Designing Transformation: Negotiating Solar and Green Strategies for the Sustainable Densification of Urban Neighbourhoods

Abstract

The current need to redevelop post-war residential settlements opens up the opportunity to exploit the potential for densification and for the climatic and energetic activation of building envelopes through greenery and photovoltaics. The question arises as to which design strategies help to identify and balance relevant solar, green, and densification interventions that would lead to new qualities in the built environment. This work relies on a threefold research by design approach to acquire this knowledge base. Within a research-based design studio, four teams of master’s students in architecture faced the design task in a case study of an inner-city perimeter block development in Munich, thus covering the first two phases of the research by design process: Phase 1—pre-design, comprises a shared knowledge literature research, among other things, and concludes with specific research questions for the subsequent phase; Phase 2—design. Here, design concepts answer the research questions and are iteratively adapted and evaluated in an interdisciplinary expert discourse. Phase 3—post-design, synthesises the design proposals into design strategies. By gaining insights into the benefits and disadvantages of solar and green interventions, the research provides designers and urban planners with strategies to design the practical transformation and upgrading of urban residential structures.