Hybrid Flax Pavilion nominated for German Sustainability Award

“What we want to showcase through projects such as the Hybrid Flax Pavilion”, says Professor Achim Menges, Director of the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and Spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence IntCDC, "are solutions for sustainable design and construction whilst facilitating a two-way knowledge transfer between researchers and construction companies. Being nominated in the architecture category in this year's German Sustainability Award shows once again that we are on the right track. We are delighted to be recognized by such a prestigious awarding authority and are of course excited to see whether our project will be successful this autumn”. It would not be the first time that a German Sustainability Award had gone to the University of Stuttgart: the IntCDC team was already awarded the special prize for digitalization for the BUGA Wood Pavilion back in 2020.

"The fight against climate change is obliging us to replace steel and concrete with bio-based building materials wherever possible,” says Professor Jan Knippers, Director of the University of Stuttgart’s Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) and Deputy Spokesperson of IntCDC. "The Hybrid Flax Pavilion demonstrates how we can use flax, a perennial crop, in regenerative construction rather than timber, which is a scarce and valuable resource.” 

The twelfth German Sustainability Award in the Architecture category will be presented in 2024 by the German Sustainability Award Foundation and the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB e.V.). This prestigious award recognizes buildings that have a transformative impact combined with innovation and outstanding design quality. This year’s jury nominated nine projects in all and the winner will be announced on German Sustainability Day, November 29.

Among other things, the Architecture category jury nominated the Hybrid Flax Pavilion because, as they explain: “It showcases a pioneering approach to material-efficient construction using renewable raw materials. Following processing with modern advanced technology, flax, which is traditionally used as a textile (linen), can significantly reduce the use of other resources."

The Hybrid Flax Pavilion is the result of many years of research at the University of Stuttgart’s Cluster of Excellence IntCDC. The project planning phase only took ten months thanks to integrative computational design approaches and digital construction processes and the pavilion was built in collaboration with regional companies. It has been on display at the 2024 Landesgartenschau (State Flower Show) in Wangen since April 2024.

The pavilion is the first to showcase a hybrid structure that combines wood and natural fiber as an alternative to conventional construction methods. The researchers combined slimline cross-laminated timber boards with robotically wound flax fiber elements in a novel, resource efficient load-bearing system made of regional, bio-based construction materials. “Our wood-natural-fibre hybrid construction system”, explains project manager Monika Göbel, “utilizes the specific properties of wood and natural fibers to enable extremely lightweight, efficient components with outstanding performance properties”.

The researchers went a step further than simply using renewable, recyclable materials for the Hybrid Flax Pavilion; they also used a cyclical construction method to develop the building system: both the timber and natural fiber hybrid frame and core components, such as the façade, the roof covering and the entry porch, can be disassembled into their constituent elements making them easy to reuse or recycle. 

The building's energy concept is also designed to be sustainable and is 100 percent powered by local geothermal energy. A shaded entry cubicle and special protective solar glazing make for a pleasant indoor climate in summer. The climate garden, which forms the core of the building, serves as an inner courtyard and, in conjunction with the façade, which can be opened in several places, enables natural cross flow ventilation and cooling. The building can also be used in winter thanks to an activatable recycled concrete floor slab. 

The German Sustainability Award 
The national German Sustainability Award, which is comprised of six competitions is awarded in recognition of outstanding achievements in sustainability in business, local authorities and research and typically attracts over 1,300 applicants with each event hosting up to 3,000 guests. The German Sustainability Award Foundation, in collaboration with the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), launched a special award for future-oriented construction in 2012, in recognition of the importance of the real estate sector in relation to the most important challenges of the future. The prestigious architecture prize recognizes exemplary buildings that showcase sustainable transformation within the construction sector and combine innovative concepts with design quality. Nine projects have been nominated this year and the winner will be announced on German Sustainability Day on November 29 in Düsseldorf.

Hybrid Flax Pavilion and Wangen Tower: visitor magnets at the Landesgartenschau
In addition to the Hybrid Flax Pavilion, visitors to the Landesgartenschau (State Flower Show) at the exhibition grounds in Wangen can explore another IntCDC research Building Demonstrator: the 22-meter-high observation tower, known as the Wangen Tower, is the world's first accessible tower made of curved cross-laminated timber components that shape themselves as the wood shrinks. With a material thickness of just 130 mm, the tower's high-performance spiral load-bearing, timber structure is both slimline and resource efficient. Visitors can view the Wangen Tower and Hybrid Flax Pavilion up till October 6 at the Landesgartenschau. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Action Day will be held on the exhibition grounds on September 3 to 4, where visitors will have an opportunity to learn more about and discuss the Hybrid Flax Pavilion. Both the Hybrid Flax Pavilion and the Wangen Tower will remain permanently in place after the Landesgartenschau ends.