Leschs Kosmos, one of the best-known Germany's science TV documentaries, will air an episode on the challenges of concrete construction (German title: Sackgasse Beton: Die Suche nach Alternativen) on 22 March 2022 at 10:45 pm on the television channel ZDF.
It discusses the booming construction industry and ways to make it more sustainable by using different approaches other than the standard cement production. Jan Knippers and Achim Menges with our research at IntCDC are featured as alternative approaches to conventional buidling technolgy.
Leschs Kosmos says:
"Whether spider webs, beetle wings or cacti: Nature's constructions all have one thing in common - they get by with a minimum of material. Many of these constructs are extremely light, while at the same time withstanding enormous loads. And they all rely on one crucial building material: fibers. What nature produced over millions of years can now be imitated thanks to digital technology. The question of how to use as few resources and energy as possible in construction is also on Achim Menges' and Jan Knippers' minds. For their projects, the Stuttgart-based architects use digital technology to translate nature's efficient construction principles into the design of buildings. The result is fiber constructions that make do with a fraction of the material commonly used in conventional building technology."
We are excited to see our research featured within this context!
You can watch the documentary here:
Sackgasse Beton: Die Suche nach Alternativen