Promoting dialog between nature conservation and architecture

Architecture and biodiversity symposium

Urban spaces have long been considered hotspots of biodiversity. Buildings are important habitats for many animal species. Architects can play a key role in promoting biodiversity through the design of buildings. This is why architects and leading scientists discussed what an ecologically sustainable building culture can look like at the Architecture + Biodiversity symposium.

What challenges lie ahead of us

Bird strikes on glass, light pollution and the destruction of nesting sites through construction activities endanger biodiversity in urban areas. In Europe and North America, 500 million to one billion birds fall victim to bird strikes on glass every year. Furthermore, in the second half of the 20th century, the intensity of night-time lighting increased by 3-6% annually. For insects in particular, night-time lighting leads to a veritable vacuum cleaner effect. There are already concepts such as animal-aided design that take into account the needs of animals or even create new habitats, but architects and builders are often unaware of them. To promote dialogue between architecture and nature conservation, UfU and BUND organized the Architecture + Biodiversity symposium. “The direct exchange between scientists on species protection in buildings and those who implement construction projects is something special that has never existed in this form before,” says Claudia Wegworth from BUND Berlin, the conference’s technical director. The need for this exchange is underlined by a statement from Jan Musikowski, who designed the Futurium in Berlin together with his architectural firm. “Our interest was the appearance and not nature,” he admitted, before reporting on how the Futurium’s glass façade was subsequently optimized with special films to prevent bird strikes. He emphasized that architects are already confronted with many regulations and need concrete guidelines for orientation.

What solutions are there

According to Christine Lemaitre, Managing Director of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), fully glazed façades are no longer a model for the future, even in terms of the energy efficiency of buildings. Prof. Dr. Thomas E. Hauck from the Vienna University of Technology also underlined the need to find new aesthetic preferences in architecture that benefit biodiversity: “The costs are relatively low. Peanuts compared to a parking space in an underground garage”. Cosima Lindemann, Chairwoman of the Rhineland-Palatinate Nature Conservation Association, also emphasized that old certainties need to be reconsidered with regard to the climate crisis. For example, nesting sites for birds should be placed on the north side of buildings to avoid direct sunlight. Dr. Franz Hölker from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries also highlighted the massive impact of light emissions on plants, animals and humans. For example, bridge lighting disrupts the migration of various fish species, which means that the ecological continuity of watercourses required by the European Water Framework Directive cannot be guaranteed. Annette Krop-Benesch from the “Sustainable Lighting” initiative therefore emphasized that the blue component of light should be reduced and that lighting should be used as weakly and precisely as possible. The concluding discussion showed that the initial exchange between nature conservation and architecture had already borne fruit. Nevertheless, satisfactory and sustainable solutions can only be implemented together in the future. The symposium “Architecture + Biodiversity” took place on September 27 at the German Architecture Center in Berlin and was funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Around 80 people took part on site, 200 more were connected online. A detailed documentation of the event can be found here.