negotiating ungers. the aesthetics of sustainability

in 1980 oswald mathias ungers participated in a competition for solar housing. though ungers’ contribution received a special prize, his design never materialized and has since fallen into oblivion. designing solar housing meant ungers was faced with a new field. as an outsider to the contemporary debates on sustainability, he approached the assignment with a particular position: the energy efficiency of the houses should not depend on construction and building technology. instead, energy should be understood as a dimension of architecture itself, as an integral part of the design. in his design ungers searched for a new style, a set of simple architectural types which could adapt to seasonal change and help modify patterns of use.

developed through research started with a summer school at the ungers archiv für architekturwissenschaft in cologne in 2018 and continued with an exhibition at civa brussels in 2019, the publication contextualizes ungers’ design in contemporary discussions on sustainability and gives a more in-depth view into the ideas behind it.

with an essay by kim förster, texts by cornelia escher, lars fischer and others, a statement by ungers on sustainability, and reproductions from his self-published book on the solar house, including detailed material on his designs.

designed by geoff han and anna  feng

printed by printon (estonia)

isbn 978-0-9882906-2-4

available at: idea books; civa, brussels; or email.

this publication was made possible with support from ku leuven, faculty of architecture, kunstakademie  düsseldorf, ungers  archiv  für  architekturwissenschaft, and civa.

negotiating  ungers.  the  aesthetics  of  sustainability, exhibition, 2019