Recycled shipping containers and rammed-earth walls in Europe’s vision of carbon-reducing green design, the New European Bauhaus
- The EU wants Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, and its call for a New European Bauhaus architecture is at the heart of its plan
- Old buildings will be renovated and repurposed, and new ones built sustainably; the first round of project funding suggests how new design ethos may take shape
Green Europe will be built on rammed-earth walls, wooden pillars and recycled shipping containers – at least according to the winners of a new European Union initiative.
The New European Bauhaus, announced by EU leaders last year as a style for the continent’s green transformation, is starting to take shape. In September, the European Commission awarded €30,000 (US$35,000) each to 10 projects that best illustrate the movement’s values of sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion.
“Change is not only possible, but already happening all over our European Union, in all sectors of our economy,” said commission president Ursula von der Leyen when the winners were revealed. “The New European Bauhaus combines the big vision of the European Green Deal with tangible change on the ground to improve our daily life.”
The EU wants Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent, cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 55 per cent in 2030 from 1990 levels, and reaching net zero emissions by mid-century. To achieve that, it plans to spend US$1.1 trillion on sustainable investments over the next decade, as well as at least US$116 billion up to 2027 to support workers in regions most affected by the green transition.
European leaders want the arts – especially architecture and design – to be a part of this transformation. The continent’s old buildings, which are responsible for about 40 per cent of energy consumption, will go through deep renovations. But they also need a new look that defines net-zero Europe in the same way that the Bauhaus school’s modernist designs reshaped the West and the industrial era in the early 20th century.