WATER: CURSE OR BLESSING!?
#1 We Want Water!
The kick-off Lab Talk in the series examines the entire water cycle and strategies for building future resilience. It aims to identify and explore solution-driven, sustainable water-related architectural and urban development projects.
Moderated by Winy Maas, supported by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) and the Embassy of the Netherlands Berlin
Date: Thursday, 23 November 2023, 18:30
Place: Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Christinenstr. 18–19, 10119 Berlin
Introduction
The kick-off Lab Talk in the series examines the entire water cycle and strategies for building future resilience. It aims to identify and explore solution-driven, sustainable water-related architectural and urban development projects. Taking a holistic approach, water is viewed as a critical new value — an opportunity for transformation, as well as both a vital resource and an existential threat. The talk also sets the stage for the focal points of the upcoming sessions in the series:
- Water as Resource: Too Much or Too Little_How do we combat drought and desertification? Can we create rain or desalinate water? How and where can freshwater be stored and purified? What technical solutions are available? Additionally, what is the connection between water, building and climate protection in the face of rising sea levels and flooding?
- Water and the City_What are the prerequisites and strategies for creating water-wise cities, including concepts like sponge cities, cooling cities and renaturation/shared habitats?
- Water and Building_How can design and construction address water-related challenges? What legislative changes are needed to support this?
- Water and Innovation_How can we build with new or reinterpreted materials and technologies that enhance resilience, support water management, and contribute to transformation and a circular economy?
Programme
Welcome
Miriam Mlecek_Programme Manager, Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin
Henk Snoeken_Counselor for Infrastructure, Environment and Water Management, Netherlands Embassy in Berlin
Introduction
Winy Maas_Director and Co-Founder MVRDV, Rotterdam
Presentations
Justin Abbott_Global Water Skills Leader, Arup, Dublin
Dieter Gerten_Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research | Professor for Global Change Climatology and Hydrology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Rikke Juul Gram_Partner, Schønherr Landscape Architects, Copenhagen
Panel Discussion with speakers, peers and the audience
moderated by Winy Maas
Front-Row Peers
Britta Deiwick_Landscape Architect, Berlin
Birgit Detig_Cities Director Berlin and Hamburg, Arcadis, Hamburg | Berlin
Anke Hagemann_Habitat Unit, TU Berlin
Theresa Keilhacker_President, Berlin Chamber of Architects
Anne König_Team Manager, Water Resource Management, Berliner Wasserbetriebe
Friedrich Hetzel_Head of Department Water and Waste Management, DWA – Deutsche Vereinigung für Wasserwirtschaft, Abwasser und Abfall e.V., Hennef
Sebastian Schimmelpfennig_Resource Management, Berliner Wasserbetriebe
Sebastian Seelig_Partner BuroHappold | Cities, Berlin
Video
Video © Reframe
The Series
WATER: CURSE OR BLESSING!?
Aedes’ international, interdisciplinary programme aims to establish new planning processes and structures related to water use and distribution in the built environment. Through a series of six Lab Talks dedicated to building future resilience, Aedes seeks to identify and discuss sustainable water-related architectural and urban development projects that also address the (re)establishment of socio-economic coherence through conscious water management.
Interdisciplinary experts explore the role of water in climate change mitigation — from reducing CO2 emissions and ecological footprints to adaptation and resilience in urban and national contexts, and recognising water as a common good from source to sea. As an element, resource, and infrastructure, water has a profound impact on the natural, built and living environments. In Water: Curse or Blessing!?, architects and planners engage in innovative knowledge exchange with experts from environmental research, science, and politics, deriving insights for their work processes, planning, implementation, and building projects.
Lab Talk Series
Aedes Theme
Dieter Gerten
Dieter Gerten
Henk Snoeken
Henk Snoeken
Justin Abbott
Justin Abbott
Justin Abbott, Rikke Juul Gram, Dieter Gerten, Winy Maas
Justin Abbott, Rikke Juul Gram, Dieter Gerten, Winy Maas
Rikke Juul Gram
Rikke Juul Gram
Winy Maas
Winy Maas
Winy Maas
Winy Maas
Photos © Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk
In collaboration with:
Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, Osnabrück
The Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, The Hague
The OBEL Award, Copenhagen
Transsolar, Stuttgart
PolyUrbanWaters Research Project
GBA Lab, Shenzhen
