HORTITECTURE The Power of Architecture and Plants

HORTITECTURE
SYMPOSIA
QUESTIONS
The first symposium was part of a research seminar to
compare and analyse architectural solutions based on
traditional and vernacular wisdom as well as recent explorations,
and how these are fuelling the discourse in the
field of architecture. During a series of public lecture days
we invited speakers to present interdisciplinary projects
and discuss discoveries and innovations, asking:
How are plants integrated within the building system?
What kinds of benefits can a new kind of nature-artifact
combination offer? How do the plantings affect the overall
environment and architectural design? What is the aesthetic
value and how can the composition be designed
and maintained? What is the feedback—assumptions,
expectations, failures, and surprises? What is the maintenance
factor and how scalable are these new solutions?
In the symposia thereafter we maintained our commitment
to these questions and widened our multi-layered approach
towards knowledge exchange between disciplines. We
invited experts from inside and outside the architectural
discourse to gain a deeper understanding of the physical
and biological properties of plants in architecture. In this
publication, we present the speakers in the chronological
order of the events. In the following paragraphs, we will
outline their various relationships to themes such as
ecosystem service provision, construction, urban food
production, and the poetic power of built compositions.
ECOSYSTEM
SERVICES
WATER
MANAGEMENT
Architecture is part of an urban ecosystem. As such, it
is affected by its environmental context and affects it.
These mutual interactions should be taken into account
in the design process. TU Braunschweig researchers Boris
Schröder-Esselbach and Stefan Weber from the Institute
of Geoecology directed our attention towards the patterns,
processes, and functions of urban ecosystems and habitats.
They defined and explained the concepts of ecosystem
services and their relationship to human well-being
and urban biodiversity, as well as the urban heat island
and the manifold effects of green roofs (PAGES 58–63).
We also learned from the experts Marco Schmidt and
Daniel Roehr who are researching and monitoring
projects on urban ecology through the integration of
green roofs, green façades, rainwater harvesting, and
storm water management (PAGES 110–113 & 184–193).
14