REL22 Reinventing Energy Landscapes – IDEA League Summer School
The design workshop of REL22 Reinventing Energy landscapes, an IDEA League Summer School, was held from 18.08.22 to 27.08.22 on site at Buir, located near to the Hambach open-cast mine. The aim of the workshop was to formulate a useful and stimulating vision that can inspire local stakeholders involved in the landscape transformation of the Rhenish Lignite District, in particular around the Hambach open-cast mine.
Design Workshop concluded with inspiring results
Conceived by RWTH Institute of Landscape Architecture (Prof. Frank Lohrberg, Silvia Beretta) the Summer School program was organised in cooperation with professors from Politecnico di Milano (Prof. Antonio Longo) and TU Delft (Prof. Laura Cipriani). The workshop brought together young minds from the field of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning and Engineering to provide innovative ideas rooted in a common landscape vision for a sustainable Lake based context. The students, from as many as 14 different nationalities, were organised into five interdisciplinary groups. They started studying the topic as early as the end of May, immediately after an online introductory seminar that provided them with the first information on the region and the problems that the so-called Strukturwandel will entail.
The design task was defined in accordance with the requirements of stakeholders such as the municipalities of Kerpen-Buir and Merzenich, Neuland Hambach (local agency for Spatial Development), RWE Power AG, Buirer für Buir (citizens´ association for local interests) and Bund Deutscher Landschaftsarchitekten (BDLA), all of whom actively participated by providing information and materials and interacting with students during the workshop.
The summer school concluded with the presentations by the students of their design visions for the future landscape around Hambach. Stakeholders participated enthusiastically on the final day showing great interest in the presented projects and offering insights for further discussion.
Learn more about REL22.
Organized by:
RWTH Aachen University
Program coordinator: Silvia Beretta
Technical committee: Silvia Beretta, Katharina Christenn, Matti Wirth
Research assistant: Amrita Kaur Slatch
Logistics coordinator: Veronika Stützel
In cooperation with:
Politecnico di Milano
Antonio Longo, Chiara Geroldi
TU Delft
Laura Cipriani
Funded by:
IDEA League