Green Design Biennale Mostar 2019
The 3rd International Green Design Biennale on Vital cities and reversible buildings for circular economy was organized by Sarajevo Green Design Foundation (SGDF) in collaboration with EU project Buildings as Material Banks (BAMB). Elma Durmisevic chaired the conference as founder of SGDF which has grown into an independent and dynamic multidisciplinary and international platform that aims to form a creative center for innovation in the region that will connect scientific infrastructure with manufacturing and creative industries in search of new sustainable concepts and technologies and strengthen their competitiveness.
Opening of 3rd International Green Design Biennale took place on 2nd October 2019 in Mostar. Green Design Biennale is a follow up of yearly Sarajevo Green Design Festivals (set up from 2009). First Biennale format was introduced in 2015 in Sarajevo during which the development of Green Design Center for South East Europe (one of the main aims of SGDF) has been announced. The aim of the Biennale is to capture and share the leading innovation and developments that will shape the sustainable and circular world of tomorrow. At the center of the debate are concepts, strategies and tools for effective resource use within built environment. In order to make a shift towards responsible use of natural resources within products, buildings and cities, they need to be designed with recovery, reuse and up-recycling of resource streams in mind. That is way GDB places design at the center of the transformation towards sustainable development, which is holding the key to sustainable circular world and economy.
This year’s biennale took place from 02-05 of October in conjunction with the Opening of the First Phase of the Green Design Center for South East Europe (GDC). This year’s themes are dealing with strategies for circular economy in architecture and construction and design of healthy and inclusive green buildings and cities. The themes will elaborate design, inclusiveness cultural continuity, healthy materials, digital platforms and policies, shaping green, cities and buildings of the future. These themes will be addressed through keynote lectures provided by architects, engineers, policy makers and industry coming form 10 countries. Further more, challenges and opportunities for the future green inclusive societies and cities will be elaborated and presented through three international workshops (in collaboration with University of Mostar and University of Dzemal Bjedic,), exhibitions, Industry days ( in collaboration with REDAH) announcement of Green Architecture Award (in collaboration of Architects association of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and opening of Green Design Center (in collaboration with City of Mostar).
Green Design Biennale will host key-note speakers (architects, engineers, scientists, construction and product industries, policy makers, professors and students, EU research institutions and regions) from United Kingdom, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Israel, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They will present the social/environmental challenges, groundbreaking designs and innovative solutions, economic models and policies, shaping the transition towards green and just societies of the tomorrow.
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Green Design Center
First phase of Green Design Center will be opened during this year’s International Green Design Biennale.
GDC is envisioned as a laboratory and innovation platform which will be showcasing green concepts and technical solutions supporting circular use of materials, energy, water and other resources within the built environment. It also forms an Innovation park which is broadening the theme of green innovation towards, social sustainability, mobility, inclusion and urban farming concepts.
GDC transforms historic abounded aria ( part of former 19th century Austro-Hungarian military camp south of Mostar) into hub of creativity and innovation. Urban decayed industrial buildings have in numerous cases proven that their cultural value and architectural appearance can be transformed into inspiring and functional spaces for creative processes and innovation. This makes them especially suitable as hubs for entrepreneurship, creative industries, maker economy and new emerging city production.
These buildings and the new activities filling their space, represent a key resource in enhancing the aesthetic and cultural attractiveness and liveability of urban areas. SGDF with Green Design Centre in Mostar transforms an old industrial complex into active and vivid experimental expo place (showcase of new forms of vital green solutions) providing a great contribution in reversing devastated site into nucleus of green and socio-cultural innovation. This is the place that create dialogue with space, history, arts and innovation and is the past and the future in one.
Green Design Centre is also envisioned as a location that will be showcasing principles of circular buildings and integrates material and social circularity through different aspects of sustainable living such as urban faming, wind-mills, open workplaces for disabled children and open expo (exhibiting innovation concepts). As EU BAMB Pilot https://www.bamb2020.eu/topics/pilot-cases-in-bamb/gdc/; https://www.bamb2020.eu/blog-gdc/ of circular/reversible buildings Green Design Centre is being developed as a multipurpose and reversible structure demonstrating waste reduction of 60% and reduction of use of virgin materials by 50%. The centre is designed with the capacity to illustrate functional change from exhibition, workshop space to office concepts. The experiments will showcase reversible building design approach and its materialization through development of architectural aesthetic, spatial and technical solutions that enable multiple value options for building its systems, materials in a future, while eliminating waste and generating new resource streams.