RE_DESIGN – Strategies for the Adaptive Transformation of the Built Environment

The existing building stock lies at the heart of multiple and converging challenges: climate change, resource scarcity, changing patterns of use, and increasing demands for energy efficiency and resilience all require integrated, forward-looking solutions. Approximately 40% of Europe's total energy consumption is attributable to buildings, and over one third of construction waste originates from the building sector. As such, the preservation, further development and strategic transformation of the existing built environment is becoming a key task in shaping a sustainable architectural culture.

RE_DESIGN is an interdisciplinary research project that translates architectural, technical, societal, energetic and legal requirements into a coherent strategy for future-oriented building stock development. The project focuses on use- and climate-adaptive renovation scenarios, which synergistically integrate passive design strategies, renewable energy systems, and resource-efficient construction methods.

Why RE_DESIGN?

Buildings of the future must be low-emission, adaptable, and resource-conscious – while meeting the evolving social and functional needs of diverse user groups.
Early-stage, data-driven decision-making opens up new pathways for sustainable transformation.
RE_DESIGN responds to European and national climate objectives, taxonomy frameworks, and circularity strategies – and translates them into design-led and technically robust strategies for existing buildings.

Project Overview

The central question posed by RE_DESIGN is: How can the building stock be transformed in a strategic, resilient and economically viable way – beyond standardised retrofit approaches?

Five real demonstration projects, representing a range of typologies and construction periods, provide the foundation for integrated scenario development. These serve as testbeds for adaptive reuse options, technical interventions and energy performance improvements, evaluated through a dynamic and iterative process.

Sensor-based building diagnostics are used to gather data on thermal properties, indoor environmental quality, daylight conditions and structural reserves. The planning process builds upon a holistic evaluation methodology. The potential of passive strategies – including natural ventilation, solar shading and thermal mass – is assessed in conjunction with the targeted integration of renewable energy systems such as photovoltaics, solar thermal energy and geothermal technologies.

The project is developed in close cooperation with students from architecture, civil engineering and computer science, as well as with experts from the fields of energy systems and sustainability research.

Vision

RE_DESIGN represents a paradigm shift in the way we engage with the existing built environment: away from linear, investment-driven retrofit logic, and towards a strategically adaptive, knowledge-based approach. The project combines technological rigour with social responsibility, delivering evidence-based decision-making tools for a climate-resilient, circular and socially responsive built environment.