Education

It is situated in the heart of the Palatinate Forest, the house of sustainability. Modern, made of wood, pleasantly inconspicuous in the centre of the forest. A modern building made of wood, new red sandstone and clay, with large windows, a pond and a wooden veranda.

The perfect invitation to learning - learning what environmental protection and ecology mean in reality, learning how attractive and practical, enjoyable and harmonious living sustainability can be.

A house with an assignment: environmental education

What does green tourism mean? How exactly does ecological viniculture work? How to keep animals in a manner appropriate to the species? What is now typical for the region and the people of the Palatinate, what was typical in the past? Which of these features should be protected and preserved? To put it briefly: what does sustainability mean for everyday life? This is what the colleagues in the house of sustainability want to convey to their visitors.

And so they built a house – in the centre of the forest which, lush and green, seems to extend endlessly into the distance. The Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve covers some 3,000 square kilometres, where, quite unnoticed by the public – according to the director of the house Michael Leschnig – foresters have developed from lumberjacks and deer hunters to becoming committed environmentalists. "They make sure that raw materials can renew themselves, they resettle lynxes in the forest, sell wild boar and lay out footpaths" – as a journalist from Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk reported in some amazement. And this is exactly the intention: the house of sustainability wishes to surprise, to open people’s eyes and to inform. In lectures and seminars, exhibitions and counselling, brochures and multimedia presentations, sustainability is experienced here as a living concept.

The house of sustainability is able to present all this so comprehensively thanks to the Verein Naturpark Pfälzerwald (i.e. Association Nature Park Palatinate Forest) and the Forstverwaltung der Landesregierung Rheinland-Pfalz (i.e. Forestry Administration of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate), which together with the Federal Environmental Foundation have provided 2.7 million euros for this project. Half of this has been invested in the house – which makes sense since in this case the house is the message.

Architecture and nature

The house is the central exhibit on the subject of sustainability. Built of wood and clay, equipped with glass facades and high-tech, it is a harmonious example of modern ecological construction. Over 500 square metres visitors find information on aspects of sustainability which are of direct relevance to them: how to live and reside healthily and ecologically.

1,000 cubic metres of wood - from the trees typical of the Palatinate Forest, pine, oak, beech, Douglas fir and spruce – were stockpiled in the direct vicinity of the house, cut down to size in Palatinate sawmills and made into floors, walls and ceilings. All this was done by local craftsmen – for this is also an aspect of sustainability: securing work and income on site. The other aspects: the building material, wood from the region, will grow again, very little energy is needed for the gathering and processing, the transport is not dangerous and takes place over short distances.

This building method also impressed the PEFC commission. PEFC Germany (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) has awarded the wood used by the house of sustainability its seal of approval and has even signed a contract of co-operation. From now on they want to join forces in promoting indigenous wood, showcasing the regional processing chain from the tree via the sawmills and the carpenters’ to the end product and certifying the products so that they are easily recognizable as sustainable: with the label of the PEFC.

Brave new eco-world – making intelligent use of natural resources

The most attractive features of the natural building style are at the same time eminently practical, for example. the garden pond filled with rainwater – not only does it look pretty, but in connection with ventilation flaps on the glass-enclosed southern front of the house, it provides the interior of the building with a natural flow of cool air in summer. Or the roof terrace: it’s a little garden from where visitors can look down on the surrounding forest and the historic junction of Johanniskreuz. At the same time, the roof garden is a visual example of roof landscaping and provides space for solar panels and photo-voltaic elements.

Most of the energy used by the house comes from nature. It is heated by means of a fully automatic wood-pellet plant, solar collectors help to produce hot water. A 50-square-metre photo-voltaic plant produces solar electricity, which covers half the house’s requirements. In an exhibition room the visitors can take a look at the entire house technology and the heating plant, learn about all the various uses of rainwater in the house, how the photo-voltaic plant is installed and discover to their amazement that the ecological method of construction is both feasible and beneficial not only for the environment, but also for the normal household.

The network of paths in the centre of the Vosges

Just as the many footpaths, extending like a spider’s web through the largest expanse of contiguous forest in Germany, even into the neighbouring France, into the North Vosges, converge in Johanniskreuz, so the house of sustainability is to become a centre for a nationwide network.

Project leader Michael Leschnig wants to fasten this net to three pillars. The Forestry Authorities are to be the partners of the local residents. "We want to go to the people, into the region," he says. The second pillar should be formed by partners from the business world who put sustainability projects into practice, and as the third pillar he wishes "for partners who come from spheres that up to now had very little to do with this topic. Until now the discussion of this subject was always confined to the ecological niche. We now intend to search specifically for partners from the business world and the social sphere." Hence, in addition to the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, whose students are working on the construction under the guidance of their professors, churches and environment consultants from other institutions are to be wooed for the project. And there it is again, the house with the message.

Haus der Nachhaltigkeit (House of Sustainability) Johanniskreuz 1a 67705 Trippstadt Opening times: September to May 10 a.m – 4 p.m, June to August 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., closed on Mondays