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Transsolar Podcast | Episode 2 | Terms and Conditions

24.07.2025

The second episode of our podcast is now available! Carlo Ratti (curator Architettura Biennale 2025, director MIT Senseable City, founding partner Carlo Ratti Associati) and Thomas Auer (Transsolar and Technical University of Munich) join us to discuss how they aim to redefine architecture's role in our planet's most pressing environmental and social challenges.

Listen and rate the whole episode wherever podcasts are available:

Youtube > Spotify > Apple > Deezer > Amazon Music / Audible > Podcast Index > Podcast Addict > Podchaser > Player FM >

Credits Installation: Climate engineering: Thomas Auer, Jochen Lam, Alina Wagner, Melis Ozalp (Transsolar Energietechnik GmbH) | Design lead: Bilge Kobas (Technical University of Munich) | Design and theoretical team: Daniel A. Barber (TU Eindhoven), Dehlia Hannah (University of Copenhagen), Alexandra Auer, Sebastian C. Koth (Technical University of Munich) | Climate science: Sonia Seneviratne, David N. Bresch, Lorenzo Pierini (ETH Zürich) | Water installation: Massimo Ferranti (ABC Produzioni e Allestimenti), Alessandro dal Pra (pp ABC Srl) | Production: Klaus Feith (boost) | Supporters: DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council), Transsolar Energietechnik GmbH

Podcast production credits: Produced by Proesler Kommunikation | Moderated by Martin Prösler | Music: Artlist Musical Logos - Hop on

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Richtfest Hitachi Campus

15.07.2025

Am Freitag den 11. Juli war Richtfest am Campus Hitachi in Mannheim. Bauherr des Projektes ist 3ipro und das verantwortliche Architekturbüro AllesWirdGut. Der Campus besteht aus insgesamt vier individuellen Baukörpern, die einen zentralen und in alle Richtungen offenen Platz formen. Die Holz-Beton-Hybridkonstruktion entsteht vorwiegend in Fertigteilbauweise. Die auskragenden Betonteile im Äußeren schützen das Holz im Inneren vor der Witterung und sorgen zugleich für Langlebigkeit der Fassade. Die Photovoltaikanlage erzeugt Strom, der sofort genutzt oder gespeichert werden soll. Solarkamine treiben das Lüftungssystem auf natürliche Weise an. Für Beheizung sorgen Niedertemperatur-Wärmepumpen und zur Kühlung dient Grundwasser. Transsolar arbeitet am Konzept für die Häuser A und B. Wunsch ist, einen klimaneutralen Gebäudebetrieb möglich zu machen, dass also so viel Energie gewonnen werden kann, wie der Betrieb benötigt. Foto: Felix Krumbholz Photography

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Transsolar Podcast | Episode 1 | Terms and Conditions

10.07.2025

We’re thrilled to introduce our new podcast: “Terms and Conditions – the Transsolar Podcast.” This series offers an in-depth exploration of the ideas behind our installation at the 2025 Biennale Architettura. Join us for engaging conversations with designers, engineers, and thought leaders – including Biennale curator Carlo Ratti – as we unpack topics ranging from social inequality in thermal comfort to the future of architecture through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Episode 1: Step into "Terms and Conditions"! The fascinating installation at the entrance of the Architettura Biennale 2025 that sets the tone for the rest of the exhibition. It makes climate change for the visitors immediately tangible. In this first episode host Martin Prösler, engineer Jochen Lam (Transsolar) and architect Bilge Kobas (Technical University of Munich) explore the concept of the installation and unfold some of the stories behind the obvious – for a mindshift in how we plan our built environment.

Listen to the whole episode wherever podcasts are available: YouTube > Spotify > Apple > Deezer > Amazon Music / Audible > Podcast Index > Podcast Addict > Podchaser > Player FM >

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Dr. Nadir Abdessemed and Mohammad Hamza Participate in Emirati-German Energy Efficiency Workshop

As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen international cooperation on climate action, Dr. Nadir Abdessemed and Mohammad Hamza took part in a high-level virtual workshop titled "Efficiency Strategies in Germany and the UAE". The event, held on June 24, 2025, was organized under the umbrella of the Emirati-German Energy and Climate Partnership.

