Anna Heringer

thumb|Anna Heringer (Nov 4 2017)Österreichische Lehmbautagung,Austrian Earth Building Conference Anna Heringer (born 13 October 1977 in Rosenheim) is an architect known for her approach to sustainable architecture, particularly in the realm of earthen construction. Her work is characterized by the use of local materials and techniques, as well as a commitment to community engagement and empowerment. Heringer has worked on projects in Bangladesh, Morocco and Austria, which have garnered international recognition for their appearance, functionality, and sustainability, most notably the METI Handmade School in Rudrapur, Bangladesh. Quotes The warmth and wisdom of mud buildings (Apr 2017) | Anna Heringer, a TED Talk, Creative Commons (CC BY–NC–ND 4.0 International) license presentation. Also see the YouTube video (Oct 17, 2017) @TED channel. [T]here are a lot of resources given by nature for free, and all that we need is our sensitivity to see them, and our creativity to use them. When I was an architecture student about 13 years ago, I went to Bangladesh, to a remote village called Rudrapur with the aim to design and build a school as my thesis project. I had lived in that village before when I was 19, and a volunteer at Dipshikha, a Bangladeshi NGO for rural development... [W]hat I had learned from them was that the most sustainable strategy for... development was to cherish and to use your... own resources and potential and not get dependent on external factors... [T[his is what I tried to do with my architecture, as well. In terms of suitable building materials for my school, I didn't have to look far. They were right under my feet: mud, dirt, earth, clay, however you call it, and bamboo that was growing all around. Electricity in remote Bangladesh is rare, but we didn't need it. We had human energy, and people were happy to have the work. Tools were an issue too, but we had... water buffaloes. We had also tried it with cows, but interestingly, they were too intelligent. They were always stepping in the holes of the previous round. They wouldn't mix the mud, the straw, the sand, which are the ingredients in the walls. [E]xcept a small team of consultants like my partner for realization, Eike Roswag and my... cousin, Emmanuel, it was... built... [by] craftsmen from the village. Ref: 1) METI school @anna-heringer.com 2) Eike Roswag-Klinge @nbl.berlin, Natural Building Lab, Technische Universität Berlin. thumb|METI Handmade School [T]he METI school after 6 months of construction... load-bearing earth walls that really ground the school and large bamboo structures that bring the lightness in. ...The classroom on the ground floor, attached are the caves ...for reading, for snuggling, for solo work, for meditation, for playing, and the classroom on the top. The children all signed... the doors. ...[T]hey ...helped building the school. [C]an you imagine the feeling of a small boy or a girl, or an illiterate day-laborer standing in front of that school building.., knowing that you built this out of the ordinary bamboo and... the dirt underneath your feet, using nothing but your hands? That gives such an enormous boost of trust and confidence in yourself and the community, and in the material. [M]ud has a very poor image. When we think of mud, we think of dirt. It's ugly, it's nondurable, and this is the image I want to change. [I]t's the 11th rainy season for the school now, really harsh, horizontal monsoon rains, and the walls are standing strong. [H]ow does that work? First rule, a good foundation that keeps the wall dry from the ground, and second rule, a good roof that protects from the top. The third rule, erosion control. Mud walls need speed breakers... so that the rainwater cannot run down the wall fast... [T]hese speed breakers can be lines of bamboo, or stones, or straw mixed into the mud. Just like a hill needs trees or rocks in order to prevent erosion, it works just the same way. [P]eople always ask me if I have to add cement to the mud, and the answer is no. There is no stabilizer [in], no coating on these walls, only in the foundation. [I]f... [the wall] needs repairing it is really easy to do. You just take the broken part, make it wet.., put it back on the wall and it will look the same as before. I wish that would work on me too. [T]he great thing is, if an earth wall is not needed anymore, it can go back to the ground it came from, turn into a garden or get fully recycled without any loss of quality. There is no other material that can do this, and this is why mud is so excellent in terms of environmental performance. What about economic sustainability? When we built the school, I practically lived on the construction site, and in the evening I used to go with the workers to the market... I could see how they spent their money... [T]hey would buy vegetables from their neighbors... [T]hey would get a new haircut, or a new blouse from the tailor. ...Because the main part of the building budget was spent on craftsmanship, the school wasn't just a building. It became a real catalyst for local development, and that made me happy. If I had designed the school in cement and steel, this money would have been exported and lost for those families. The building budget... was 35,000 Euros (it's probably double by now) and this is a lot of money for that region.., especially because this money is working within the community, and rotating fast, and not on the stock market. So when it comes to economic sustainability of my project, my main question is, "Who gets the profit?" [A]pproximately 3 billion people all around the planet are living in earth houses, and it is a traditional building material in Europe, just as much as in Africa. Strangely enough, mud is not considered worthy of being studied at universities, so I brought the dirt to Harvard... precisely 60 tons of dirt right in front of the main façade of the Graduate School of Design. ...