2_1_DiscoverGermany_Issue32_November2015:Scan Magazine 1
26/10/15
19:26
Page 72
Special Theme
Counteracting climate change with architecture The effects of climate change on our everyday lives and the environment are becoming more and more apparent. It’s vital that we all do our share and live in a more conscious way to counteract the consequences of climatic change. Luckily, that thought is adapted by more and more influential businesses, such as Germany’s award-winning architecture firm ArchitekturWerkstatt Vallentin GmbH. NANE STEINHOFF I PHOTOS: WOOCHEOL JEONG ARCHITEKTURWERKSTATT VALLENTIN I JACOB KANZLEITER
As one of Germany’s forerunners in sustainable building, ArchitekturWerkstatt Vallentin intelligently combines energetic innovations with exceptional design. “We see sustainability as a universal issue and our main task. We want to give our best in building sustainably and want to show that this means high-level aesthetics and cost effectivity,” Gernot Vallentin, founder of ArchitekturWerkstatt Vallentin, explains. Thus, the architecture firm is committed to sustainable building, exceptional design and taking care with customer budgets.
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Founded in 1996 by Gernot Vallentin and his wife Rena Vallentin, the team of
Great Architects
ArchitekturWerkstatt Vallentin now know exactly how sustainable building works. The physical Passive House Standard, first developed for the Chinese climate, is the energetic minimum requirement for all of their projects. The low-tech concept is balancing the inner climate of the building and reduces the carbon dioxid emission to a fifth of the regular house emissions. This regulation works in all seasons and all climates worldwide – cold, hot and humid. Closely integrating the planning of outdoor facilities into their working process is as part of their projects as developing comfort concepts in which the indoor climate forms a symbiotic relationship with the microclimate of the outdoor area.“Room designs and technical concepts are closely intertwined. The interdisciplinary planning, even in the concept phase, is thus natural,”