INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS - HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY 400 linear meters of green façade and 5 themed courtyards

The Institute of Physics at the Humboldt University of Berlin is an exceptional ecological urban development project. Various innovative measures have been implemented here. The focus of the project is the concept for decentralized rainwater management measures, building greening and building cooling.

Rainwater is collected in cisterns and used to irrigate a green façade and generate evaporative cooling in air conditioning systems. Excess water is evaporated in the inner courtyard by damming a pond or allowed to seep away.



Global pilot project (400 linear meters of façade greening) to combine rainwater management and building cooling.

Among other things, the project includes continuous monitoring of the water consumption of various plant species in the façade greening and the evaporative cooling generated with its effects on the building's energy balance.



Irrigation is controlled and monitored by an internet-based computer system. Temperature and radiation measurements complement the analysis of the economic and ecological effects of the measures implemented. In addition to the support provided as part of the model project, participation in the research projects for the evaluation of energy concepts for office buildings is taking place as part of the research work of the Institute for Building and Solar Technology at the TU Braunschweig.



The monitoring, evaluation, optimization and documentation of the project experiences are intended to create the conditions for the long-term implementation and further development of innovative and economical technologies. For future projects, practical and application-oriented findings will be developed and documented as a working aid for planning, construction, operation and maintenance.



15 years of monitoring, including a focus on the concept of rainwater management and building greening from 2001. From 2010, focus on the energy efficiency of the measures implemented 2013 to 2016 as part of the "Research for Sustainable Development" funding program of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), call for proposals "Intelligent and multifunctional infrastructure systems for sustainable water supply and wastewater disposal", project: KURAS "Concepts for urban rainwater management and wastewater systems".



The practice-relevant and application-oriented findings are documented and published as a working aid for the planning, construction, operation and maintenance of future projects under the title Concepts for stormwater management.

Maturity test award - projects, 20 years and olderGerman Landscape Architecture Award 2025

Jury verdict:
If a building, or in this case its greenery, is still “state of the art” after more than 20 years, then that alone is impressive in view of the technical and design developments during this period - very few projects have such a long-lasting exemplary effect.

When the new Physics Institute for the Humboldt University was built at the beginning of the 21st century, it was intended to be a pioneering building with the corresponding technology. Experience shows that “exemplary building” can all too often fail. The fact that this did not happen in this case was due to a successful mixture of new technology and “historical” knowledge of the cooling capacity of plants.

The combination of lush wall-bound and terrestrial façade greening in conjunction with a reduced but expressive use of trees and shrubs in the inner courtyards is just as effective today as it was immediately after completion. Water and stone surfaces create pleasant contrasts, giving each courtyard its own face.

Despite good planning, the current target status would not have been possible without “learning”: Only through many years of monitoring and readjustment was it possible to identify undesirable developments - for example due to toxins leaching from the roof covering - in good time. The high diversity of climbing plants could not be fully maintained, but this was and is a key reason for the high resilience of the overall system. Even if the growth of individual plants requires continuous care, it is not foreseeable that the function and aesthetics of the literally green teaching and research site could be lost any time soon.