Air conditioning of the future: Berlin relies on clay as a natural building material | By Maren Schibilsky

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Berlin will have a climate like the southern French Toulouse by 2050 and will heat up in summer due to the many glass, steel and concrete buildings. This will lead to climate systems indispensable indoors. The Berlin architect Julian Mönig wants to use the millennia -old building material clay as a natural air conditioning system in urban housing. Lehm has the special property of having a high water absorption capacity and thus has a temperature -regulating effect. A natural air conditioning effect can result from evaporation cooling. Clay is still expensive as a building material and there is a lack of specialist knowledge in the industry. However, the TU Berlin deals intensively with the building material clay and examines its climatic advantages in the natural building lab.

Climate change will give Berlin 2050 around 45 summer days with more than 25 degrees Celsius and about 13 heat days with over 30 degrees Celsius. As a result, the city center in particular will hardly cool down. Dry times are getting longer and rainfall in summer are less common. According to Julian Mönig, a climate -adapted architecture is still missing in Berlin. In a pilot project of the housing association "Stadt und Land", the use of modern clay plaster in rental apartment construction is to be tested in Britz-Süd. This plaster enables natural cooling of the interiors, since water vapor penetrate and can also escape if necessary. Two apartment buildings are to be built in the coming year. Mönig hopes that the higher investment costs for clay can be compensated for by lower energy costs. In addition, the clay plaster should also prove itself in the renovation of existing buildings. So far, however, the required specialist knowledge in the construction industry is still missing in order to enable a wide range of clay as a building material.

According to a report by RBB24, Berlin will have a climate like that of Toulouse by 2050, which will lead to high temperatures in the city. The use of clay as a natural air conditioning in urban housing could help regulate the heat in the interiors. The TU Berlin conducts studies in the Natural Building Lab to further research the climatic advantages of clay. However, there is still a lack of specialist knowledge and experience in dealing with this building material in the construction industry. In a pilot project by the housing association "Stadt und Land", Mietshäuser with clay plaster is to be built in Britz-Süd Mietshäus to improve energy efficiency and to reduce the use of air conditioning systems. This project is intended to show that the higher costs for clay plaster can be compensated for by lower energy costs. However, a larger scale is still missing in Berlin. In the future, clay plaster could also be used in the renovation of existing buildings.