[I]t was particularly fascinating to see how many people were touching the wall... [W]e usually don't go around our cities caressing our façades, right? ...In terms of awareness-building and... education it was like an acupuncture trigger point. In more and more countries... load bearing earthen structures are not allowed to be built anymore, although they are traditional and have lasted for 100s of years, and not because the material is weak, but because there are no architects and engineers who know how to deal with that material. So education on all levels, for craftsmen, engineers and architects, is... strongly needed. Equally important is technological development, like prefabrication developed by my colleague, Martin Rauch.., an Austrian artist and expert in earthen structures... [H]e has created technologies for... prefabrication of rammed earth elements (that include insulation, wall heatings and coolings, and... electrical fittings) that can be layered ...[for] multistorey buildings... [T]his can be important in order to scale up and... [speed] up the process... like in the Ricola Herb Center in Switzerland. Ref: 1) Erden.at , Martin Rauch @EarthArchitecture.org 2) Martin Rauch– From clay to earth, from craft to architecture @Lehm Ton Erde 3) Ricola Herb Centre @EarthArchitecture.org [W]e need... projects that prove you can build with an ancient material in a very modern way. It is not a matter [of] how old the material is. It's a matter of our creative ability to use it today. These... are 3 hostels that I did in China... in the village Baoxi... The outside shape is woven bamboo, and the inside core is stones and rammed earth... [I]t is a traditional building material. Even large parts of the Great Wall of China have been built with rammed earth, but it's getting replaced by concrete, and this trend is happening very fast. Ref: 1) Three Hostels in Baoxi, a village in China @anna-heringer.com 2) YouTube video, International Bamboo Architecture Biennale China (Longquan) @StudioAnnaHeringer channel. 3) 2016 International Bamboo Architecture Biennale, in Baoxi, Zhejiang province, China. Julien Lanoo photographs: International Bamboo Architecture Biennale (LIBAB) 4) International Bamboo Biennale @cosentino.com Within only a couple of years China has consumed more cement than the United States in the entire 20th century. This trend of replacing natural building materials with materials... that are energy intensive, and that emit CO2 is... clearly contributing to climate change... [W]e have alternatives, such as mud, stones, timber, bamboo, earth, that are totally effective options for all sorts of purposes. Mud is healthy for the planet, but also for the human bodies, and the material is low-tech, but the performance is high-tech.., the earth walls... naturally regulating moisture... [T]his wall in our own home is our humidifier. We love our 6 tons of dirt at home, not only because it's healthy and sustainable. It's archaic warmth is touching deep within. thumb|Shibam, Yemen My personal dream is to build a mud skyscraper right in Manhattan... [T]his dream isn't so crazy if you think of the mud city of Shibam in Yemen that was built in the 16th century, and has lasted now for 500 years. What was possible that long ago is possible today as well, and we can apply all our technical know-how to... these ancient materials, so that it meets our needs and our dreams. All around us, and just below our feet, are wonderful natural building materials. Let's use them! ...I deeply believe our homes, our work spaces, our cities would become more healthy and sustainable, and more humane and beautiful. Gespräch mit den Lehmbauexperten (Nov 4 2017) mit Andi Breuss, Anna Heringer, David Kraler, Österreichische-IISCI-IE Lehmbautagung Austrian Earth Building Conference. A Creative Commons YouTube video source: Lehmbauexperten im Gespräch | Andi Breuss, Anna Heringer (Sep 10, 2019) from the Lightaspect channel. For me, in this field of work, which is mainly in Asia or Africa..., emancipation is very important, that one imparts knowledge and empowers people for self-construction, or to improve what they know. [I]t's perfectly fine if my buildings eventually end up on the compost heap, but what is wanted is that the knowledge remains, that one can simply rebuild it better... My passion for development... is... strong. My passion for architecture and business is... the fantastic link between development and... architectural design. [T]his material is... healthy for people, for the environment.., for the society because it creates jobs, and... it's beautiful. ...That's where my motivation to work with it comes from. [W]e need many more open source resources, but also a way for people to see a real march of knowledge. ...