Urban Form & Urban Nature

Task

Following the destruction of World War II and the division of the city during the Cold War, Berlin evolved as a fragmented urban landscape where traces of former infrastructures coexist with unexpected pockets of urban nature. While decades of development have transformed many of these spaces, the city continues to offer a unique laboratory for examining the relationship between the built environment and ecological systems.

As Berlin adapts to climate change and pursues ambitious carbon-neutral development goals, open spaces play an increasingly important role in regulating urban temperatures, supporting biodiversity and improving quality of life. At the same time, the city remains a model for passive environmental design, where natural ventilation, daylighting and low-energy building strategies continue to shape architectural practice.

The studio investigates how urban form and urban nature can work together to support environmental performance at multiple scales. Through computational analysis and design experimentation, students will explore the interaction of sunlight, airflow, heat and vegetation within the urban fabric and develop strategies that integrate natural and built systems in future urban development.

Key Themes

• Urban form and urban nature: understanding the relationship between ecological systems and the built environment
• Environmental performance: analysing solar exposure, daylight, airflow and thermal comfort across multiple scales
• Passive design strategies: natural ventilation, cooling, heating and climate-responsive architecture
• Climate adaptation and urban resilience in the context of Berlin’s carbon-neutral development goals
• Computational design methods for evaluating environmental performance at the city, block and building scale
• International and interdisciplinary collaboration on sustainable urban futures

Programme

The workshop combines design research with site visits, lectures and expert exchanges. Participants engage with pioneering sustainable design practices, take part in a workshop led by climate engineers from Transsolar and visit significant architectural and urban projects in Berlin, Hamburg and Dessau.

Studio Coordinators

Prof. Ulrike Passe (Iowa State University) and Prof. Alexander Kader (German University of Technology Oman)

Aedes Theme