Experimental Architecture. Gernot Minke

Gernot Minke is a pioneer of loam construction and a key player in the development of ecological building since the 1970s. From 1974, Minke headed the Department of Load-Bearing Structures and Experimental Building at the Kassel University of Applied Sciences, where he founded the Research Laboratory for Experimental Building (FEB). This resulted in around 50 research and development projects on topics including low-cost construction, building with clay, building with straw bales, building with bamboo, green roofs and vertical gardens. Even before his decades of work at the GhK, Minke was a central representative for the development of ecological thinking in Germany and worldwide as Deputy Director at Frei Otto's Institute for Lightweight Structures (IL) and as a lecturer and head of the Institute for Environmental Planning (IUP) in Ulm.

Alexander Stumm is researching the Gernot Minke Archive, which was generously donated to the University of Kassel's archive by the architect. The archive includes plans and drawings of all realized and planned buildings, an indexed slide collection with 18,000 photographs, records and documentation of all teaching events and research projects from 1975-2005, correspondence, the library and an extensive collection of publications by and about Minke.

Researcher: Alexander Stumm