[I]t's important that you can buy things as an architect, but... we need to know much more about new open-source resources so that people, even those without financial means, can access those... Life has a good future, especially when the CO2 tax comes... Life has a chance if ...human labor is... valued... but we have to fight for it... If the economic system does not support this construction method that is socially just, ecological.., healthy, then this economic system has to be changed, because capitalism is not a force of nature. It is created by humans, and we can always abolish it. Aga Khan Program Lecture (Nov 16, 2018) : Anna Heringer, "Architecture is a Tool to Improve Lives" A YouTube video from the Harvard GSD channel. Also see Anna Heringer, “Architecture is a Tool to Improve Lives” Aga Khan Program [for Islamic Architecture (AKPIA)] Lecture. thumb|METI Handmade School thumb|Meti School, Haripur, Bangladesh, architect Anna Heringer [W]hat I had learned during my year in Bangladesh was that the most sustainable and... effective strategy for development, is to... look at the potentials... existing and try to make the best out of it.., not... depending on external factors... [S]even years later I tried to transform this philosophy into architecture. [I]n terms of materials.., what was there was just below my feet.., the mud, the dirt, and the bamboo... growing all around... [I]n terms of energy, it was the people.., happy to have opportunities [working] on the school. I wanted to show what you can do out of... local, basic materials; that it's not only possible to build small, dark huts, but... also large structures. [W]hen you... deal with... archaic notions.., it doesn't make a difference between a Bavarian child and a Bangladeshi child... The children all signed with their names on the doors... as authors, because... every afternoon they were on the site helping us building. ...[T]hat's a very humane notion, that... even if you're small and... weak, you want to be part of the real life. ...You want to be needed. [M]ud ...is a very inclusive material. ...It is just ceramics in a slightly different scale. ...[I]t's a wonderful material to play... and... build with, and the children felt extremely empowered. [T]he third rule is erosion control, so just as a hill needs rocks or trees... to slow... the pace of the water.., the wall needs... on a bigger level.., speed breakers... on the façade, and... on the micro level you have... straw, and... if... rammed earth you have stones... so that the façade is... self-healing. They are extremely strong and there is no cement in it except in the foundation. I felt more like a conductor... when I could give space to the craftsmen to bring in their own ideas, and I could just moderate... and then I knew when I had to step in and take the lead again... [I]t was a... dynamic... and participatory [process]. [T]he biggest learning experience is the things that don't turn out the way you want... The entire top floor had to be replaced because I had no idea as a Bavarian what is good bamboo and what [is] not. ...[T]he super nice, green, fresh, sugary bamboo ...was a big party for the beetles... Vulnerability is part of life. ...[D]ecay is... normal... Hindus... build their cottages every year out of mud, out of clay, and they return it to the water every year, while we build everything in gold, and in the most durable materials... The holy statues... go into the water in the cycle every year. ...That's something we can ...learn from ... We're always thinking... we have to build for eternity. ...But ...much more important is the know-how that we're leaving behind. ...I'm really ok if my buildings go back to nature one day ...I really don't think that I'm so important that my buildings have to stand forever. ...If they're needed they will be rebuilt, and the know-how will be passed on from one generation to the next. ...[T]hat's the important thing, that we ...build and create knowledge, and not just waste. The core problem of sustainability is how we deal with the fear of decay and death... [T]hat's... something, especially in our society, a big taboo, but... death is a part of nature, and that's just something we have to respect. [V]ulnerability... in the beginning... was difficult to deal with.., but... it is a... source of creativity, because... every material... plus every climate is different... and the materials are vulnerable towards the climate... The mud is water resolvable... It's vulnerable, so I have to change my architectural language, and... tailor it... [T]hat gives two great parameters, the climate and... local materials... and the byproduct is.. authentic and... unique architecture... All the buildings I'm doing are looking different because my architectural language is created out of this vulnerability... [M]ud is my... passion. Almost 3 billion people... are living in mud buildings... and it's so important to scale it up... [I]t's a material... everywhere available, that needs... labor, and... we need work for 7 billion people, and it doesn't... [emit] CO2. ...That's the perfect material that we need for the future. ...