“Modern architecture language of Matthias Gorenflos” – interview with the main architect of Gorenflos Architects, Berlin, Germany

Matthias Gorenflos, a distinguished German architect, has embarked on an innovative project using Modulina straw panels for house construction.

In this interview, our Lead Architectural Engineer – Laurynas Marcinkus – explores Matthias Gorenflos’s inspirations, challenges, and future prospects for straw construction, talking place directly at the construction site on March 6, 2024 when the building process just has started. In a few days the building is going to be showcased within a program the Day of Architecture of the Berlin Chamber of Architects (June 30, 2024). Arch. Gorenflos’s choice of straw panels along with the clay plaster as a building materials reflects his commitment to sustainable and climate-friendly architecture.

Laurynas Marcinkus: Could you just tell us what was the inspiration to choose straw as a material and straw panels in general for the house?

Matthias Gorenflos: “Oh, I read something about straw construction and I thought it might be the good answer to many questions we have today. I took some courses in straw constructing, and this convinced me.

What I find interesting is that you work with really very simple materials. You have wood, straw, clay, and lime. And this is all you need to build a house. And to me, it’s a convincing project, concept, has an answer to our climate crisis.”

Laurynas Marcinkus: What do you think about straw usage in construction sites? It’s still a niche thing to do. Do you see a potential for this kind of way of building also in bigger cities like Berlin?

Matthias Gorenflos: “Well, it’s still in the primer phases, so there are many things to learn about straw and about the application. But actually, I don’t see any reason why this material could not be used in also high-rise buildings. That’s usual today – a building with wood construction and the combination of a wooden construction with a straw facade.

Why not? I think that’s a challenge for us as architects.”

Laurynas Marcinkus: And from an architectural perspective, when you were making the project, did you encounter any problems with the straw and panels that were different from your usual work?

Matthias Gorenflos: “Well, everybody on this construction site hasn’t done this before, so it’s a learning process and we’re happy that you came all the way from Lithuania to assist and to give us some hints that are very important for us. Anyway, it’s the whole process, the planning process plus realization, it’s always the small details that count. Well, you do learn, but in the end, as far as I can understand, the system is basically benevolent. So, it’s not evil. If you make little corrections, the system in general will pardon you.”

Laurynas Marcinkus: Could you tell us a little bit about what the project plan is going to be?

Matthias Gorenflos: “It is a protected monument. Next to it, we have a cemetery, and there is a ruin of a 19th-century building, as well as an old barn. The main building can be renovated, and we are currently doing this. We had to replace all the slabs, but there were a few elements we could keep as they were. Unfortunately, the barn was in such bad shape that we had no choice but to take it down and build a new one. The new barn features very simple construction, with a concrete slab as the base and straw panels from Lithuania. We have installed the slabs on the first floor, which you have just seen being lifted up. On the second floor, we again used straw panels, and then added a conventional flat roof.

It wasn’t easy to use straw panels due to the restrictions imposed by the protection of the monument, but in the end, we convinced everyone that this was the best solution.

We were very happy when your truck arrived yesterday, bringing the panels for the first floor, which you can see behind me.”

Laurynas Marcinkus: Do you know of any other houses, for example, now in Berlin, made from straw?

Matthias Gorenflos: “Yes, yes. Of course, there are a couple of classic houses. but to my opinion, my impression is that the straw construction technique is like looking in the face of how the adults were in 1900. At that time, there were so many different solutions for adults, like electric, steam, coal, wood, anything. And this is our current situation in the straw construction. Everybody has a special thing, but the market is still so small. There’s no real competition between, no technological competition. But my expectation is that the smart market will grow very quickly. And I try to do my share in that, because with the growing of the market, this technological and economic competition between these different systems will take place, and then we’ll see which one is the best.”

Laurynas Marcinkus: This might be a good showcase, your house in a way. You could build it with stone panels and it’s always, at least I feel in society, there’s conservative people dominating every society, so it’s very hard for people to get to the new building techniques. You don’t know how it’s going to work, but the showcase projects, it’s always where you can come and say, oh, it’s working, so maybe it will be like that.

Matthias Gorenflos: “You’re absolutely right, and it’s like it is often. People have some ideas of what the straw construction is, but they’re all wrong. They think, for instance, that it is like formerly people used to build with a wooden construction and clay walls enhanced with stone. But it’s not. It’s something very different we’re doing here. Anyway, everybody says, oh, it’s like we used to build formally. And it’s, of course, connected with the idea of a very simple, basic, rural construction.

I think many people who deal with construction in Germany, they enhance this idea because they use it only for small buildings in the countryside. And they also use a very traditional architectural language. So my intention with this building is to show three things. First, store building can be technologically, which means also the climate within the house can be very good. Second, it can be a very nice house, a nice modern building, modern architectural language, not necessarily using the language of our forefathers. And third, that it’s economically a very good thing to do that. Not economically in both aspects, but it’s good.

You do a good job for the ecological surrounding. You have a very good insolation. And at the same time, you don’t use any raw materials that need to be processed. The CO2 footprint is very low. It’s very small. And on the other side, many streets. It’s an expensive place to go. And I think these three things are combined in this house. Or I hope it will be combined in this house. I will tell you more when we get to the end.”

We are delighted to invite you to visit personally the presentation of our pioneering straw panel construction project, held at the historic Mönchmühle in Berlin-Rosenthal on JUNE 30, 2024. You do a good job for the ecological surrounding. You have a very good insolation. And at the same time, you don’t use any raw materials that need to be processed. The CO2 footprint is very low. It’s very small. And on the other side, many streets. It’s an expensive place to go. And I think these three things are combined in this house. Or I hope it will be combined in this house. I will tell you more when we get to the end.”We are delighted to invite you to visit personally the presentation of our pioneering straw panel construction project, held at the historic Mönchmühle in Berlin-Rosenthal on JUNE 30, 2024.