DETAIL 6.2021

From the editorial DETAIL 6.2021

In 1961, the Berlin Wall was built and John F. Kennedy took office as President of the United States of America. Yuri Gagarin was the first man to fly into space. And in Munich, in the south of the Federal Republic of Germany, Detail was founded. For this very special issue celebrating the magazine’s 60th birthday, instead of a nostalgic retrospective we opted to take stock of the present and look to the future of architecture. Our roadmap was provided by the pressing issue of climate protection and the earth’s dwindling resources.

What is needed for true systemic change in the construction industry? The committed pioneers in our interviews make sober assessments, but also articulate their vision and demands for political action. “What can we do about the climate emergency?” we ask Michael Pawlyn of Architects Declare. Nora Sophie Griefahn from Cradle to Cradle (C2C) explains why we need to fundamentally rethink construction. Hermann Kaufmann considers the development of timber construction and its future. Anders Lendager, a pioneer of circular construction, focuses on the urban mines of the future. And Amandus Samsø Sattler of the German Sustain able Building Council (DGNB) has clear ideas of how architecture can be approached in an entirely new way.

For this issue, our exemplary projects are for climate-friendly building - regardless of their function, they share thoughtful design and sustainable construction methods, from office buildings built with single variety materials to low-tech architecture with reduced emissions. We also document compelling examples of Cradle to Cradle and Energy Plus concepts, which have been stringently implemented right down to the choice of materials and details. Do climate-friendly buildings ultimately depend on the attitudes of builders and architects? This conclusion is confirmed by the South Tyrolean architect and industrial designer Matteo Thun in our portrait.