[W]e ...need ...to scale it up, and that's ...the topic of a new book ...I just wrote with Lindsey Blair Howe and Martin Rauch. Ref: Anna Heringer, Lindsey Blair Howe, Martin Rauch, Upscaling Earth (2019) gta Verlag, Zurich. [O]ur current studio is dealing with the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh. ...Mud is often used in therapies... to overcome trauma... [W]hile the process... is forming community, it's healing... You feel powerful again, because... when you build the house, you feel empowered... [T]hat's... what we're trying... to contribute... A person who lives in a beautiful, unique environment with a strong cultural identity, where she or he can actively participate, and find work in creating it, is [less] likely at risk to fall toward ideological fundamentalism in the search for meaning... [T]his kind of fundamentalism is... a danger in the camps. ...[T]hey have nothing to hold on, except their religion, and... have all this pain.., and that often comes out... in an agressive... movement. [T]he time of star architects is over, but... we need iconic buildings... that... give directions and shows some visions... I don't like symmetry much, but... in that project and... cultural context, the center was... very important, so I started to... go into this central and symmetric... meditation. Ref: 1) Three Hostels in Baoxi, a village in China @anna-heringer.com 2) YouTube video, International Bamboo Architecture Biennale China (Longquan) @StudioAnnaHeringer channel. I'm... working into... smaller scale... interior projects... with Martin Rauch... in Austria, in an interior courtyard.., the hangout area for the employees... with a high tech company.., and we brought in... low tech material... Ref: 1) Omicron living rooms 2) Omicron Campus (DTFLR) [M]artin [Rauch] and I... wanted to... do... the very basic building techniques.., the Butabu technique.., taking the wet clay and shaping it with your... hands... [W]e designed... and... built it.., like ceramics... these sausages, one layer after the other.., two stories. Ref: Butabu: West Africa's Extraordinary Earthen Legacy World Monuments Fund (WMF) @WayBackMachine [W]e could have done it with a 3-D plotter... but it's such a joy, and it gives... such a connection... [T]hat is... a point... missing in our society. We are not making things any more, and this joy in really being involved, and feeling... how your physical pressure is shaping the architecture and... spaces. This is a joy I would never give into the hands of a robot or... plotter... Once we had the hands in the mud and... doing these things... the mind got a relief... [T]his... we are losing in our parts of the society. We are giving the nicest parts away... [T]hat's something we have to bring back... [T]his very basic building technique... is... almost unaffordable... in our economic system... Although... healthy for people.., for the planet, and it's creating jobs (so also healthy for the society), why... punished with a higher price? There's something wrong with our economic system..! [A] carbon tax... would set... the right balance again. [C]apitalism is... man-made. It's not a force of nature, and it's... time to change... [T]here is one sustainability, one approach.., that's a global one, because if something is exclusive.., just affordable for one part of the society or the world's population, then it can't.., on a social level, be sustainable. We are one planet. I work... looking at the local materials.., the local energy sources.., then adding global creativity... [C]reativity know-how should not be limited to one place. That should be coming in from a global scale and... applied to local conditions. I always use... the technique of "claystorming"..: [projects] designed... on large clay models. ...We think ...how may square meters, how much volume.., and then we start shaping it. [T]he process is just as important as the outcome... [I]n former times, communities, cities were coming together creating.., building.., a church, a school... [etc.,] and that... united the people, because you cannot build... alone. You have to come together... to manage large scale projects... [T]his is a... powerful element that we have lost in our societies... (given away to contractors), and... something... we have to gain back. So we decided... We built the altar out of mud. ...[T]he whole community is coming together to build it. ...And then the ramming started. ...The people started to bring in their own elements ...