CarlO – Developing existing buildings

23.04.2024 - On Friday evening, the Böttiger Prize was once again awarded to students of the Architecture | Building Revitalization and Transformation master's degree program. The award ceremony took place as part of a cooperation between the Wiesbaden Foundation and University of Applied Sciences RheinMain (HSRM) and offers students a high-profile presentation of their designs. The topic of the design task this time was the conversion of the Carl-von-Ossietzky-School in Wiesbaden-Klarenthal. The ten best designs from the project task "CarlO - developing existing buildings" were exhibited in the G building on the Kurt-Schumacher-Ring Campus. A wide range of ideas for transformations of the Carl-von-Ossietzky-School, built in 1978 in the Brutalist style, and its surrounding areas were on display.

"The award recognizes particularly successful work. The "CarlO" design project is a task from a real-life situation, which is a very typical characteristic here at this university," said Prof. Dr. Andreas Brensing, Vice-President for Research, Transfer and Sustainability, at the opening of the exhibition. Dr. Marie-Luise Stoll-Stefan, Deputy Chairwoman of the Wiesbaden Foundation, then welcomed those present. "It is very nice that the students have the opportunity to exhibit their projects. The work they have produced is fantastic and has the potential to have a direct impact on Wiesbaden," she said. The works were judged by an external jury consisting of Mona Farag, architect at Christ & Gantenbein, Iris Gisi, Environmental Office of the City of Wiesbaden, Julian Numberger, landscape architect at NUWELA, and Alexander Harff, authorized signatory and division head of construction planning/preparation at Wiesbadener Wohnungsbaugesellschaft mbH. The project was conceived, supervised and continuously developed by the lecturers Prof. Isabella Leber, Julia Christ and Aldis Pahl.

Many successful designs

As many of the works were deemed successful by the jury, there were two further recognitions in addition to three prizes. The design "Bios & Diversitas" by Isabel Hiort and Natalia Claret-Smith was awarded 1st prize as the best work. The jury's verdict: "Nature and people should meet at eye level. The work is a shining example of how the environment and the promotion of biodiversity can be dealt with." The two have been a good team for a long time: "We got to know each other in the first semester, have mastered every project together since then and have now won the Böttiger Prize together. The task was great fun, but also very time-consuming due to the size of the site and the buildings," they reported.

The 2nd prize went to the project "Tradition and new beginnings, preserving identity" by Lena Marie Kammer and Steffen Klippel-Korn. "The mix of housing types and sizes is convincing and offers living space for a variety of lifestyles and promotes community," was the jury's verdict. "Carlo and the two towers" was awarded 3rd prize and was designed by Jan Bienefeld and Stefan Simon. "With its approach of minimizing the structural footprint and corresponding arrangement of almost 200 residential units in two high-rise buildings, the work provides a valuable and sustainable approach to preserving the existing unsealed green spaces," said the jury. The works "New life in old walls" by Gloria B. and Hatice Salan and "C²-Creative Carlo" by Ole Burandt and Paul Ohlinger received recognition.