A New Approach to Building in a Changing Climate

Climate-Adapted Architectural Heritage is a transdisciplinary project addressing the crucial question of how vernacular architecture worldwide can be adapted to address the challenges of climate change. The project combines science and art, culminating in a traveling exhibition complemented by a catalogue and international panel discussions in Germany, Mexico and the USA. The focus is on exchange: What can we learn from each other across countries and climate zones about climate-adapted living and climate-friendly construction? The project will be on display from 3 to 5 July 2025 at the Deutsches Museum in Munich as part of the Festival of the Future.

On 2 July, from 1 to 5 PM, a hands-on workshop will invite the public to explore new ways of transforming existing residential buildings in a climate-conscious and culturally sensitive manner. The workshop will focus on creative construction and personal reflection. Participants will analyze their own living environment in Munich and develop sustainable living concepts that combine sustainability, climate comfort and cultural identity drawing on proven building principles from Verona, Italy, a city that currently has the climate that Munich is expected to have in sixty years.

The project is led by Jonathon Keats, experimental philosopher and conceptual artist, and Prof. Dr. Ralf Kilian, head of the Cultural Heritage Research Group at Fraunhofer IBP. Cooperation partners include the Climate Service Centre Germany (GERICS), the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, North Carolina State University, the Technical University of Dortmund and the Goethe-Institut San Francisco.

You can find more information on the project at https://www.ibp.fraunhofer.de/en/projects-references/climate-adapted-architectural-heritage.html

The project is funded by the framework programme of the Fraunhofer-Netzwerk »Wissenschaft, Kunst und Design«.