[S]omeone ...said, "Oh, I'm from France, and I was a soldier in Algeria, and my mother gave me that... amulet in... war time and it protected me..." ...The [homesick] Indian nuns ...brought a piece of Indian earth ...putting it in ... [and] starting to cry. So... earth is much more than a building material. It's... an emotional element... Ref: Wormser Dom's sanctuary interiors @anna-heringer.com [K]ids were coming in... from all over the world... mixing the mud... their hands in the mud... and... stamping their feet in the formwork. The priest.., in the beginning... wasn't... sure about this project.., but then he found in the Bible a quote where Moses, when he received the Ten Commandments.., received the... direct order how to build the altar.., "It should be made out of mud." Ref: 20:24 (King James Version) An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me... We're not lacking of materials, but what we are lacking is relationships... and meaning. ...That is ...the symbol of the altar. It brings us back... to the essence... [W]hat really matters is... relationships and meaning. That picture is... very important.., this alpha and omega... [T]o truly build sustainable we have to... embed the Omega. When we design buildings and objects, we should... design how it can go back to the ground, to... nature again. Overhead: Inscription of the Α and Ω on the alter. [T]he most important thing... in my work is raising trust... in their own potentials.., [Y]ou can... get rid of the strife.., ego. Leave space... for intuition... [Y]ou have everything inside. You don't need... plotters, programs... [etc.] We're getting so... [dependent]. ...[W]e need creativity.., intuition, and we have to give [them] space to... create... surprising architecture. [T]rust is... important... [to] bring participation into our projects... [W]e have to compromise sometimes in perfection, but it brings back... meaning and relationship.., important in our society... [T]rust in the [beautiful] local materials all around us... [W]e... need to use them... to create a planet that is also there for the future generations. 500 years ago we were able to do this, so with all our technology... there are no limitations. It's a wide field open for innovation, because... mud architecture has not been much discovered yet. ...I hope ...colleagues join me in... pushing... forward. [A]rchitecture is a [very powerful] tool to improve lives... [I]n the end of my career.., adding up all the building budgets.., I want to be able to tell myself that... the money... ended up with people, with craftsmen, and not just in big pockets of... some industries, and... that I contributed to social justice, to cultural diversity, and I'm not leaving scars, but a garden behind. [W]e should use... [architecture] with all the creativity that we have, with all our sensitiveness and... love... to make this place, the world.., better, more beautiful and more humane... Question and Answer Period I had never seen humidifiers before. ...[I]t's weird to make walls that are completely sealed, that cannot breath. ...In winter you have to plug in these instruments. You need a lot of electricity to get... a humidity that... is comfortable, while... my humidifier is my mud wall at home... It's completely automatic, and it's much more healthy. ...I'm living not in a total load bearing mud house, because I'm living in a 500 year old house. So I did a lot... inside... So there's a lot of hybrid versions also possible. The foundation is the only thing where it would make sense to get [commercial] material. ...[T]he regulations in the camp are that there should be no lasting material there. So... you have to make rammed earth foundations, which a lot of houses in Bangladesh... have, also some 2-story houses. It's not that strong.., but... it's possible. It's doable. It just needs to be... a thick rammed earth foundation, and... the walls also have to be comparatively thick. Anna Heringer Interview: Leave No Waste, But Knowledge (Feb 25, 2021) A YouTube video source from Louisiana Channel. I... grew up.. surrounded by an architecture that is... archaic... and... born out of the material... from that region. It was fantastic to grow up, [to have] as a... playground... these gothic... vault systems.., and the lines... built out of the local stones... That was... the... tools and the toys that we had... growing up... The tradition, the culture of this place... as a shaping element is... dominant.., and... raised an interest... in other parts of the world.., to see this from another perspective. That's why I went from Bavaria to Bangladesh.., a completely different cultural context.., to see... how... local traditions... with local resources... is shaping architecture.., and... the search of people on their way to happiness.., the aim, to... reach a life... in balance with nature... [T]here is a lot of similarity between the life... anywhere... It's always, what existing resources... you have, and how can you use... creativity to make the best out of it? ...