IBA Heidelberg

From 2012 to 2022, IBAIBA Internationale Bauausstellung Heidelberg aims to initiate and implement projects and processes related to the topic knowledge society. Its guiding theme is Wissen | schafft | Stadt (Knowledge | Based | Urbanism). The primary aim is to focus questions of social change on their urban development and architectural dimensions: How does the European city need to transform itself to meet the demands of tomorrow’s knowledge society? Heidelberg is ideally suited as an experimental set-up. Both the city and its university are developing in a field of tension between tradition and modernism. The city has several significant places of knowledge of international standing. The conflict between preservation and renewal holds rich potential for the model of the knowledge city of tomorrow. The Executive Director is Michael Braum, and Carl Zillich is Chief Curator.

Together with the Board of Trustees, IBA Heidelberg developed 4+1 key thematic focuses: Science, learning spaces, networks, material cycles and, as a superordinate area, the co-produced city. Between now and 2022, the IBA projects will give a selective impression of potential solutions for a future city of knowledge. In addition to research and educational institutions, schools, daycare centres and places of cultural education, the projects also include student accommodation, parks and public spaces.

In 2018, the progress of the IBA Process will be documented in an intermediate presentation. The final presentation will show all projects in a full exhibition.

IBA Heidelberg is the first IBA financed exclusively by a city. It does not have any in-house resources for construction investments. As a result, it relies to a greater extent on subsidy programmes and private investments. From the outset, IBA Heidelberg has viewed its topic as an international problem with a local impact that searches for answers with corresponding knowledge transfer via existing and new networks.