Modern Construction in Weimar: VISIONALE Edifice
The NEW bauhaus VISIONALE, a groundbreaking event set to take place in Weimar, Germany, on September 3-4, 2025, marks the public launch of the NEW bauhaus 2026 initiative. This event aims to redefine the future of urban development, architecture, and society by bringing together a diverse group of thinkers and practitioners in an open, interdisciplinary "laboratory" rather than a traditional congress.
The core focus of the event is to explore new models and narratives for sustainable, future-oriented city development and architecture. Six thematic labs will delve into topics such as housing, social infrastructure, digital transformation, circular material flows, urban-rural dynamics, and cultural change.
The city of Weimar, with its historic Bauhaus significance, serves as the perfect setting for this movement. The event treats the city not just as a venue but as an active participant, with its public spaces intentionally interrupted and reinterpreted to make visible and rethink urban structures. This approach embodies a process of design as collective enactment rather than mere presentation.
Strategically, the NEW bauhaus VISIONALE seeks to expand across Germany and Europe, creating new alliances and frameworks for sustainable city-building. The event aims to influence future city development by fostering transferable, local-to-global models rooted in interdisciplinary collaboration, cultural innovation, and societal engagement.
The event is co-developed by Drees & Sommer SE, Zech Group SE, ehret+klein AG, and IAB Weimar GmbH. The program is intended to set thinking in motion, with discussions, artistic interventions, installations, and music stimulating collaborative and dynamic thinking about how cities, rural areas, architecture, construction, and social change interrelate.
Michael Rücker, Head of Project and CEO of IMMOCOM, states that the NEW bauhaus VISIONALE serves to connect planning and architecture with the construction and real estate economy. In addition to traditional discussions, the event will feature an interactive AI performance, a concert, a laser show, and DJ sets, opening the space for other accesses and new audiences.
Notable guests at the event include Prof. Harald Simons, Achim Nagel, Prof. Peter Benz, and others. Norbert Hermanns and Michael Ehret stand for the city as a possibility, not as a market, while Jana Mrowetz's URBAN CELL model, developed with GRAFT architects, offers a new perspective on urban development. Reiner Nagel and Peter Hübner open the discourse between institution and innovation.
The NEW bauhaus VISIONALE aligns with international efforts, as shown by NEW bauhaus’s participation in EXPO 2025 Osaka, reinforcing its commitment to addressing global challenges like climate change, urbanization, and technology-driven transformations in architecture and urban planning.
[1] [https://www.bauhaus-weimar.de/en/new-bauhaus-visionale/] [2] [https://www.bauhaus-weimar.de/en/new-bauhaus-lab/] [3] [https://www.dresesommer.com/en/news/new-bauhaus-visionale-2025-in-weimar.html] [4] [https://www.bauhaus-weimar.de/en/new-bauhaus-lab/partners/]
Artificial-intelligence will be integrated into the NEW bauhaus VISIONALE, as Michael Rücker, Head of Project and CEO of IMMOCOM, has announced an interactive AI performance at the event.
The NEW bauhaus VISIONALE, with its emphasis on technology, aims to explore new digital transformation models for sustainable city development and architecture.
