The Idea Team

We are Olga, Julian, Sophie and Patrick and we study geology at the Lankwitz campus. We spend a lot of our free time there in addition to our studies. That's why a beautiful, green and sustainable campus is important to us!

About the Idea

Our campus has a relatively large amount of green space, which is why many animals take part in campus life. However, the building walls are very barren and not exactly beautiful and we have decided to tackle this problem.

Green façades have many advantages: they provide food and nesting sites for animals, bind CO2, act as a natural air purification and air conditioning system and are also very attractive to look at!

Originally, we wanted to equip our buildings with wire ropes and fastenings and allow as many different plants as possible to grow up them. Free-standing wooden trellises are also an option for greening our campus without attaching them to the walls.

Our core idea changed and we developed a mobile climbing box. This is movable, which has the advantage of providing an optimal location for the plants to grow and for students to use. In the future, the box will provide shade in summer, serve as a refuge and food source for insects and beautify the Lankwitz campus.

Here are a few pictures of our mobile climbing box:

• Front view
• Side view
• Close-up view

In this way, we were able to realize some of the core motifs of our original idea. However, some of the benefits that could have been achieved by greening the façade, such as cooling the building itself, were not realized.

This project was initially a pilot project and was carried out on a small scale. We are observing how it is accepted and hope to be able to design another climbing box to expand the greening.

Outlook

Through our project, we as students had the opportunity to become active and think about how the ecological situation on campus could be improved. We were highly motivated and enjoyed the support of the other FUturist teams.

But it was also very challenging, as our original idea had to be completely rethought. We had to put a lot of energy into constantly coming up with new approaches, which was very frustrating at times. We would like to see more backing and support for the feasibility of the projects.

During the implementation period, we learned a lot about façade greening and diverse projects initiated by other student groups - this showed us that everyone thinks about a different aspect and that, in the end, the totality of all projects can actually make a difference.

We will be happy to share our experiences with other universities or institutes so that they too can take a step towards "green".

Anyone who wants to see the Rankkasten for themselves is very welcome to visit the Lankwitz campus!

Contact

• Julian Krapp - julkrapp@gmail.com 
• Olga Brunsmann - olga.brunsmann@fu-berlin.de 
• Sophie Rose - ninasophie.rose@fu-berlin.de
• Patrick Zentel - patrick.zentel@fu-berlin.de