The workshop focused on aligning energy efficiency strategies between Germany and the United Arab Emirates, both of which have committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2045 and 2050 respectively. With energy efficiency recognized as a cornerstone for reducing emissions and managing energy demand, the event brought together government officials, industry experts, and technology leaders from both nations.

Dr. Nadir Abdessemed, Climate Engineer at Transsolar KlimaEngineering, contributed to a dynamic roundtable discussion on the Conditions for Successful Energy Efficiency Solutions. Joined by Michael Freiherr, Head of Technologies & Innovation at Güntner, and Dariya Oveshchenko, Energy Efficiency Expert from dena and the IEEKN Office, Dr. Abdessemed emphasized the importance of integrated climate-responsive design and the role of adaptive building technologies in both hot and temperate climates.

Mohammad Hamza, who participated in the workshop’s expert exchanges, highlighted opportunities for cross-border innovation and stressed the value of knowledge sharing between the UAE and Germany. His remarks underscored the significance of policy coordination and public-private partnerships in accelerating progress toward energy efficiency goals.

The workshop was hosted on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWK) and the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MOEI), with implementation support from Guidehouse and the German Emirati Joint Council for Industry and Commerce (AHK).

This collaborative platform enabled stakeholders to share best practices, identify challenges, and explore scalable energy-saving solutions suitable for both regions’ distinct climates and development contexts.

About the Emirati-German Energy and Climate Partnership The Partnership serves as a platform for bilateral dialogue and cooperation on energy and climate issues, fostering innovation and strategic collaboration between the UAE and Germany.

For media inquiries or more information, please contact: info@energy-climate-partnership.ae

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Tommaso Bitossi to Join International Experts at Conference in Rome

On July 3rd, LUMSA University and the Bioarchitecture Foundation will host an international conference in Rome titled “Study Day – Technical Seminar – Inauguration Exhibition: Bioclimatic Trees”. The event is dedicated to urban ecology, sustainable design, and passive cooling solutions for cities, aiming to inspire practical, low-impact strategies for climate-resilient urban environments. Organized in collaboration with the Order of Engineers of Rome and the National Order of Journalists, and held under the patronage of the Order of Architects of Rome, the conference will be conducted in both Italian and English. It is designed as a transdisciplinary platform bringing together architecture, engineering, landscape planning, and sustainable resource management—aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda.

The day is structured around two core sessions: Morning: Ingenuity Listening to Needs for Urban Spaces and Sociality Afternoon: Passive Measures to Address Climate Change

Speakers will present real-world examples and best practices using passive and CO₂-free systems to address climate change. The international keynote lineup includes:

Martin Haas – Design Innovation as a Tool for Physical and Mental Well-being

Tommaso Bitossi – Creating Bioclimate with Virtuous, Low-Cost and Durable Passive Systems

Gerhard Hauber – Intelligent Management of Rainwater: Collection and Reuse

Joachim Eble – The Green Project in Urban Settings: From the Whole to the Detail, Designing Well to Live Better

Wittfrida Mitterer – Sustainability as a Guide for Designing the Future

In conjunction with the event, the exhibition “Small Bioclimatic Trees Grow. Wellness in the Square” will be inaugurated. The exhibition showcases research findings and experimental work on cooling Rome’s public spaces using CO₂-free passive systems with zero energy consumption. Featuring nine illustrative panels, it will be on display in the Jubilee Hall from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, until July 14, 2025.

Also being presented is the Bioclimatic Tree project, conceived by architect Martin Haas and promoted by LUMSA University and the Bioarchitecture Foundation in anticipation of the Holy Year 2025. The initiative responds to the urgent need to mitigate urban heat islands with sustainable architectural structures—combining modern design with historical and contextual sensitivity.

