The tu! Hambach will once again transform Bürgewald into an open laboratory for structural change on June 27 and 28, 2025. Under the annual theme “Energy(ies) for Transformation,” researchers, municipalities, and civil society will gather to exchange ideas between the edge of the open-cast mine and the village of the future. Workshops, excursions, and an ideas market form the framework of the event, with the format deliberately focusing on dialogue and participation.
Fresh Impulses with the Re:SET Research Project
A programmatic highlight will be set by Julia Knapp (TU Darmstadt, Department of Design & Building Technology) with her lecture on the interdisciplinary research project “Re:SET – Bürgewald – Place of the Future.” Julia Knapp outlines the three-phase design process of the summer semester 2025, in which architecture students develop prototypical renovation scenarios for a typical residential house and, together with a social scientist, examine their social feasibility.
Julia Knapp presents Re:SET and the Pioneer House 62.
Spotlight on Pioneer House 62
The focus is on “House 62” on Unterstraße – internally often referred to as the “Pioneer House on Unterwegsstraße.” As early as May, the students explored the vacant single-family house on site, took measurements, analyzed usage potential, and discussed questions of sustainable living, mobility, and social infrastructure. Impulse lectures on climate justice, biodiversity, and social change accompanied this initial survey.
Forward-Looking Concepts for Living and Community
The Re:SET project aims to transform this widely spread house type into a future-proof, resource-efficient, and socially integrative living space. Transferable concepts are being developed that combine energy-efficient renovation, circular construction, and flexible floor plans with participatory neighborhood development. The designs serve as a blueprint for a potential real-world laboratory in Bürgewald; House 62 could become the first built demonstrator.
At the entrance of tu! Hambach stand Ferdinand Berghof (student assistant), Julia Knapp, and Sharon Nathan (research associates).
Bürgewald as a Model for a Sustainable Village
The fact that Bürgewald itself has been declared a “Place of the Future” gives this initiative particular significance. The former resettlement village of Morschenich-Alt is set to be carefully renovated with around 90 million euros of state investment, while also being supplemented with innovative housing and energy concepts. Energy systems, mobility, and water management will be interconnected within a dynamic master plan to create a model sustainable village.