Henning Larsen's 'Changing Our Footprint' explores pathways toward sustainable building

A new exhibition on view in Berlin’s Aedes Architecture Forum from Henning Larsen will present ideas and possible solutions to some of the industry’s most at-the-moment challenges.

Under the title ‘Changing Our Footprint,’ the exhibition presents a selection of sustainable materials and methods used in the firm’s research and built projects. Divided into two rooms — Share and Explore — and united under the theme ‘Rolling out the sketch paper,’ the presentation of their work asks viewers to engage collaboratively in a dialogue towards the end of finding open-sourced answers.

“As a company we are very experienced within architecture, but we are on a journey to develop our position, and this exhibition is an acceleration of change,” Henning Larsen Global Design Principal Louis Becker says in a preview. “For years, we have worked full steam ahead focusing a lot on aesthetics, and now we are revisiting and rethinking the way we work.”

“As sustainability becomes the main design driver, the buildings blocks of our industry are changing. But we still have much to learn, and unlearn, as we reshape our industry’s outsized environmental impact. Facing up to this footprint can be anxiety-provoking. But it also holds a wealth of opportunities. The perspective of opportunities has led us to embark upon the explorative and collaborative journey of changing our footprint.”

Beginning in the ‘Share’ room, visitors get a sense of the real impacts of carbon-heavy materials used in construction with an “unboxing carbon” workshop that is presented alongside the firm’s new Plant a Seed publication. Additional highlights in the room include a presentation of data used in Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in a “visually accessible and readily understandable way.”

Adjacent to this in the ‘Explore’ room, visitors are invited to consider critically the development of different bio-based materials’ usage in construction and design. Samples of straw-bale, mycelium, rammed earth, and low-carbon concrete are present side-by-side with examples of new methods and technologies such as 3D printing and the Urban DeCarb app in order to provide a sense of optimism for the development path of architecture in the future.

“Our hope for this exhibition is to open a discussion about a new aesthetic in our built environment, where we are more open to new expressions, surfaces and textures, we hold a curiousness and a willingness to explore how to avoid waste material and build sustainably. As well as celebrating coming back to the materials, the textures, the hands-on experiences through new digital tools and processes, which we thought would distance us from architecture,” Henning Larsen’s Design Director, Nina la Cour Sel, said finally.

The exhibition will include a host of panel discussions on related topics to be held at the Forum between February 22nd and March 14th in German and English. ‘Changing Our Footprint’ is open to the public now and will remain on view until March 22nd.