The event promises to be a cornerstone in the ongoing dialogue on sustainable urban transformation, offering insight, inspiration, and actionable strategies for greener, healthier cities.

When? 03 July 2025. 9:00 to 17:30. Where? Università LUMSA – Sala Giubileo, Via di Porta Castello 44, Rome

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Wolfgang Kessling + Ayush Kamalia | ASSURE program

Wolfgang Kessling and Ayush Kamalia gave a webinar on High Performance Buildings on 13.06.2025 at the ASSURE program (by Indian Institute of Human Settlement and Infosys) as part of their capacity development efforts. ASSURE is envisioned as the world’s largest effort to build and retrofit High Performance Buildings (HPBs). Realising 100 million sq. ft. of HPBs in India through lighthouse projects over 2024-30. It also aims to build an ecosystem of service providers and sustainability-focused businesses and institutions to promote, design, implement, and operate High Performance Buildings (HPBs) at scale.

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Jasmin Gärtner @ Karlsruher Institut für Technologie KIT

16.06.2025

Heimspiel: Jasmin Gärtner wurde für eine Gastvorlesung am 24.06.2025 an das KIT eingeladen. Jasmin ist unter anderem Expertin für Stadtklima und hat am KIT ihre Masterarbeit geschrieben. Die Vorlesung findet im Rahmen einer Vorlesungsreihe der Architektur Fakultät (Fachgebiet Bauphysik und Technischer Ausbau) für Studierende der Architektur und des Bauingenieurwesens (Bachelor- und Masterstudierende). Die Vorlesung betreut Prof. Wagner.

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Solar Decathlon India | 2025 Finals | Mysore, India

Transsolar is happy to support Solar Decathlon India, which is the largest net-zero building challenge in the world with more than 170 student teams participating in the 2024-25 edition. Elise Roussel and Ayush Kamalia will join the final event of the 9-month-long challenge from 23-25 May in Mysore, India. Elise Roussel is part of the jury panel for the Educational Building Division and will evaluate the design proposals of the finalists. They will also participate in the Climate Smart Innovation Exhibition and the Career Fair, which is being hosted alongside the students’ challenge. We look forward to deeper and sustained engagement with Solar Decathlon India in the coming years.

Solar Decathlon India (SDI) is a student competition that attempts to address the urgent need for climate action in India. It was launched in 2020, and it is now in its fifth annual cycle. Student teams’ partner with building owners and real estate developers and collaborate with equipment and material manufacturers to develop affordable and energy efficient solutions for live building projects. Projects include residential, commercial, and educational buildings, construction worker housing, as well as disaster relief community resilience shelters. Last edition saw participation of over 6,000 students from more than 300 colleges.

Web link >

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Interview und Podcast | Handwerk + Bau | Daniel Kiehlmann | Ganzheitliches Planen im Klimawandel

Die Klimakrise stellt das Planen und Bauen vor neue Herausforderungen. Für die Bau-Fachredaktion von handwerkundbau.at sprach Susanne Karr mit Daniel Kiehlmann, Partner bei Transsolar. Ihr Interview zeigt, kluge Strategien lassen Gebäude auch in Zukunft noch nachhaltig funktionieren. Daniel Kiehlmann erklärt, welche Ansätze wir verfolgen und erläutert Beispiele wie das Neubauprojekt "Grüne Erde", die Vorgehensweise bei der Sanierung mit Erweiterung der Tiroler Fachberufsschule für Fotografie, Optik und Hörakustik sowie die Sanierung des denkmalgeschützten Goethe-Instituts in New York.