[T]hat's what I'm trying to do with my architecture. How... people get together and... build something together.., and this identity... linked with that, and this pride when you stand... in front of that church and say.., "We built it," and that community spirit... created... [T]his is something... we have to incorporate... It's not just about the outcome and the architecture, but... designing the process... [I]n any project... I'm trying to bring in this notion... that... the community gets together and gets their hands involved in the building process... [T]hen... if you stand in front of that building, you... feel an extreme trust in your own potentials and... in the team, the community, and in the local resources... If you have strong roots, then it's much easier to go away and discover new horizons. I'm... an architect, but I'm also a development worker.., an activist, and... there's this creative itching in me... [I]f I see a need somewhere, and... a potential, then it might, Zing! and then something is coming out... I'm trying to use the creativity, always as a tool to improve lives. [W]hen I start a project... I try to figure out what are the resources available... in terms of materiality.., energy sources, and... know-how, craft skills... [etc.] [I]t's essential that the materials... [and] energy sources are local.., particularly... human labor.., a wonderful source of energy. Whenever we think of alternative sources of energy, we think of solar, wind... [etc.,] but... the human energy is... important, and... if we don't use it, then we create a social problem. So this... is the most important energy source... Materials... coming from far away... needs a lot of transportation, and... it's not needed [i.e., necessary]. We have fantastic building materials all around. [S]ustainability is... harmony with nature, with the sociocultural context, [and] with the people (the users). ...[I]t's ...doing things with love and care, and not just ...on a formal level [to] solve a problem... [B]eauty... is an expression of love and... sustainability is a synonym of beauty. [T]here is some activism... in... the sign, "Less concrete more Earth"... [W]e just can't continue building as we do. It's... just not working. In Bangladesh the cheapest solution is also the sustainable one. You just take the dirt from the ground and... build it with your hands. If you do this... in Europe, it's damned expensive! ...[T]hat makes me angry. [I]t's not a problem of the mud... or earthen architecture, but... a problem with our economic system. ...[W]e have to readjust our system and... have a higher price on materials that have... high embodied... energy resources... and [that] create a lot of carbon emissions. So we... have to tax those, and... decrease the taxes on human labor... [T]hat would completely change our economic system... [and] our social system. ...[I]t would not just make a few people rich, but... would... make... a strong middle class, and really build up people... [W]e have one planet, and we should... design... [accordingly.] [W]e are one humankind, and just because I could afford... to build... with a lot of resources... steel.., carbon emissions.., concrete, I shouldn't.., because it's... using up more resources than... persons... visiting this opera... should... consume. [W]henever I'm designing, I... have... in mind... times 7 billion.., considering what would the world look like if... 7.5 billion people would do it in the same way. If you use that bucket of paint.., it's maybe just a bucket of paint, but if 7 billion people are using that paint that is... harming the groundwater... No, I don't have the right to use that paint, and that's... my approach... It was just dirt, and you just pile it somehow into a wall, but... mud was not considered to be equal to brick or... concrete... It was just a temporary, dirty solution. ...[T]he most important part was... to show that... with good [design and] craftsmanship, you can really... improve the quality of houses... I invited them... [the wives] to join the site as workers... [T]hat's the nice part with the mud because it's... inclusive. You find work for everyone... We had people with disabilities working.., we had children involved.., and... the women... [T]hey traditionally do the plastering... with their hands. I said fine, it looks... more beautiful to me. ...After 2 or 3 days they started working with their... wives... [I]t was such a good team spirit... and... we as architects were also doing the least accepted work, like carrying the mud on their heads... trying to break up hierarchies and... foster this team spirit... [T]he women... were getting the same salary as their husbands and working side by side. That really changed also, on the social level, in the village. [A] good looking architecture is not enough. ...[I]t ...has to bring meaning to the people, and... add... to a healthy planet... [T]hat's what I'm trying to do with the work. I deeply believe that the world is not changing with... [single] big decisions. It's the every day small decisions that are really shaping our environment and our society. [T]he core problem with sustainability... [is] that these natural materials are... linked with vulnerability.., but... the vulnerability of earth is also the biggest advantage... [I]t can go back to the ground without harming the environment. [W]e are a waste society, but we are trying to build in the most durable way. In fact.., we've never built for eternity. I'm fully OK if my buildings are de-composting one day. ...I'm hoping that I'm really leaving no waste, but knowledge. ...How to build something good out of the local resources. That's my dream. Once an earth building is standing, you couldn't tell if it's there 1 day or... 100s of years. It has immediately this... archaic feeling, but it also is not dominant. It's just there, in a very calm and present way, and that would... beautifully blend in this historic surrounding. Architecture is a Tool to Improve Lives (Nov, 2021) Anna Heringer Lecture, International Conference on Traditional Building Architecture and Urbanism: Timeless Architecture (Nov 17-18, 2021) A YouTube video from the Fundación Culturas Constructivas Tradicionales channel. [I]n terms of local energy sources, it was people. ...