Experimental Fellowship at Bauhaus Earth started as a collaboration between Bauhaus Earth and Experimental in 2022. The program supports emerging protagonists of the Bauwende, or the changing building culture, with the aim of developing new forms of expression for a sustainable built environment. The fellows will receive financial support and access to an intellectual and professional network (for a period to be determined depending on the project) that will allow them to pursue their experimental questions and design approaches. The projects are strongly encouraged to challenge existing building codes and conventions.

The fellowship projects aim to bring together experts, students and local stakeholders to promote knowledge of bio-regional, regenerative and circular construction and to bridge the gap between institutional research and building practice.

An international, interdisciplinary team of external experts advises Experimental on content and on the selection of fellowship recipients:

Prof. Florian Nagler
Professor of Architectural Design and Construction, TU Munich / Florian Nagler Architekten, Munich

Prof. Anna Ramos
Adjunct professor of Architectural Technology, ETSAB – UPC / Director Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona

Prof. Christiane Sauer
Professor of Material Design, Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin

Karen Stein
Independent Critic and Architectural Advisor, New York

Prof. Jan de Vylder
ETH Z D ARCH Chair for Architecture and Design / Share for Architecture and Attitude / A JDVIV / IVJDV A + ETC – architecten Jan De Vylder Inge Vinck, Brussels/Ghent

Prof. Dr. Jan Wurm
Professor of Regenerative Design and Biofabrication in Architecture, KU Leuven / EU Engagement and Venturing Lead Europe, Arup, Brussels/Berlin

The aim of the cooperation with Arch+ was to promote an experimental understanding of architecture as part of a thematically linked editorial internship. The Fellows were given the opportunity to work on the research, exhibition and publication project "The Great Repair – Politics for the Repair Society". Fostering their insight into the current discourse and transfer into practice. Further, it enabled contacts to internationally renowned architecture offices, authors and experts and provided important skills and mentoring, to support the Fellows in their further professional development.

The Experimental Fellows @Arch+ were Lea Scherer and Mona Rauch.

The first Fellows at Bauhaus Earth (BE-FELLOW) are Summer Islam, George Massoud and Paloma Gormley from Material Cultures in London. Their project “Constructive Land Berlin/Brandenburg” investigates the relationship between regenerative land management systems and the built environment – in this case, the rewetting of peatlands in the Sernitz lowlands in Greiffenberg, a district of Angermünde in northeastern Brandenburg.

The results of the project are published in the report "Wetlands and Construction: An opportunity for Berlin-Brandenburg" and prototypical Paludi construction fragments, which have been presented as a contribution to the exhibition ‘The Great Repair" at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.

Report Download
Wetlands and Construction: An opportunity for Berlin-Brandenburg (EN)
Moore: Potentiale für die Zukunft des Bauens (DE)

The second Fellowship has been awarded to Baukreisel for the innovative deconstruction case study “concrete.matters – primary structure laboratory.” Baukreisel will work on the case of the deconstruction and re-use of structural concrete building elements from the former Max Planck Institute high-rise building in Dortmund.

Third Fellow, the awarded South African based architect Kevin Kimwelle investigates his circular practice of building with reused components. "90% plus" compiles a project-based catalogue of reused building components and prototypes in the context of Berlin that experimentally rethink and develop circular material reuse and recycling further.

Selected fourth Fellows are Angie Dub (architect) and Heidi Jalkh (experimental designer) from Argentina. "From Mono-Material to Multi Performance" explores the potential of mineralized biogenic materials, as seashells and eggshells, to create a low-carbon alternative to various construction systems (i.e. cladding) by transforming waste into a bioceramic at room temperature. Investigating potential regional value chains from food waste in the region of Berlin-Brandenburg, goal is to design and fabricate constructive systems as fragments with varying mechanical and aesthetic properties.

“Earth, Lightly”, the fifth fellow project by architects and artists Maria Lisogorskaya and Kaye Song, explores new approaches to forms of regenerative architecture. During the fellowship, they will test and develop prototypes for earth-based construction using techniques that engage both the aesthetic and haptic dimensions of art and architecture. Centering our bodily relationship to ecological architecture, the initiative focuses on earth plasters and minerals, bioregional and reused materials, performance, and play.

“Grunt” (Ukrainian for “earth”), as sixth fellow team, the architects Anna Pomazanna and Mykhailo Shevchenko investigate the potential of regenerative reconstruction using earth sourced from contaminated soil in conflict zones, with a focus on Ukraine. Their project aim is to address war-induced environmental pollution, making its counteraction an integral part of reconstruction and engaging architects in the effort. Central is fostering multidisciplinary cooperation networks and developing guidelines that can be applied to other conflict zones worldwide.