Bundesstiftung Baukultur
Graphics © Bundesstiftung Baukultur, Design Heimann + Schwantes

Sustainability, future viability and longevity go hand in hand - and are the guiding principles of a new conversion culture.

There are objective reasons and social trends for rethinking: sufficiency is increasingly seen not as a sacrifice, but as quality. Responsible building begins with demand planning, anticipates operation and maintenance and ensures flexibility and adaptability.

A keynote speech (excerpt) by Sabine Keggenhoff

Fachjury School Building Award NRW 2023 / Photo ©AKNW
AKNW, Ministry of Schools and Education of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

63 new, converted and extended school buildings were submitted for the award. Sabine Keggenhoff, together with an independent expert jury, selected ten schools as equal prize winners. The ten schools awarded the "Schulbaupreis NRW 2023" include all school types and are spread across the entire state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

To the results of the Schulbaupreis 2023

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Projects by KEGGENHOFF | PARTNER awarded the "Schulbaupreis NRW":

EBK - Erzbischöfliches Berufskolleg Köln
(photo left)

SchoolCityLibrary, Arnsberg
(photo right)

You can't walk past a building without seeing it. Architecture has the greatest visible social impact." This was said by former German President Johannes Rau. You can close a book, turn off the music, take down a picture. But built space surrounds us immovably, which is why it is so essential to our culture. It has the ability to create places of remembrance, landmarks and points of identification. And it significantly influences our quality of life.

Building culture quality combines aesthetic and innovative standards with a holistic view of social, economic and ecological aspects. This includes not only the question of new buildings and extensions, but also intelligent conversion measures and high-quality densification through new building types and the transformation of urban spaces.

The team at KEGGENHOFF | PARTNER is convinced that decidedly designed, innovative living spaces have a positive effect on the way we interact and our quality of life. Living spaces that are anchored in the mind and heart are powerful, meaningful and identity-creating. This is what we stand for in the alliance of the stakeholder network.

Building culture encompasses urban planning, architecture, interior design - and yet it is more. It encompasses the structurally designed space that is brought to life by people; in which they come together, which they live in, in which they work, etc. Baukultur quality combines aesthetic and innovative standards with a holistic view of social, economic and ecological aspects. As a perceptible consequence of this interdependence, building culture creates "regional identity" through identification, a sense of responsibility, loyalty and a willingness to invest.

The building culture characteristics throughout Germany are as diverse as the regions or the people of the regions and thus reflect the multifaceted structure of the country. When it comes to determining a "status quo", building culture can always be read as an image of (past) times; as something that visually and structurally bundles historical processes and puts them into context in its evolved structure. This often gives us a sense of balance; for example, a balance between permanence and change, nature and people, history and modernity.

29.09.2021
Werkstattgespräch #1, Haus der Baukultur

Clever portfolio development in South Westphalia - contributing to the preservation of local identity and conservation of environmental resources

2020-2025
"Wir sind Heimat"

Project development workshop and competence center for building culture as part of Regionale 2025 (South Westphalia)

The city of Arnsberg, together with the stakeholder network, is planning a competence center for the topic of regional building culture. It is the interface for highlighting good examples and promoting sustainable building in South Westphalia. The aim is to increase the quality of life in the region, improve the design quality of buildings and strengthen the sense of community among residents.

The competence center will particularly appeal to the general public, guests to the region and various craftsmen's groups in the region. It is intended to be a contact point for all those interested in craftsmanship, construction and living culture in South Westphalia, promote "building with wood" and also seek cooperation with universities and (technical) colleges.

The planned activities will initially focus on the Sauerland region as a pilot and then be transferred to the whole of South Westphalia.

09.10.2019
Decision Sauerland Building Culture Charter

The Arnsberg City Council unanimously decides that the "Sauerland Building Culture Charter (...) with its ten principles forms the basis for building culture action for the preservation and further qualification of the building culture heritage as well as the innovative further development of building culture in the city of Arnsberg"

2018
A high Baukultur for Europe
Charta Kultusministerkonferenz Davos

A high Baukultur for Europe:
In order to achieve this goal, the European Ministers of Culture adopted the Davos Declaration in 2018 on the initiative of Switzerland. The European states are committed to anchoring a high level of Baukultur politically and strategically. The Davos Declaration reminds us that building is culture and creates space for culture. Other countries, organizations, institutions and companies are constantly committing themselves to the declaration. It is cited and widely debated around the world.

Building on the Davos Declaration, the Baukultur movement will be continued in terms of scientific content and political strategy. Central topics will be explored in greater scientific depth and key terms from the Davos Declaration will be clarified. At the same time, strategies will be implemented at a political level that recognize the cultural aspects of preservation, planning and building and establish a high level of Baukultur as a priority political goal. These diverse, international initiatives are referred to as the Davos Process.