[W]hen we think of energy sources, we think of sun.., wind.., oil, but we as human beings... are also sources of energy, and we are a growing source. ...We are almost 8 billion people, so we need to use this ...otherwise we create a social problem. We need to create work through architecture. The children all signed... the doors, and... rightfully.., because they also helped building the school. ...[W]ith earth, it's a wonderful inclusive material. It's not harmful. You don't need sophisticated tools. You can use... your hands, and it's wonderful to touch. It's non-toxic, so it's... one of the beautiful assets of earth, that it's so inclusive. We also had people with disabilities working.., men.., women and elderly people.., a fantastic diversity in the team. These walls are hit by horizontal monsoon winds since 2005, and the walls are standing strong. We didn't have to repair the walls. ...You have to ...apply ... certain rules, good boots, meaning a good foundation.., a good roof, and then the walls are really standing strong. [W]hen it comes to economic sustainability, it's never... just low cost... [T]he question is, who gets the profit, and who gets the benefit..? [T]hat's much more important, anywhere in the world. I want to be able in the end.., when I'm... summing up all my budgets at the end of my life.., to be able to tell myself that it ended up with those who really needed it, and not just making the rich industries even more rich. The last building I did in... Rudrapur... is a center for people with disabilities, and a workshop for fair clothes production... I wanted to show it's good that we have a diversity.., people that break out of the mode, and that is something beautiful.., something to celebrate. So this building is... celebrating this diversity and breaking out of the mold... [T]his ramp winds... all around the building... [I]t's the only ramp in that area... they've ever seen. ...[I]nclusiveness is... a powerful thing in architecture, that you can make... [ideas and concepts] clearly visible. ...[U]nderneath the ramp we have caves ...so you can ...crawl in ...and it's part of the therapy. The children have to move their bodies in a different way... so they train their muscles... [and] coordination skills, and it's... rewarding... The children from the village that have no disabilities... sneak in.., but they know they are the guests of the children with disabilities.., and it's a different zone for connecting with each other. The garment sector... in Bangladesh because... drags... the labor force from the villages into... fabrication hubs... The women have to leave their families... and live in these... textile hubs where their life is... depending on external factors, where they lose a lot of independence and... life quality. So I wanted to bring in some work opportunities for the women to be able to stay with their families and... keep the village alive. I was invited in China for the Bamboo Biennale... [T]he idea was to show and prove that you can build with old materials... in a modern way. Ref: 1) Three Hostels in Baoxi, a village in China @anna-heringer.com 2) YouTube video, International Bamboo Architecture Biennale China (Longquan) @StudioAnnaHeringer channel. 3) 2016 International Bamboo Architecture Biennale, in Baoxi, Zhejiang province, China. Julien Lanoo photographs: International Bamboo Architecture Biennale (LIBAB) 4) International Bamboo Biennale @cosentino.com I'm often asked, "Do you want to send people back to the Stone Age?" Of course not, but it's not a matter of how old a material is. It's a matter of our creative ability to use it today. [T]hese ...three [youth] hostels ...we built with... an intensive bamboo weaving structure. The idea was to have a core that has all the facilities, and attached to this core and staircase there are... [bamboo woven] cocoons, like tents or Chinese lampshades. ...They did a fantastic job in the bamboo weaving. Between 2011 and 2013 China has consumed more cement than the United States in the past century. ...This is happening in India and so many countries around the world... [W]e clearly cannot continue like this. We have to look for alternatives such as timber.., earth... [etc.] thumb|Worms Cathedral High altar of Johann Balthasar Neumann [A] competition for building a new altar... was... delicate because, first, it was the 1,000 year old birthday of the cathedral, and the interior is... by Balthasar Neumann so it was... difficult to put something in front of it. ...We decided... not to bring the ready-made object, but to bring the tools, the materials and the community [together]... to build... this alter... [and] to celebrate the community. Ref: Wormser