Paludi Pavilions

Wasserwerk der Zukunft, Malchin, Germany ,2025

 

In the summer semester of 2025, the Paludi Pavilion design-and-build workshop brought together Master’s students from RWTH Aachen and TU Munich to explore regenerative construction in the wetlands of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Led by Niklas Fanelsa, Theresa Zschäbitz, and Quentin Bourguignon, and in collaboration with the Greifswald Moor Centrum and Wasserwerk der Zukunft, the project focused on the use of Paludi materials: biomass resources from rewetted peatlands such as elder, reed, birch, willow, and grass. Over the course of the semester, students engaged with vernacular and experimental techniques, culminating in a one-week building workshop in Malchin where three timber pavilions were realized as open-air stages for the local Moortheater.

 

The workshop emphasized material-specific design, ecological cycles, and collective making. Students prototyped and constructed façade systems using braided grass, woven willow, pyrolyzed birch bark, and thatched reed. Preparatory research at RWTH Aachen and TU Munich informed the applied techniques. The project was enriched by public lectures and local engagement, fostering knowledge exchange between students, practitioners, and community actors.

 

The Paludi Pavilion served as a prototype for how architecture can emerge from place—grounded in bioregional resources, cultural landscapes, and collaborative practices, offering a situated response to contemporary questions of material, ecology, and construction.

 

 

Design, Construction and execution planning:

Junior professorship act of building RWTH Aachen University

Niklas Fanlesa, Atelier Fanelsa, TU Munich

Quentin Bourgouignon, BC architects & studies

Paludi Pavilions

Wasserwerk der Zukunft, Malchin, Germany ,2025

 

In the summer semester of 2025, the Paludi Pavilion design-and-build workshop brought together Master’s students from RWTH Aachen and TU Munich to explore regenerative construction in the wetlands of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Led by Niklas Fanelsa, Theresa Zschäbitz, and Quentin Bourguignon, and in collaboration with the Greifswald Moor Centrum and Wasserwerk der Zukunft, the project focused on the use of Paludi materials: biomass resources from rewetted peatlands such as elder, reed, birch, willow, and grass. Over the course of the semester, students engaged with vernacular and experimental techniques, culminating in a one-week building workshop in Malchin where three timber pavilions were realized as open-air stages for the local Moortheater.

 

The workshop emphasized material-specific design, ecological cycles, and collective making. Students prototyped and constructed façade systems using braided grass, woven willow, pyrolyzed birch bark, and thatched reed. Preparatory research at RWTH Aachen and TU Munich informed the applied techniques. The project was enriched by public lectures and local engagement, fostering knowledge exchange between students, practitioners, and community actors.

 

The Paludi Pavilion served as a prototype for how architecture can emerge from place—grounded in bioregional resources, cultural landscapes, and collaborative practices, offering a situated response to contemporary questions of material, ecology, and construction.

 

 

Design, Construction and execution planning:

Junior professorship act of building RWTH Aachen University

Niklas Fanlesa, Atelier Fanelsa, TU Munich

Quentin Bourgouignon, BC architects & studies