Eike Becker is an architect and one of the co-authors of the pamphlet "Es ist höchste Zeit" (It's high time), which was presented in March 2023 and denounces grievances in the real estate industry. The conclusion was: The real estate industry must change quickly and radically - in its thinking and in its actions. And that also applies to the construction industry, as Becker emphasizes. His article in the ABZ is intended to stimulate discussion.
An appeal to results-based pragmatism with less mechanical technology but smartphone-assisted user accountability.
In the crisis, major parts of the industry are in danger of disappearing, explains Eike Becker, architect and co-author of the ZIA Innovation Think Tanks' polemic "Es ist höchste Zeit". He calls on the industry to give up its victim mentality and seek constructive dispute. Eike Becker.
"Urban development, mobility, sustainability, density, social building, modular building, cradle-to-cradle, the organization of collaboration and approval processes may experience a big boost through AI and move forward benefitting everyone."
During a colonoscopy, just before fainting, I hear the doctor in a good mood: " Ah, there's the AI reporting, there is something else I missed! Poof, it's gone!" That was a year ago.
The FAZ Tower embodies a unique fusion of architectural brilliance and ecological responsibility. The latest images by photographer Jens Willebrand provide an insight into the new home of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The Rocky Wood project, located at the port of Offenbach, celebrates the stacking ceremony eleven months after the start of construction.
We are nominated for the EUROPEAN REAL ESTATE BRAND AWARD 2023. For 15 years, the Real Estate Brand Institute has empirically evaluated the positioning of corporate brands in all relevant sub-sectors and asset classes in Europe. With the inclusion in the shortlist of the category "Architects" we are listed as one of 3 architectural firms in Germany. The basis for the selection of the nominees is a preliminary analysis - the largest scientific brand study of the real estate industry in Europe.
"We need faster progress and greater achievements. It is the responsibility of the real estate industry to make sure society lives in the world it wants to live in."
Our project Kennedy, directly on Kennedyallee is on the final straight. The facade is beginning to take shape.
"Fear of the current horrors and threats is a poor advisor. The future is not good for the inactive."
"Fear of the current horrors and threats is a poor advisor. The future is not good for the inactive."
On Tuesday, the foundation stone for our office project THE-B was laid at Revaler Straße 32 in Berlin-Friedrichshain. A 6-story office building is being built on the 5,101 m² site.
"The revitalization of LUXWERK is a chance-rich opportunity to fill a historic commercial site with new life, to provide a home for workers and residents alike, and to create new ties to an old Berlin neighborhood."
On German craftsmanship and maintaining a competitive edge: In his editorial column, Charles Kingston comments on "Craftsmanship", the most recent issue of The Column written by Eike Becker.
It is inexplicable to me that people simply stand by and watch the good craft enterprises disappear bit by bit, and with them a great deal of the knowledge and skills of good construction are lost.
„It’s important to develop understanding for each other“
The intention is to develop and realise an office building with commercial use on the ground floor and an underground car park on the property at Strahlenbergerstraße 123.
The construction site for our hotel building on the corner of Bundesallee and Hohenzollerndamm is moving towards the home stretch.
The building is visited in the final phase of construction, shortly before completion and handover to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Fourteen Berlin architectural offices competed on 3 September 2022 and played for the coveted tournament victory in the traditional "Architecture Berlin Cup" football tournament.
Photos: Wetzel & von Seht
Our project Wilmersdorfer Straße 82 - 83 at Adenauer Platz was presented and discussed in front of the design advisory board in Berlin.
The building application for our project at Strahlenbergerstraße 127 in Offenbach has been submitted.
Our project BEAUFORT BY HEIMATUFER - Ludwigshafen, Rheinufer Süd has been completed.
On 27 July we had the pleasure to meet Liane Kaven from EGE who showed us new carpet collections and the manifold possibilities to design wonderful interiors with sustainable, high quality materials.
At our project Kennedyallee in Frankfurt the facade installation has started.
At our project ACHT UND EINS at the Bundesallee in Berlin the facade installation has started.
The building permit for our Rocky Wood project at Offenbach harbor has been granted and the foundation stone has been laid.
Building permission has been granted for our high-rise project M50 - The Design Tower
We won the competition for the building project Jakobstraße No. 6-7.
The transition from fossil fuels to green energy is a virtually unknown topic in the real estate industry. Even within the scientific community, very divergent positions exist: "Build with wood!", "Leave the trees in the forest!" and "Stop building!" are just some of the exclamations that confuse their audience. But what is there in the energy transition for the building sector? What solutions does the real estate industry have to offer to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030? A very short time for such an ambitious goal. One thing I can say in advance: It will not be enough to hope for the energy sector to mass-produce green electricity within the next few years as well as to take over the refurbishment of the existing properties from the real estate industry.
On June 24, 2022, the Foundation Board of the Federal Foundation for Building Culture appointed the new members of the Advisory Board - among them Eike Becker.
After all kinds of smaller measures to save greenhouse gases, we decided as an architecture firm to become climate neutral. We thought that it would be a complicated and lengthy process. But it isn’t. After selecting a service provider, we researched the necessary data and received an emissions report in accordance with the „Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard“ guidelines. In my new column 'Climate Neutral‘ I write about what it says, how we will proceed, and how little it costs to immediately become carbon neutral.
Last September I returned to my place of study, Aachen, for the first time in 30 years. And at the beginning of December, Richard Rogers, for whom I worked many years ago, died. So it's time to say goodbye to one of the great architects of the 20th century. At the same time, I ask the question, why is it so difficult to say goodbye? Why don't we make ourselves more aware of the finiteness of our existence? If we did, wouldn't we be more radical? And say goodbye to the model of perpetual growth? I describe what this means to me in my new column 'Vom Aufhören und Anfangen,' published in Immobilienwirtschaft 2/2022.
© Photo: Michael Bause / Architektenkammer NRW
