by Eirini Polydorou
“Since most of the buildings that will exist in Europe in 2050 have already been built, we must increasingly focus on how we utilize, maintain, and repair them”, said Harri Hakaste Senior Architect and chair of the NCNB steering group in the Ministry of the Environment Finland.
Work on the existing buildings, instead of building new ones. This is the message of the new report, titled "New European Bauhaus across the Nordics".
The governments of Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway and Estonia were the partners of the project. The report highlights that in order to achieve greener buildings, we need to change our way of thinking. The partners pursued this cultural shift through redesigning national policies, exchanging best practices and raising awareness initiatives.
One such initiative was the NEB Design Challenge. The challenge was an architectural student competition, where 100 students submitted 29 ideas on how to convert four selected areas into sustainable, inclusive and beautiful sites, aligning with the values of the NEB.
Policy-makers and the architectural community in the Nordics were also invited to attend events, such as the "Into the Woods" high-level event. President von der Leyen and the Nordic Prime Ministers met at the heart of Espoo forest near Helsinki to discuss the intersection of sustainable forestry and green construction (image following).
The project also included NEB-labs, discussion panels, webinars, the Nordic Democracy Festival Tour, the SAGA podcast and the Beyond Zero exhibition.
The works of the NCNB project are finalised, yet with an eye to the future. The project has established the New European Bauhaus Academy North Hub (NEBA North Hub) to strengthen future capacity-building and further spread the NCNB ideas.
The NCBN was not a stand-alone initiative. It was coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment (Finland) and supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers, as part of their shared Nordic Vision 2030, "to make the Nordic Region the world’s most sustainable and integrated area by 2030".
Find the Report here
Image 1 featuring Beyond Zero exhibition @Daniel Engvall, courtesy of the report “New European Bauhaus across the Nordics”.
Image 2 - featuring Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Ministers of the Nordics @Lauri Heikkinen, courtesy of the report “New European Bauhaus across the Nordics”.
