activities of the Institute in this region and the exchange with neighboring people. Ideas for the non-urban space are developed collaboratively on site and not projected from urban centers. At the same time, the real-life laboratory forms a welcoming space for interested people from other regions.
In order to guarantee this goal in the long term, not only the projects, but also the collected knowledge and ideas remain on site. The Archive's knowledge repository enables all interested parties and researchers to cooperatively produce knowledge for the region. The project fair of the Archive explicitly serves to the reception of further suitable project ideas, which can be discussed, debated and compared with reality in the real laboratory with local participants. Last but not least, strategies of collaborative spatial development will be practically tested at further locations in the studio. Building on local knowledge, new formats of collaborative spatial development are developed using design methods. Beyond participation, this explicitly includes practical collaboration, the exchange of experiences and the acquisition of further real-life laboratories.
The Institute develops strategies for vacancy activation in dialog with local civil society actors, such as residents, communities or interested parties. For this purpose, actors are specifically addressed. In addition, issues of Grey Energy are addressed through events, exhibitions and discussion formats. Due to the transformation after 1990, the rural areas of Eastern Germany are often affected by shrinkage and decay. With the preservation of a building and the design of the townscape, their social significance is also discussed. The productive reuse of spaces and places succeeds in creating local value chains, but also social communication spaces of local communities. Basically, the successful revitalization of abandoned spaces thus has an impact on the townscapes and shared cultural heritage and their positive perception by society as a whole.
To address these various social meanings, the Institute organizes workshops with elderly people, pupils or other interested parties on specific focal points such as the theme of shared memories. A summer festival opens up the formerly public spaces even without a thematic focus, thus enabling new perspectives on the past, present and future of the site. Other important points for the exchange about the common cultural heritage are the German national day of historic sites (“Tag des offenen Denkmals”) or the European Heritage Volunteers program.
Previous formats of communication have been created in collaboration with regional academic and cultural institutions. These include the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the International Building Exhibition Thuringia (IBA), the International Heritage Center Weimar or the Weimar Classic Foundation (Klassik Stiftung Weimar). In addition, there are contacts with the state administration of Thuringia, which has made it possible, for example, to network and promote the Regional Action Group Weimarer Land and the LEADER program. Also locally, the social, technical and practical exchange succeeds, for example, with residents and interested parties. In addition, there are networks with other rural development initiatives such as the LeerGut-Agenten network, the Neulandgewinnern or higher-level research institutions such as the Technical Universities in Munich, Berlin and Prague. The Institute sees itself as an independent structure that works autonomously and self-determined in a collaborative, open way and actively seeks cooperation with regional and local stakeholders.
The Institute works in the fields of architecture, crafts, spatial planning and knowledge management. According to our holistic understanding of spatial development, these areas cannot be separated. For us, research is not merely the gathering of facts, but the development of a professional and creative attitude. Our knowledge production is based on existing, local knowledge resources that are dynamically integrated into design processes. Knowledge, attitude and design become a fluid process that maps all stages of a design process. Architecture does not remain on paper; rather, its applicability is tested out by hand on site. Without a close integration of structural production into the design process, resource-saving conservation would be inconceivable, which is why we continuously establish the spatial reference of our work on the basis of building structures.
Just like the conversion of industrial landscapes, the reuse of Grey Energy has been a pressing challenge of the de-industrial transformation for about 30 years now. As an Institute, we tie in with discussions, but attempt a model approach to a radicalized concept of conservation. The focus on the industrialized landscapes of Eastern Germany holds untapped potential for the conservation and activation of this energy resource.
The semantic expansion of the concept of Grey Energy is particularly new. In cooperation with different disciplines of building and design, we enrich building concepts with inclusive, social and cultural concepts. In this way, the concept is prudently expanded: we also consider knowledge, networks and cooperations as worthy of preservation and social use. The Institute already fits into a network of governmental, academic and social stakeholders in the region. In order to counter images of decay and narratives of decline, historical research and cultural reappraisal are taking place in parallel with structural retrofitting.
The innovative content of the holistic view of Grey Energy is tested as a model and taken to its extremes. The granary in Oßmannstedt and the green house in the Vogtland show us how the approach can be made productive, but also where it reaches its limits. The real-life laboratories function both as a compass and a motor of transformation. In addition, we develop strategies in the Atelier that can be communicated on a broader scale and made usable for other projects. The Archive, as a central and permanent facility for documenting the research, strategies and approaches, represents the knowledge hub of these adaptation processes.
Approaches of radical conservation can only help in the long run to replace resource-saving construction with resource-avoiding reuse and to demonstrate radical solutions for saving greenhouse gases by combining experimentation and documentation as well as designing and building.
Since documenting and communicating reuse and repurposing processes are among the Institute's core concerns, special emphasis is placed on the transfer of knowledge gained. The methods we have developed should be precisely documented and user-friendly to be found on the Internet. A database for this purpose is under construction. Although the conditions for vacancy activation in Eastern Germany are unique in comparison to other European countries, particular attention is paid to developing cross-cutting solutions in the development of resource-avoiding design strategies. In this context, the idea of radical conservation is intended as a model to stimulate a new perspective on existing buildings. With this in mind, we attach importance to a supra-regional and international exchange of expertise and are developing various formats of practically based scientific communication.
The collaboratively discussed case studies and approaches contribute to the formation of local knowledge networks that enable the management of knowledge in a long-term and resilient manner.
Although the climate crisis is felt more strongly in cities than in rural areas, the energy transition will be decided in rural areas. This is where the potential for a sustainable transformation of our living environment lies. The disciplines of architecture, urban planning and preservation of historical monuments in particular must make contributions to a building turnaround in rural areas. Not only is it necessary to stop land consumption, sealing and deforestation, but also to discover previously unused potential for sustainable spatial development. The production of energy—for example, by exploiting large-scale roof systems for solar energy—represents just one example of the usefulness of converting vacant land. Particularly in the area of energy-saving and productive use of vacant buildings, as opposed to new construction, there is special potential in rural areas. This not only prevents demolitions that are harmful to the climate, but also creates spaces for society as a whole as a sign of positive transformation experience. Growth paradigms are questioned and existing resources are rediscovered as a new value. The transfer of regionally acquired knowledge contributes to ecological awareness even beyond Eastern Germany.
