Caputh Declaration and the Founding of Bauhaus Earth
The Caputh Declaration
In 2019, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber convened prominent voices from politics, science, business, and architecture to sign a declaration of support for the founding and development of a new "Bauhaus of the Earth". The declaration highlights the urgent need to rethink and rebuild the built environment as a vital response to climate change. It calls for a new rethinking of how buildings and cities can not only better serve people – as was done in the Bauhaus movement of the 20th century – but but also align harmoniously with the earth' natural systems.
The unifying idea for a sustainable modernism of the future in architecture, art, design, manufacturing, infrastructure, urban development, landscape design, spatial planning, etc., is an orientation towards the organic – just as our dying industrial modernism was oriented towards the mechanical. The new guiding science must therefore be not physics but biology, or rather the interdisciplinary connection of our best knowledge. The boundaries between analytical, technical, and creative intelligence are obsolete.
- Caputh Declaration, 2019
Following this mission to transform buildings and human settlements into creative forces for systemic regeneration, Bauhaus Earth was officially founded in 2020 by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, CBE, and Marc Weissgerber, and with the indispensable support of the Initiating Circle. Since the beginning of the initiative, we have grown into a non-profit Think and Make Tank with headquarters in Berlin and Potsdam. Building on the energy and contributions of the original Initiating Circle, Bauhaus Earth now works globally with a network of partners to advance systemic regeneration in the built environment
We extend our deepest gratitude to the Initiating Circle for their pivotal role in laying the foundation for Bauhaus Earth in the early stages of the organization! Their names are listed at the bottom of this page.
Bauhaus Earth co-founders Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, CBE, and Marc Weissgerber.
A selection of the members of the Initiating Circle of Bauhaus Earth.
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Why a new Bauhaus for the Earth?
The cities we inhabit today were built through extractive practices that have harmed our planet and societies. We simply cannot afford to continue with "business as usual". At the same time, increased urbanization is inevitable - with 1.6 billion people living currently in multidimensional poverty and 2.5 billion more needing housing by 2050. Nearly 60 per cent of the buildings needed this century have yet to be constructed, with the majority located in the Global South.
If civilisation is not only to survive but to make progress in a spirit of solidarity and diversity, we must take a new, holistic look at the built environment. Although buildings determine the material and cultural reality of every society, discourses about sustainability have so far almost always ignored them – apart from banalities such as facade insulation, rooftop solar panels and the densification of inner cities.
- Caputh Declaration, 2019
But this unprecedented challenge is also an opportunity. By adopting regenerative practices within the built environment system, we can transform cities into carbon sinks and engines of equitable development. We can do more than become climate neutral. The built environment can become a force for systemic restoration - healing ecosystems, fostering new value systems, and creating fairer, more sustainable societies.
Read more about the science behind regenerative building and the built environment as a carbon sink.
Initiating Circle in alphabetical order
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Achim Kampker, Professor RWTH Aachen; Entrepreneur
Annalena Baerbock, National Chair, Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Annette Hillebrandt, Architect and Professor, Bergische Universität Wuppertal
Dr. Auguste von Bayern, Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie; Chair of the Board, Förderkreis Biotopia
Barbara Hoidn, Architect, Hoidn Wang Partner
Dr. Brigitte Mohn, Managing Director, Sunrise Capital GmbH
Carolina Mojto, Architect, Founder and CEO Freiraum in the Box
Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner, President, Umweltbundesamt
Erwin Thoma, CEO, Thoma Holz GmbH
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, CBE, Co-Initiator „Bauhaus der Erde“; Founder and Director Emeritus, Potsdam Institut für Klimafolgenforschung
Hans Wolfgang, Pausch Unternehmer
Heiner Farwick, Architect, former President, Bund Deutscher Architekten
Klaus Mindrup, Member of the German Parliament
Marc Weissgerber, Co-Initiator „Bauhaus der Erde“; former Geschäftsführer Veolia Deutschland und Vorstand des EU -Netzwerks für Klimainnovationen Climate-KIC
Dr. Manja Schüle, Ministerin für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur des Landes Brandenburg
Margret Boysen, Artistic Director, Potsdam Institut für Klimafolgenforschung
Prof. Monika Grütters, State Minister, Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien
Dr. Nathalie von Siemens, Member of the Oversight Comittee, Siemens AG
Rafael Laguna de la Vera, Founding Director SPRIND, Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen
Regula Lüscher, Senatsbaudirektorin und Staatssekretärin in der Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Wohnen Berlin
Reinhard Müller, Chair of the Board, EUREF AG
Stephan Krüger, Director of Government Relations Deutschland, Rhomberg Holding GmbH
Thomas A. Brenninkmeijer, Chair of the Board, Anthos
Volker Schlöndorff, Director and Producer
Werner Sobek, Architect and Engineer