After long months of brainstorming, joint meetings in Istanbul and an intensive construction phase in Lübeck, that was possible Team Deeply High the TH Lübeck and the TU Istanbul (ITU) bring their building extension to the Solar Decathlon Europe in Wuppertal. More than 1,200 students from 11 countries will show their ideas for climate-friendly cities at the Olympics for sustainable urban building and living from June 10th to 26th. The special feature: It is actually built – no models, but 18 real and fully functional buildings. Deeply High has already won one point against the other 17 teams. After the competition, the extension is to remain as an apartment for university employees in Wuppertal. “This is a clear message for sustainable planning and building,” says Prof. Heiner Lippe from the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences.
Met as competitors, left as a team
The Turkish-German team met at the previous Solar Decathlon in Morocco. Competing against each other as competitors in 2019, they are now pursuing the goal of developing architectural solutions for a sustainable future in the construction industry together in SDE 21/22. “I think we are the best example of teamwork,” says Zeynep Çetin of the ITU, who came to Germany from Istanbul especially for the work in Lübeck. In its task, the Deeply High team addresses a problem that exists in almost all cities: too little living space. In recent months they have been working on an environmentally friendly building extension to contribute to urban densification.
The solution: adding a storey to the building
A classic social building from the 1950s to 1990s in Kiel served as an example. The team’s chosen type of building can be found in tens of thousands in Germany, which means that the climate-friendly building solutions can also be implemented as a method at other locations. With the aim of being as sustainable, affordable, inclusive and economical as possible. To achieve this, the team relies on sustainable materials with a high recycling potential, socially responsible architecture, locally available resources and renewable energies.
Water treatment by algae, insulation with straw
The team’s plans include conservatories, for example. In the field of technical building equipment, Deeply High combines well-established and newly developed systems. Examples are the developments in organic photovoltaics, power generation from waste heat and the subject of algaetecture. On the one hand, this involves natural wastewater treatment by algae, which produces water of different qualities and can be used, for example, for washing clothes, flushing toilets or watering vegetable plants. The team uses renewable raw materials such as straw from the region to insulate the walls.
additional Information
About the team
image video
NDR television report
Information about the competition and the awards ceremony