1. InitiativeWhere does transformation begin? Often with a local spark—a person, a place, a moment of tension or possibility. AFEA initiates and supports processes that question the status quo, create alliances, and set change in motion.
2. ConceptIdeas are fragile—but they’re also where everything begins. In this field, AFEA develops spatial strategies, narratives, and formats that translate complex realities into coherent, place-based concepts. We prototype futures, and invite others to shape them with us.
3. Construction
We see building as more than the final step—it’s part of a larger choreography. AFEA supports implementation processes that are reversible, local, and circular. From material cycles to social ones, we think construction anew.
4. ResearchOur work is driven by curiosity. We ask: What can rural spaces teach us? What rituals, methods, and models are worth reimagining? AFEA’s research is open-ended, transdisciplinary, and always in dialogue with practice.
5. Consulting
How can ecological, economic, and social goals align without compromise? We offer strategic guidance and technical expertise—from life cycle assessments to funding applications—always tailored to the context, and grounded in long-term thinking.
Concept 2.6Prototype: Scheune, Werben (Elbe)
Instead of transforming existing buildings into fixed programs, the concept begins with a climatic logic. The structure is organised as a sequence of zones: one half is compact, insulated and fully heated, while the other remains unheated, operating as a winter garden and transitional space. Living area is therefore not constant but seasonal — reduced in winter to the protected core, and expanded in summer into the full depth of the building.
This gradient between inside and outside lowers energy demand while introducing spatial variation, light, and changing atmospheres over the year. Temperature becomes an organising principle, not a constraint.
Within this framework, architecture is understood as an open system rather than a finished product. Large, generous structures remain adaptable — spaces that can be divided, extended and reconfigured over time.
Uses such as living, working or gathering are not predefined but emerge through occupation and collective organisation. The building becomes a spatial infrastructure: a resilient structure that supports different ways of inhabiting, rather than prescribing them.
Contact
AFEA Association For Ecological Architecture
Gotzkowskystraße 33
10555 Berlin
Kirchplatz 6
39615 Werben (Elbe)
mail@afea.site
@afea.site
Current Team
Jurek Brüggen
Jalma Fiolka
Hannes Herbst
Patrick Holzer
Mirko Kubein
Cintia Macuka
Aimée Michelfelder
Caterina Ricci
Hannah Titz