SIMPLY LIVING – STANDARDS + BUILDING CULTURE

We are currently witnessing a shift in perspective in the design, planning and construction of residential buildings. A renewed engagement with structural logic, the conscious questioning of established standards and the search for simpler ways to navigate building regulations are opening up new possibilities – and leading to changes in architectural forms. Around a hundred years ago, a comparable situation gave rise to buildings that we now associate with the ‘New Objectivity’ movement. At that time, a new architectural approach developed out of economic, technical and social necessity. What lessons can we learn from this for today? How can the conscious pursuit of simplicity – the “inclination and compulsion towards the simple” (Rudolf Schilling) – give rise to high-quality housing and good cities that take the basic need for shelter seriously and retain their value and significance for future generations? Approaches to this shift in perspective towards simpler structures, constructions and technical solutions already exist, for example in the initiatives “BDA Standards”, “einfach Bauen”, “Gebäudetyp E” or the “Hamburg Standard”.

From 18 March 2026, the new BDA event series invites you to discuss this change together. Through dialogue between planners, politicians, local authorities, housing associations and cooperatives, bold investors and contractors, the aim is to develop new forms of collaboration that focus less on control and more on shared understanding.

The first evening will focus on what has already been conceived and built. It aims to provide an outlook on how, through mutual trust and responsible action, we can build better with fewer and simpler rules.

DATE
18 March 2026, 6.00 pm

VENUE
Auditorium of Munich University of Applied Sciences, Karlstraße 6, 80333 Munich

PROGRAMME
Welcome address by Prof. Johannes Kappler, Dean of Munich University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Architecture

Patron and welcome address by Thomas Rehn, Town Planner (BDA), City Director; Acting Head of the Local Building Commission, on behalf of Prof. Dr. (University of Florence) Elisabeth Merk

Presentation “The Hamburg Standard”
Karin Loosen, President of the Hamburg Chamber of Architects

Presentation “The Big Little House”, pilot project
Rainer Hofmann (BDA), bogevischs Büro

Input “Building Type E”, current status
Rainer Post (BDA), Board Member of the Bavarian Chamber of Architects

Panel discussion “Standards and Building Culture”
Moderated by Prof. Karin Schmid and Michael Ziller, BDA

An event organised by the BDA Munich – Upper Bavaria in cooperation with Munich University of Applied Sciences, the City of Munich and the Architekturgalerie e.V.