WEtransFORM. On the Future of Building

We are delighted that two of the Cluster's research projects are contributing to the exhibition WEtransFORM. On the Future of Building at Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, opening on June 5th.
In 2025, the Bundeskunsthalle is dedicated to ecological transformation. An important focus is this international exhibition project on sustainable architecture and urban development. Visitors can engage in a lively debate about the future of our built environment. Fundamental design principles for a climate-friendly renewal of our building culture are on display with around 80 projects that deal with the challenges in an exemplary manner.
Large-scale prototypes of the interdisciplinary research projects Architectural Yarns and Structural Textiles illustrate the potential of textile binding techniques such as knitting or weaving for flexible and reconfigurable architectural elements. Plant fibers from flax and willow, or biological materials such as fungal mycelium and wool, are processed into reconfigurable walls and components.

The exhibition is an initiative of the Bundeskunsthalle in partnership with the New European Bauhaus and transform.NRW. Find out more about WeTransform on the website of the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn.

WEtransFORM is accompanied by a bilingual book published by Jovis Verlag Berlin.

Architectural Yarn / Tangled Wall

Facing the necessity of a careful handling of resources, architectural practice will increasingly use existing spaces in a more flexible and adaptive way. The exhibited prototypes investigate the potential of textile techniques such as knitting or weaving for constructions that are easy to produce and to transform. Architectural Yarns are macro yarns used as textile building elements that scale fibers to an architectural scale. A tactile »building manual« is physically coded into the yarn through varying diameters or partial coloring. They can be assembled without prior knowledge. After use, reprocessing is as easy as unraveling a knitted fabric, the yarn can be entangled again to form a new element.

Tangled Walls are fabricated from flax fibers that improve acoustics and have a balancing effect on the room climate. The fibers can be processed raw or be reversibly bound with vegetable pectin, lime, or clay. The contributions explores a new approach to building methods, spatial adaptation, and circular construction.

Contributing Researchers:

Maxie Schneider
Alexandra Chrampanis
Maja Avnat
Jasmin Sermonet
Iva Rešetar
Christiane Sauer (project lead)

Structural Textiles / Warped Space

Can we build with loops instead of bricks? Structural Textiles explores textile construction on an architectural scale and combines traditional knowledge of basketry and wood bending with warp knitting and the local renewable material willow. The geometry of the textile and the internal tension of the rods create an »active« plaited structure that gains stability from the properties of the material without the addition of binders or adhesives. The flexible yet stable rods generate a soft architectural form through a programmed textile interplay of material and void.
The partly handmade and partly machine-made prototypes explore approaches for a post-industrial use of resources and examine manufacturing practices beyond conventional methods. They are designed as a scaffold for additive materials. Complementing the willow, fiber materials such as hemp, flax, seagrass, wool, or fungal mycelium can be incorporated into the loops and influence the structural, physical, and aesthetic properties of the construction. In the pursuit of a cultural change towards a »post-waste« society, this experiment questions the very structure of the discipline and its interdependencies of organisms, industry, and landscape.

Contributing Researchers:

Natalija Miodragović
with
Nayeli Vega Vargas
Christiane Sauer