RE.THINK BUILDING 2025 – Making Transformation the New Standard
Conference featuring talks and workshops
09 MAY 2025 / 11:00–18:00
ZK/U BerlinSiemensstr. 27, 10551, Berlin, Germany
If we care for and adapt our existing building stock thoughtfully, we save valuable resources and significantly reduce CO₂ emissions. Now is the time to establish transformation and reuse as the preferred and default approach in the building sector.
RE.THINK BUILDING 2025, the expert conference hosted by natureplus in cooperation with the Natural Building Lab at TU Berlin, brings together leading voices from architecture, planning, material development, research, and civil society. Together, we explore how to overcome the legal, financial, and technical challenges of transformation – and how to mainstream it.
What to expect:
A full day of best practices, future materials, and practical strategies. Through keynote talks, interactive workshops, an exhibition, a materials fair, and a building tour, RE.THINK BUILDING connects the dots between policy, practice, and the people driving change – all within the transformed spaces of ZK/U.
Programme
Expert Lectures (11:00 AM – 2:30 PM)
Keynote:
Ben Pohl, Urban Design Research & Communication, Denkstatt sàrl (Switzerland)
The Collegium Academicum conversion project
Dr. Franziska Meier, Managing Director, Collegium Academicum GmbH
Financing transformation: project examples
Manuel Ehlers, Head of Sustainable Property, Triodos Bank
Rethinking building law collectively: The Danish Reduction Roadmap initiative
Fabian Lecker, Effekt Architects (Denmark)
World Café Workshops (2:50 – 5:00 PM)
Economic viability of transformation
Choosing the right materials
Energy retrofitting
Fire safety
Innovative solutions by students from the Natural Building Lab
Site Visit (5:30 – 6:00 PM)
Guided tour of the ZK/U conversion project
Also featured:
Exhibition by the Natural Building Lab
Materials fair featuring sustainable building products