Artikel > Podcast >

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Biennale Architettura 2025 | Terms and Conditions | Corderie dell’Arsenale

Carlo Ratti as Curator of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., invited Transsolar to participate in the Biennale Architettura 2025 with the Special Project 'Terms and Conditions': In climate-controlled buildings worldwide, the true costs of comfort are often overlooked, and our climate future is continually postponed. Adjusting the thermostat may seem trivial, but it has profound implications. What have we truly signed up for? Did we read the fine print? Outside, air conditioning systems hum and drip, working tirelessly off electrical grids still predominantly powered by fossil fuels. These cooling systems sustain sealed, optimized interiors but contribute to a planetary infrastructure that emits greenhouse gases, accelerates global warming, and raises sea levels. This vicious cycle – cooling to maintain comfort while heating the planet – becomes the unnoticed background hum for the privileged, who often tune out its dissonance. This anteroom 'Terms and Conditions' brings the outside world inside – air conditioners surround you, dispersing waste heat from cooled exhibition spaces. The passage becomes a spatial metaphor for the growing global thermal inequality: who benefits from comfort, for how long, and at what cost? On one side: cool, predictable, normed, and contained. On the other: hot, noisy, damp, unpredictable, and precarious. These conditions reflect how luxury lifestyles impose thermal burdens on vulnerable populations and future generations... Carlo Ratti has asked us to create a realistic future scenario that can be experienced in this exhibition space. The common goal is to do everything we can to avert this future.

Climate engineering: Transsolar Energietechnik GmbH Climate experience: TU of Munich Climate science: ETH Design: Bilge Kobas; Daniel A. Barber, Dehlia Hannah, Alexandra Auer Technical Collaborators: Massimo Ferranti, ABC Produzioni e Allestimenti (production and installation); Klaus Feith, boost (production) Supporters: DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council); Transsolar Energietechnik GmbH

Exhibition May 10th – November 23rd, 2025 Special Preview May 7th, 2025 (for participants only) Official Pre-Opening May 8th – 9th, 2025

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Jochen Lam | Fachhochschule Dortmund | Vortragsreihe FB Architektur SOSE 2025 | Architektur und Energie

Jochen Lam hält am 28.4.2025 einen Vortrag im Rahmen der Vortragsreihe "FB Architektur SOSE 2025 | Architektur und Energie | Prof. Dr. Jan Mehnert + Dipl.-Ing. Eva Paar" an der FH Dortmund. Die Vorträge finden in Präsenz statt und beginnen montags um 18:00 Uhr im Hörsaal des Fachbereichs. Die Vorträge sind öffentlich und können digital über den QR-Code besucht werden. Für die Anerkennung des Moduls EV 3 /Büroperspektive/ ist die Teilnahme in Präsenz erforderlich. Die Vorträge werden für Mitglieder der AKNW mit 2 Fortbildungspunkten anerkannt. Die Teilnahme ist sowohl vor Ort als auch digital möglich. Bei digitaler Teilnahme erfolgt die Anmeldung über folgende Mailadresse: liza.schiller050@stud.fh-dortmund.de.

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Lost in Transformation | Thomas Auer | Architekturforum Freiburg | 3.4.2025

Thomas Auer hielt am Donnerstag den 3. April in Freiburg einen Vortrag mit dem Titel Lost in Transformation: "Der Klimawandel erfordert eine nachhaltige und klimaresiliente Transformation der gebauten Umwelt inklusive einer Dekarbonisierung des Gebäudesektors und des Bauwesens. Gebäude verbrauchen im Betrieb häufig mehr Energie als prognostiziert und/oder erreichen nicht die avisierte Aufenthaltsqualität. Dies ist nicht zuletzt auf die Komplexität der Gebäude zurückzuführen."