2016-2019
ExWoSt "Baukultur and Tourism - Cooperation in the Region"

Building culture and tourism have been worked on together and networked far too rarely to date. Particularly in rural regions of Germany, high-quality planning and building is often not recognized as a tourism potential. There are many good reasons to change this. After all, lively tourism can increase the quality of life and regional identity of rural areas and preserve economic value creation in the regions. In the ExWoSt research field "Baukultur and Tourism - Cooperation in the Region", seven model projects have tested how cooperation between Baukultur and tourism in rural areas can be strengthened and which tools are beneficial for this.

2015
Foundation of the stakeholder network
- Sauerland-Tourismus
- Sauerland Initiativ
- Südwestfalen Agentur
- KEGGENHOFF | PARTNER
- Stadt Arnsberg

2012-2015
ExWoSt "Baukultur in der Praxis"

As one of eight municipalities in Germany, the city of Arnsberg was selected to participate in the "Baukultur in Praxis" research field. With the participation of the city of Arnsberg in this federal project as the "Arnsberg Model of Building Culture", the "Arnsberg Urban Building Culture Initiative", which began around ten years ago, was continued with new intensity and several building blocks were developed and consolidated.

The actor:inside network

- Dr. Stephanie Arens Südwestfalen Agentur GmbH
- Michael Arns Arns.Architekten
- Matthias Berghoff Haus Berghoff
- Stefan Baumann Stadt Iserlohn
- Stephan Britten IHK Arnsberg Hellweg-Sauerland
- Dr. Jürgen Fischbach Sauerland Tourismus e.V.
- Klaus Fröhlich Stadt Arnsberg
- Thorsten Grote City of Iserlohn
- Birgit Haberhauer-Kuschel Sauerländer Heimatbund e.V.
- Prof. Dr. Anne Jacobi Fachhochschule Südwestfalen

- Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Sabine Keggenhoff KEGGENHOFF | PARTNER
- Sabine Kordt Handwerkskammer Südwestfalen
- Lars Morgenbrod LEADERsein!
- Franziska Neumann Südwestfalen Agentur GmbH
- Martin Schmidt LWL - Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe
- Prof. Dr.- Ing.Ing. Hildegard Schröteler-von Brandt University of Siegen
- Peter Sieger Sauerland Initiativ e.V.
- Thomas Vielhaber Sauerland Initiativ e.V.
- Klaus Wahle Stadt Meschede
- Thomas Weber Sauerland Tourismus e.V.

The charter was developed by the Sauerland Building Culture Stakeholder Network as part of the experimental housing and urban development research field "Building Culture and Tourism - Cooperation in the Region" and is intended to be continuously updated.

- The 10 principles of the Sauerland Building Culture Charter
- Download Charta Sauerland-Baukultur
- Akteur:innen-Netzwerk
- Davos quality system for building culture

29.09.2021
An event of the Akteur:innennetzwerk Baukultur
Haus der Baukultur, Arnsberg-Neheim

In light of the current weather phenomena and climate change, "business as usual" no longer seems sustainable. A rethink is taking place in the construction sector in particular, which will have an impact on our building culture and influence the future image of our houses, villages and cities.

With our first workshop discussion, we would like to use concrete examples and the help of experts to show that it is already possible to reuse building materials and use sustainable building materials today and that a building stock worth preserving strengthens the identity of the location.

- Workshop talk #1, 29.09.2021
- The House of Building Culture
- Actor:inside network & partnerships

More workshop talks are planned.

The Day of Architecture gives an impression of the great diversity of architecture that North Rhine-Westphalia has to offer in all its regions. Since 1996, architects, interior designers, landscape architects and urban planners have joined forces with their clients once a year to invite visitors to spend an entire weekend viewing newly built or redesigned apartments, houses, buildings, gardens or parks. The focus is on encounters with citizens who experience architecture on site and have it explained to them by the creators and users.

There is great interest in the topics of building and living as well as professional planning. The residential properties in particular always attract numerous interested visitors. Many thousands of visitors make the Day of Architecture a special experience every year. The properties participating in the Day of Architecture are presented in an online database. The event is initiated by the Federal Chamber of Architects (BAK) and the chambers of architects of the federal states, in this case the Chamber of Architects of North Rhine-Westphalia (AKNW).

The following KEGGENHOFF | PARTNER projects have been selected by an expert jury since 2006:

- Dallmer Office, Arnsberg-Neheim
- GL - Die Mode, Arnsberg-Neheim
- Christuskirche Gemeindehaus, Arnsberg
- IHK Arnsberg Hellweg-Sauerland, Arnsberg
- K3 - CityPastoral, Siegen
- TÜV Rheinland Saal, Cologne
- Congstar Office, Cologne
- SchulStadtBücherei, Arnsberg

Vorbildliche Bauten NRW
Ministry of Regional Identity, Communities and Local Government, Building and Gender Equality of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Architects

Excellent places to work in the city of NRW
North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Architects, North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK NRW), West German Chamber of Skilled Crafts (NWHT)

School Construction Prize NRW
Ministry of Regional Identity, Communities and Local Government, Building and Gender Equality of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Architects

All graphics Sauerland-Baukultur by EINSATEAM (Berlin)
Photos of the projects by KEGGENHOFF | PARTNER by Constantin Meyer (Cologne)