Beauty = Sustainability

For Anna Heringer, architecture is a tool to improve lives. This was the opening statement of her inspiring lecture.

The architect and honorary professor of the UNESCO chair of Earthen Architecture, Building Cultures and Sustainable Development discussed the use of natural building materials. The production process is at least as important to Anna Heringer as the completed building. Consequently, the focus of her presentation was not only on her clay buildings in Asia, Africa and Europe but also on the people making it possible through their acceptance and input.

Anna Heringer describes her work as follows: “The vision behind and mo­tivation for my work is to explore and use architecture as a medium to strengthen cultural and individual confidence, to support local economies and to foster the ecological balance. For me, sustainability is a synonym for beauty: a building that is harmonious in its design, structure, technique and use of materials, as well as with the location, the environment, the user, the socio-cultural context. This, for me, is what defines its sustainable and aesthetic value.”