locking in the greenery

Nicole Eggenreich

The extinction of species has reached proportions that are difficult to comprehend, and the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest continues. However, it is now well known what far-reaching consequences these aspects have for local biodiversity and global climate change. We are talking about a record area of ​​10,470km² between August 2020 and July 2021, which corresponds to about 13 times the area of ​​New York City. In addition to the loss of the "lungs of the world," this immense loss of land is also accompanied by a massive extinction of animal and plant species— a dying, which for many genera means an irrevocable process and thus the extinction of their kind.

This master's thesis aims to present an example project that would have the potential to trigger a re-sensitization of society. A plant seed bank should fulfill this task. This plant seed bank is the first to place the visitor, the staff, and the plants on a hierarchical level. The visitor can entirely experience it, but it also acts as a research and breeding center and, in its primary task, as a storage facility for plant seeds. Sao Paulo was considered the chosen area. Timber construction as a construction method is the unavoidable conclusion as the primary construction material because of the climate relevance of the topic.This also made it necessary to approach the history of timber construction in the subtropical area to obtain a basis for the design process, considering the local influences that largely shaped the design process. 

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