Simply sit out sustainability?

"Do you want a plastic bag?" Nah ... Uh... What? That was yesterday's news and belongs to the past? Yes, think again ... Retailers are simply circumventing the ban on plastic bags because it doesn't apply to very thin or very thick bags. The legislator has banned plastic bags with a film thickness of less than 50 micrometers. But that's all they can really do, as the European Packaging Directive stipulates that packaging that is permitted in the other member states may not be banned in one member state. Globalization? Environmental protection? What's going wrong here?

© Amazon

A monobloc plastic garden chair for just €20? And that's wrong? After all, everyone can afford it. What, that's exactly the problem? What, the crumbs from all this plastic waste are polluting our oceans? Now all that's missing is the fish ... or the food. What? Oil, fossil resources, industry, emissions? You're about to tell me about global warming.

Bathroom with 45 square meters? Of course, if you have the villa, then it's possible. How? Impoverishment of society? Who can afford it? What, space is also a resource? Well, then we'll just make the living room 12 square meters. No, that's too small even for a council apartment? Don't ask such stupid questions, there's still enough space on our planet. And stop criticizing everything ...

You can already guess how endlessly the previous story can go on. Behind all of this is the question of what sustainability is and where sustainability actually begins. Because sustainability is more than just a label on the packaging of vegan organic sausages. And what about the construction sector, an industry that is responsible for one of the highest contributions to global warming? Sustainable construction should actually be mandatory. But is it?

© EK-ll

Just sit out the debate on sustainability because there are specialists for that? On the contrary, the general interest is huge. The whole topic of sustainability is just as huge. But how do you (sustainably) develop an awareness of sustainability? In order to approach the topic in a playful way, the Chair of Architectural Design and Construction II has this time focused on an everyday object that is used far more than any other object.

The task and the results of the exercises, which were implemented by the students in a Design_Build workshop, will be shown in an exhibition in the foyer of the Faculty of Architecture.

Exhibition from 02.04. to 19.04.24 in the foyer of the BZW - B-wing.

Conducting seminar and supervising exercises :
Chair of Architectural Design and Construction II
Prof. Michael Vaerst and WMA Dipl.-Ing. Felix Beyer