Monthly Archive: June 2016

Topic of Discussion: “City of the Future: Socio-Ecological Utopia or Total Data Transparency?”

Self-driven cars, agriculture on breezy terraces, refrigerators that justify our purchases and also save energy at the same time: our introduction of a “city” of the future sounds like science fiction, but is actually not too far removed from reality. What are effects of demographic changes and inflow of refugees in our cities? How do we react to the fact that there is an ever-increasing number of people living, working and purchasing in our cities? How can we make our cities even more worth living, economically strong and therefore socially and ecologically viable in future? Also, what risks does total networking entail?

Recently, a number of old people’s and nursing homes have been built all across Europe. It has become necessary because of the demographic development. Important factors such location, environment, structure of a building, single and multi-bed rooms, logistic requirements, infrastructure etc. have to be decided right at the planning stage and have a considerable influence on quality and efficiency. Naturally, architecture plays a crucial role in the subsequent activities.

The symposium “Old People’s and Nursing Homes of the Future” will address these organizational, architectural, financial challenges and questions in Lucerne. The aim of this conference is the exchange of experiences between various departments in renovation and new construction of a nursing home.

Whoever said there is no such thing as a free lunch? Sustainable architectural firm Frey Architekten has started a soup kitchen initiative at their Heidelberg Village construction site to unite both construction workers and the residents who will be dwelling in the complex they are building. Every other week they offer a free lunch to bring both worker and home dweller closer together.

On June 19, 2016 the residential area of Riedlen in Bahlingen celebrated its 10^th anniversary. An ecumenical church service kicked off the festivities at 10:30 am. The residents and other guests enjoyed an extensive program with delicious food, an organ grinder, Chinese calligraphy, a book sale, the presentation of the local petting zoo, etc.

“Living is Life” is the motto for this integrative residential model. 65 home care employees work at the residence whose ultimate purpose is to ensure quality living conditions for people with restricted mobility. The residential area includes the senior living facility from the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB), the Haus Johannes, the assisted living facility Tagessstätte im Kaiserstuhl and apartments adapted to the elderly’s lifestyle into which anyone can move.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel travelled to China June 12-14, 2016 for the ninth time. Minister President Li Keqiang met her and accompanied her throughout her trip. The main purpose of the trip was to deepen German-Chinese economic, cultural and political relations. Wolfgang Frey, owner of Frey Architekten, received the honor of being invited to attend the German-Chinese Forum in Beijing.

The Smart Green Tower is a 51-meter-high residential and commercial tower, which on account of its planned size, architecture and environmental configuration, is slated to become a flagship project in the area of innovative building-integrated energy systems. Frey Architekten purposely deviated from common standard architectural aesthetics and placed its focus on a building whose outward appearance purposely makes the overall energy concept visible. Not only are photovoltaic modules installed on the roof, but the façade is also activated for energy generation and provided with circumferential PV modules; on the one hand, its purpose is to harvest energy where it is needed and the other hand, it is designed to protect the façade from overheating.

An Excursion for Chinese Experts to Freiburg During the International Passive House Conference 2016

The 20th Annual International Passive House Conference ended on April 23, 2016 in Darmstadt. Thereafter a group of business leaders and representatives from China began a European tour to view various passive hours. On April 28, 2016 the group visited Freiburg, Germany’s „capital ecocity“ and on April 29, 2016 they went to Heidelberg-Bahnstadt, one of the world’s largest passive house settlements, including Frey Architekten’s „Heidelberg Village“ project.

Heidelberg-Bahnstadt is emerging as a new urban district. Freiburg’s Frey Architekten is making its mark with sustainable, social architecture in an energetic urban neighborhood.

Freiburg/Heidelberg, October 16, 2015 – On October 15 a ceremonious groundbreaking was held for the construction project Heidelberg Village. Gerald Dietz (Head of the Branch in Heidelberg-Bahnstadt), Otmar Männer (CEO of Implenia Bau GmbH, general contractor), Markus Ziener (Board member for Software AG – Foundation, general investor) and architect Wolfgang Frey collectively broke ground for the new urban district, which, through its multifaceted structural engineering and unique social emphasis, will act as a flagship for sustainable living space.

A delegation from Qiangdao under the direction of Mr. ZHAO Shiyu, Director for the Management Committee of the Qiangdao Sino-German Ecopark and Mr. CHEN Xianghua, CEO of the Qingdao Jian An Group, visited the Frey Architekten office in Freiburg on May 21, 2016. The delegation received a warm reception by Wolfgang Frey (the owner of Frey Architekten und the Frey Group), Ms. Wang (partner for the region of China) and Dr. Bernd Dallmann, (CEO of the Freiburg Wirtschaft, Touristik und Messe, GmbH & Co.KG). In 2010 China and Germany signed a memorandum to collaborate in building the Qingdao Sino-German Ecopark. Since that time, the project’s development has received a great deal of international attention from an enterprise and political perspective.

A project group from the University of Luxemburg stopped at the Heidelberg-Bahnstadt on May 20th 2016 during its excursion lasting several days. The group compared notes about energy-related concepts and their feasibility in Germany as opposed to that in Luxemburg. The guests have already prepared a report about the green energy cooperatives and national power systems in Luxemburg during a practice-oriented advanced course certificate at the University of Luxemburg. Currently they are working on energy consumption models and innovative living concepts for apartment buildings this semester, so the projects Heidelberg Village and Smart Green Tower hold special interest for them.

Results of the excursion were  presented on June 1st 2016 during an general meeting of an energy cooperative.