Rolf Disch is a German architect,

solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

pioneer and

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

. Born in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, