Interview
The Ziegert Roswag Seiler Architects Ingenieure office is located at 57 Lehrter Strasse in Berlin. At the front of the building on the road the artist Katharina Grosse has her new studio, a concrete monolith by Augustin and Frank. The three older brick buildings at the rear, a former uniform factory for Prussian soldiers, are home to several architects’ studios, craftsmen and film people, including Sauerbruch Hutton and the artists Via Lewandowski and Karin Sander. For our interview the studio invited us home, to an idyllic overgrown rear courtyard in the Mitte district of Berlin. More than ten years ago Eike Roswag saved the dilapidated side wing of a Gründerzeit building from demolition, gave it a roof terrace and rammed one of its first earth walls. The wooden table we are sitting at looks as if it has seen many a raucous evening and inspiring conversations.
Can I present you as a green company?
Eike Roswag
We are definitely green, there is no doubt about it. It is a very wide concept, is getting
even wider, and more diversified. But we are not fundamentalists and certainly don’t
have a monopoly on truth. We take a clear stance but are also open to new things. We
are in search of what could be called an intelligent low-tech solution. That said, we
are at times also fascinated by perfect fast cars and motorcycles.
So not 100 percent green after all?
Christof Ziegert
Flying everywhere to promote ecological construction methods in different corners
of the world is a contradiction in terms that I struggle with. Why do we build schools
in Bangladesh, Mozambique and Morocco? Why do we redevelop earth forts in Abu
Dhabi? Because there really are so few experts addressing these issues worldwide.
And of course it’s also about business – maintaining and expanding our position.
What is your goal?
Eike Roswag
We aim to improve the relevant situation while respecting the already existing
structures and, using natural materials to construct modern, in other words energyefficient
buildings in which people feel at home.
In doing so, you are seeking to find “local solutions through positive communication.” That‘s what it says on your website. What do you mean by this?
Eike Roswag
At the very beginning we sit down with everybody involved in a particular project –
clients, users, building technicians, craftsmen, landscape planners, artists and graphic
designers. At the end of the day, we all need to sing from the same hymn sheet.
Successful team work is not about compromise, it draws on a pool of different experiences
and skills and blends them in a specific solution.
Cristof Ziegert
Communication is one thing, specialist qualification is another. If you put the two
together well a good piece of work will be the result.
Can you give an example?
Uwe Seiler
Well for example we built a school in Bangladesh and using our technical knowledge
advanced local traditions.
How did you get the job?
Eike Roswag
I met Anna Heringer at a conference in Berlin. She told me about her upcoming
research work for her Master’s thesis at the University of Art and Industrial Design in
Linz. On the spur of the moment I accompanied her to Bangladesh four weeks later
to assist her with her research. The Bengali development association Dipshikha was
seeking out opportunities to promote local culture and identity. It was interested in
supporting traditional construction methods and the economy, and also needed a
school building. So we took a close look at the abilities of and construction methods
used by the local craftsmen and designed the school with these local skills and traditions
in mind. Fascinated by the strength of these people, and having been invited to
return we later decided to build the school together.
Eike, you are an architect, Uwe and Christof, you are construction engineers. A combination seldom found in small companies like yours. How did you guys meet?
Eike Roswag
Christof and I met in 1998 through the “Students building in Mexico” project initiated
by Professor Ingrid Goetz at the Technical University of Berlin. Christof was supervising
the project as a research assistant while I was working as a tutor for Ms. Goetz.
We went to this Mexican village and together with the locals built community houses
and a workshop for roof tiles. Nothing overwhelming in terms of architecture – the
actual process and intercultural exchange was what we were mainly interested in.
Building something in a foreign culture changes you. Students ought to learn how to
lay bricks and do plastering, feel the material in their own hands.
Christof Ziegert
In Mexico we realized just what can be achieved if architects and engineers work well
together. The two professions really ought to be part of a single company and not
just come together at meetings where in a worst case scenario they end up quarrelling
with one another.
Uwe Seiler
In our company we are merging these specialised fields again. Like in the old days
when there were master builders.
What are the things developers appreciate most in your work?
Christof Ziegert
They can see that we can also handle a trowel and dip into the mixture. There is a
sense of human bonding. I believe they also appreciate the way we get immersed in
our buildings. For example, when Uwe is calculating a bamboo truss and grappling
with warped cross sections. I don‘t think many German engineers would have bothered.
And Eike has a positive fighting spirit and tenacity. I have seldom seen that in
someone.
And what do you wish of your developers?
Eike Roswag
That they are part of the team and really get involved, that’s what produces good
quality. We don’t want to implement theory or design, we look for a solution from the
surroundings in question.
What does sustainability mean for you?
Uwe Seiler
Buildings like the ones we saw in Abu Dhabi, which have to be demolished again
after 20 years because the wrong technology was used when they were built have
got nothing whatever to do with sustainability. We want to build houses for our children
and our children‘s children, using natural materials. This uses little energy. In the
manufacture of mineral wool, for example, rock is liquefied and spun to produce an
insulating material that cannot even be recycled. Madness!
Eike Roswag
Essentially, what we mean is: less. Wanting to build a “sustainable” villa with a
4000-square meter footprint is nonsense. It‘s about reducing requirements, using less
resources and less technology. For us, progress is not synonymous with growth but
with change.