Thomas Auer verfolgt als Professor für Gebäudetechnologie und klimagerechtes Bauen an der Technischen Universität München – gemeinsam mit Florian Nagler und weiteren Mitwirkenden – das Ziel, die Komplexität im Bauen zu reduzieren. Die Erkenntnisse werden im Forschungscluster «Einfach Umbauen» auf den Gebäudebestand übertragen. Das aktuelle Forschungsvorhaben ist das Nachfolgeprojekt der drei Forschungsprojekte Einfach Bauen 1-3 an der Technischen Universität München. Forschungscluster EINFACH (UM)BAUEN Lehrstuhl für Gebäudetechnologie und klimagerechtes Bauen >

Video vom Architekturforum Freiburg Lost in Transformation>

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Matthias Rammig | Schöner Wandel | Leipzig | 16.-17.5.2025

Das mehrteilige Projekt des Zentrums für Baukultur Sachsen (ZfBK) mit dem Titel „Schöner Wandel“ widmet sich der Ästhetik und Gestaltung klimagerechter Baukultur. Ziel des Projektes ist, zu zeigen, wie eine Bauwende aussehen kann.

Den Auftakt bildet vom 16.-17.5.25 ein internationales Symposium im Leipziger Grassimuseum, im Rahmen der dortigen aktuellen Ausstellung „ZUKÜNFTE Material und Design von Morgen“. Von Transsolar mit dabei ist Matthias Rammig am 17. Mai. In seinem Vortrag Protect + Adapt: KlimaEngineering und anspruchsvolle Baukultur zeigt er Beispiele für nachhaltiges und umweltgerechtes Bauen aus der Praxis.

Webseite “Schöner Wandel” >

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Thomas Auer @ RREAL SIMPLE – Geht es nicht einfacher?

REAL SIMPLE heißt die sechste Civic Design Conference, zu der BDA NRW, PBSA und das Institut für lebenswerte und umweltgerechte Stadtentwicklung (In-LUST) am 11. April 2025 an die Peter Behrens School of Arts in Düsseldorf einladen. Es wird mit Lehrenden, Expert:innen, Studierenden und der interessierten Öffentlichkeit diskutiert, wie unserer Gesellschaft ein Ausstieg aus der ewigen Wachstumsspirale und der Architektur eine Rückkehr zu mehr Einfachheit, Suffizienz und Angemessenheit gelingen kann.

Veranstaltungseite >

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Transsolar News Spring 2025

We are excited to share our most recent edition of the Transsolar Newsletter. Discover more about activities from across our offices, including recently completed and in progress projects and what our New York team is up to outside of the office.

Krista Palen shares our approach on, "Solving the Energy Retrofit Puzzle: The Key to Decarbonization Is in the Details."

If you'd like to receive our newsletter straight into your mailbox, please sign up here >

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Erik Olsen | Art in Context | Marfa | Texas USA

25.03.2025

Erik Olsen is part of the team completing ongoing studies of the Artillery Sheds at Chinati in Marfa, Texas. On April 4–6, 2025, he will take part in the symposium Art, Architecture, and the Middle Landscape in Marfa.

Participants will explore the relationship between art, architecture, and land at Chinati by focusing on one of the most significant examples of their integration: the former artillery sheds that house Donald Judd’s 100 untitled works in mill aluminum. Considering the history of the buildings and their broader influence on museum architecture, the symposium will focus on current efforts to restore the structures, preserve Judd’s architectural interventions, protect the art, and care for the surrounding landscape.

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Tommaso Bitossi @ the 2025 Design Colloquium in San Francisco

11.03.2025

The 2025 Design Colloquium on March 19-21 will explore the strategies, tools, and actions designers can use to create meaningful, lasting impact. Each year, leaders from exceptional architecture, engineering, and design firms gather in an intimate and candid setting to exchange ideas and experiences.

As part of the 2025 Advisory Board, Tommaso Bitossi will join a panel discussing: "What are we doing as designers to drive positive impact, and how do we align intention with outcomes?"

To spark conversation and challenge perspectives, Tommaso will provoke the audience with the statement: ‘Technology alone Won’t Save Us. How can designers utilize new efficient technologies in a sufficient way?’ It’s a compelling challenge for designers: How do we ensure that our work isn’t just chasing innovation for its own sake but is truly aligned with social and ecological responsibility?

Tommaso is looking forward to the 2-day event in San Francisco. Learn more about it here >