Comparable to the goals of the so-called "building type E", which already enjoys broad support from politics and planners, the climate pavilion represents a "built experiment": the interior does not resist the outdoor climate, but rather orients itself towards it and creates a place with passive means (room volume, orientation, storage mass, daylight, thermals) that is in a changeable exchange with the surrounding climate garden throughout the year. It thus sees itself as an architectural answer to the question of how a public building can function with minimal technology, clear construction and high atmospheric quality, and how its mood changes organically with the seasons.
The Schwerte Climate Pavilion is the central venue within the new Schwerte Climate Garden, which was recently completed in 2027 against the backdrop of the IGA Metropole Ruhr . The timber construction thematically follows the idea of the "Seasonal House", which, over the course of the seasons, offers space for a wide variety of educational offers all year round. In summer a place of learning under a shady roof, in winter a market hall and comfortable place for celebrations.
The use of regional calamity wood from bark beetle damage for the façade and untreated solid wood for the supporting structure investigates questions of the use of resources, interior effect and, last but not least, user acceptance. The glass façade construction is borrowed from greenhouse construction and connects interior and exterior space by large sliding doors. The surfaces of all wood and metal components have been left untreated, and their visual change over time due to the patina typical of the material is quite welcome. effect.
A high degree of prefabrication of the timber frame and wooden cassette elements used in the area of walls and roof, the visible installation guidance of the building technology, the collection of of rainwater by means of a cistern with use for toilet facilities and plant irrigation as well as the cooperatively managed photovoltaic system complement the concept of a contemporary, sufficient and robust architecture.
Text: New Architekten BDA
Photos: Thilo Rohländer