Dom's sanctuary interiors @anna-heringer.com Initially the concept was to... [put] in historic elements... from the rich historic times of Worms, but... people started to bring... personal items.., amulets went in, the best wine.., honey of the region, newspaper articles, letters, postcards.., and it became more and more... an object [or reflection] of the community. The children... put in some pink litter... We had everyone, from the choir.., the council.., the alter boys and girls.., standing in front of the finished object.., we couldn't let go. We constantly wanted to touch it... You're not just building a building. You also build up a community, and that's the wonderful thing. In the past we came together as a society, built city hall, built the church, built the mosque... [etc.] [T]his kind of pulling on one direction to reach one common aim... is something that fostered... community, and now we delegate the act of building... to experts, and we don't have these community building processes... [T]hat's a huge loss, and we have to enable participation again. We are not lacking of materiality. We are lacking of good relationships, but this is something the process of construction and architecture can... provide. The question is "Form follows what?" "Form follows function"... is outdated. ...[A]rchitecture ...and society is much more complex, and we have to react to this. ...[W]e have a lot of functional.., good-looking buildings, but we need meaningful.., beautiful buildings... [T]he question is, "What is real beauty?" ...[I]t's a formal expression of love, so.., "Form follows Love!" Quotes about Heringer Hand-built in four months by the local community and volunteer architects from Germany and Austria, the School in Rudrapur, Bangladesh, makes use of... local materials to create a new model for school construction that is beautiful, simple and humane. The architects Anna Heringer and Eike Roswag will share the Award with the craftsmen and volunteers.., and the Bangladeshi NGO for sustainable rural development, Dipshikha. Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) Nine projects receive 2007 Aga Khan Award for Architecture (Oct 24, 2007) "Building Simply"... is typically... utilizing low-cost materials to produce a rudimentary, one-off design. Yet, too rarely does the... process lead to... a viable model for a self-sustainable building culture. In light of this.., the honorary professorship of Anna Heringer and Martin Rauch at the Swiss Federal Technical Institute (ETH) Zurich developed two housing prototypes intended... as models of material and process-aware construction. Emphasizing earthen construction as a catalyst for resourceful, low-impact, and self-empowering development, their studio.., "Earthen", studied... practical solutions to improve... living standards in Mdabulo.., Tanzania. ...ETH students took part in the construction of the two houses... Wayne Switzer, "Building Simply: Earthen Housing Prototypes in Tanzania" (2016) No Cost Housing Conference, hosted by the ETH Wohnforum. [T]he honorary professorship of Anna Heringer and Martin Rauch at the Swiss Federal Technical Institute (ETH) Zurich developed two housing prototypes intended to serve as models of material and process-aware construction. The ethos of the Heringer-Rauch professorship emphasizes earthen construction as a catalyst for resourceful, low-impact, and self-empowering development. Wayne Switzer, "Building Simply: Earthen Housing Prototypes in Tanzania" (2016) No Cost Housing Conference, hosted by the ETH Wohnforum. During her stays in Bangladesh.., Anna Herington has dealt with the local clay construction technology... with possibilities for improving the traditional construction method. The aim was for the houses to better withstand... heavy rains or floods and... build two-storey... in order to make better use of the space.In 2005, under the direction of Anna Heringer and Eike Roswag, a now multi-award-winning school building was built for the school project METI [Modern Education and Training Institute] made of clay and bamboo. In 2007, they were awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Prize for architecture for the building.In 2007/8, another two-storey clay building planned by Anna Heringer for the DESI [Dipshikha Electrical Skill Improvement] project was built.., [also] in Rudrapur. A solar system was installed on the roof of the building, making the building [energy] independent... Shanti, "Clay construction (Dipshikha)" in "Pilot projects of our partner organisations" (Jul 23, 2019) See also Architecture Building Education External links Anna-Heringer.com Anna Heringer @Harvard Graduate School of Design (gsd.harvard.edu) Building Simply: Earthen Housing Prototypes in Tanzania by Wayne Switzer, assistant to Guest Professorship Anna Heringer & Martin Rauch, ETH Zürich. Mudworks design-build installation & exhibition StudioAnnaHeringer @YouTube YouTube videos Anna Heringer Interview: Leave No Waste, But Knowledge @Louisiana channel Category:1977 births Category:Living people Category:Architects Category:Architects from Germany Category:Educators Category:Educators from Germany Category:Women artists from Germany