ArchiTeam News

ArchiTeam at BAU 2011 in Munich

ArchiTeam visited one of the world's leading Trade Fairs for Architecture, Materials and Systems.

> > 235,000 trade visitors: Record crowds at BAU 2011

The top themes at BAU this year were sustainable building and building for life. On both themes there were several special shows and many lectures in the forums and congresses, for example in the congress entitled ‘Building for the Future – sustainable, energy-efficient and innovative’, organised by the German Federal Ministry of Building and in the ‘Buildings of the Future’ events series organised by the German Federal Ministry of Economics. An absolute highlight was the solar house designed by the University of Applied Sciences of Rosenheim, which won second place in the Solar Decathlon competition in Madrid. Their design was erected at BAU and presented to a wide trade audience for the first time.
 
The three forums at BAU attracted enormous interest. In particular the ‘Future of Building Forum’, where international architects like Sir Peter Cook and Françoise Hélène Jourda presented their plans and projects, was at times overflowing with visitors. In the ‘Forum MacroArchitecture’, too, all the seats were generally taken; this forum was about the cooperation between architecture and industry on the one hand and future research in architecture on the other. The ‘Intelligent Building Forum’ covered a wide span from renovation and modernisation projects, through to the construction of modern high-tech buildings such as passive houses and energy-plus houses. The German Ministry of Building presented corresponding projects in its ‘Future of Building’ research initiative.
 
Once again, BAU was the platform for many award presentations, among them the renowned architectural awards for ‘Aesthetics and Construction’ in cooperation with the journal DETAIL, and the Bauwelt Prize for ‘The First Work’, in cooperation with the journal Bauwelt. Also presented at BAU were:

• The award ‘Built on IT – Building jobs with a future’
• Award for Product Innovations 
• Award for Innovation in Architecture and Building
• Building Material Oscars  

BAU 2011 also marked the official launch of the ArchiWorld Academy – a new competition being organised by BAU in cooperation with the online portal Archi-Europe. The competition runs over a period of two years and is directed at architecture students from all over the world. 12 top international architects will form the jury. The winners will be announced at BAU 2013. Their attractive prize is a traineeship in the offices of the top architects.
 
A real winner with the participants in BAU was the ‘Long Night of Architecture’ (see also press release no. 29), which was held for the first time in conjunction with BAU. This event was open to all participants in BAU and also to interested citizens of Munich. Over 30 buildings in and around the city of Munich opened their doors on Friday evening for people to come in, look around and find out. Attendance was good throughout, with free shuttle buses running between the different places between 7 p.m. and midnight.
 
The 20th BAU takes place from 14 to 19 January 2013 at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre.

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