Maintaining the Akademie der Künste
Considering that construction, with its enormous consumption of resources and high levels of CO² emissions, is one of the main drivers of the climate crisis, preserving and converting the existing building stock becomes a crucial task for the future. Thus, caring for the built heritage, which has traditionally been a part of architectural practice, increasingly includes preserving embodied energy. This gives new importance to the everyday care of building substance: regular cleaning, minor repairs and maintenance work, and care of surfaces and infrastructures extend buildings’ life cycles. In this sense, cleaners and other care workers crucially contribute to the reproduction of society in general and institutions in particular. Their role is, however, rarely acknowledged, their material knowledge of the built environment undervalued.