What is it you want to change?
Eike Roswag
A while ago I was travelling by car in Ahmedabad. My host, who was weaving in and
out of the traffic like a maniac, kept looking over his shoulder to me on the back seat,
wagging his head and saying: “Driving in India is like dancing. Everybody moving,
nobody try touching.” Now there‘s a philosophy of life. That‘s exactly what we need.
Not our German sense of entitlement – this is where I am and this is where I am going
to stay. There are always so many excuses why things aren‘t working out the way they
should. Instead, we need to get moving to try and find out how we can make things
possible. People in need are very flexible. This is the reason why we can learn an awful
lot from our partners abroad.
What would your perfect house look like?
Eike Roswag
Mine would be a highly insulated structure made of wood and earth, including a
solar panel for producing hot water for showering and the heating system.
We are currently in the process of building two prototypes of low-energy homes,
which using earth and other breathable construction materials that naturally balance
moisture levels do not need a separate ventilation system which, the Heat Insulation
Ordinance, is soon going to make compulsory in new buildings. So we can forget
about ventilation technology and instead invest our money in natural materials such
as earth building materials – and achieve a very comfortable ambient temperature as
a result.
Can green buildings have sex appeal?
Eike Roswag
Creating buildings for lifestyle magazines is not what we intend; rather we wish to
combine sound design with a healthy, high-quality living environment and a process
that pays off for everyone involved. The residential home in Ihlow in the Märkische
Schweiz region is a good example. It might not be sexy but it‘s 100 percent green:
made of natural materials, heated through solar power and home to very happy
residents. Solar panels are not beautiful design objects but need to be integrated and
designed and will be a central component in buildings in the future. The majority of
our fellow architects still ants nothing to do with issues such as these; but if we don‘t
want to run the risk of losing touch with reality, we simply have to deal with them
and make them part of the architectural discourse.
Mozambique, Morocco, Bangladesh, Abu Dhabi, Berlin with its hinterland. Where is working more fun – in Germany or abroad?
Eike Roswag
Building bridges in all directions is what we enjoy doing most. We prefer not to turn
the big wheels, so we have teamed up with a small foundation as opposed to the
GTZ (Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit – Association for Technical Collaboration).
Large structures can often be crippling. The school in Bangladesh was only
possible because we had a fit local partner there.
Christof Ziegert
Earth is a global construction material. It is becoming hip these days in Germany
only because an affluent clientele is discovering it for themselves. In the developing
countries, we try to guide the people back to where they came from. These issues are
all interrelated. In 2003 I gave a lecture on earth building methods at the University
of Kabul, where three million people live in mud-brick houses. When they heard that
people in Europe also live in earth buildings and that they like the material for its
qualities, they were delighted to be sharing common ground.
Why is it that an earth building specialist from Germany is in such demand abroad?
Christof Ziegert
In addition to our company’s projects it is because the construction scene is so well
organised. The German Association for Building with Earth, of which I am a board
member, has been doing excellent work for many years. As an association we have
made promoting knowledge transfer our primary concern – not lobbying. German
products are in great demand. There is interest in having our regulations on earth
buildings translated and in copying our training methods, in employing us as teachers.
The Association is currently in the process of devising two training concepts
for Abu Dhabi for building with earth – one vocational and one academic. And by
the way, compared with the rest of Europe, building with earth is most widespread in
Germany.
Which project are you most proud of?
Eike Roswag
Each of our projects has a special focus and makes us proud in its very own way. In
Neuseddin, for example, the fire fighters originally had their hearts set on a house
made of stone, with a saddleback roof and a red door. Guntram Jankowski, my
former associate, designed a functional footprint and a concept for a modern timber
building. I am delighted that we were able to incorporate our specialist knowledge
in the building process – also because the occupants are now very happy with their
efficient timber building and grateful for it.
Uwe Seiler
The school in Bangladesh cost EUR 30,000 to build. The only machine we used on site
was a cordless screwdriver. The fact that our project won the Aga-Khan Award, an
internationally acclaimed architectural award worth top prize money, and that we are
part of it, really makes me proud.
Do prizes such as these represent those special moments of joy that make your work all worthwhile?
Christof Ziegert
For me a moment of joy is being on the building site in Abu Dhabi discussing technological
solutions with Kimji Kaka, the 70-year-old master builder from the earth
building company in India, to try and find the best mix for the plasterwork or floors –
and to connect by exchanging our experiences. This is where I am happiest.
Eike Roswag
I remember a particular situation shortly before the completion of the school in
Bangladesh. I was very stressed, running around on the site like a headless chicken,
when one of the old craftsmen embraced me and said: “Eike, Mama. Nooo problem.”
And I thought, well yes, of course, everyone‘s here and we are working together as
one big family. Thinking and acting positively, that‘s the spirit driving our team today.
And that we learned from people abroad.
Friederike Meyer conducted the interview.
Friederike Meyer studied Architecture in Aachen and graduated from the Berlin School of Journalism. As part of the Design-Build Program at the University of Washington she helped the inhabitants of a Mexican village build a school. She is a member of the editorial staff of Bauwelt.
project management: Andrea Nakath
