A bustling fair, exciting research, and plenty of Civil Engineering—that’s what the LNdW was all about

Anyone who thought it would be too hot on the TU Dresden campus for the Dresden Science Night was proven wrong. Once the sun had dropped a bit, our lab courtyard began to fill up. Once again, countless visitors came to learn about our current research topics at our booths. A “Junior Architect” activity sheet proved to be a helpful guide. With simple questions, it directed younger visitors to the various booths run by our faculty—and, of course, their parents tagged along.

But it wasn’t just in the Lab Courtyard that we offered a varied program throughout the night. With the CARE Pavilion on the Lecture Hall Lawn, we were present in front of the large TUD stage to showcase our Cluster of Excellence. The cluster’s spokesperson, Viktor Mechtcherine, summed up the CARE mission with his live magic show, “Circular Magic.” In a humorous way, he demonstrated something that isn’t actually funny at all: We use our raw materials in such a way that, once a building’s life cycle is over, we have no choice but to throw them away. “It’s as if someone had the idea to glue Lego bricks together.” This is exactly where research in the CARE Cluster of Excellence comes in: The goal is to plan, design, and construct buildings in the future in such a way that, at the end of their useful life, their materials can be returned to the material cycle as completely as possible. This approach aims to make construction more resource-efficient, climate-friendly, and sustainable. The focus is on new building materials, innovative construction principles, and digital manufacturing technologies.

Lange Nacht bei den Bauingenieuren

Anyone interested in exploring more construction-related topics was invited to take a guided tour of the open Carbon Concrete House, visit the new geotechnical laboratories in the Beyer Building, or even conduct small soil experiments themselves.

It didn’t get cold all evening, but our faculty was well attended all night long.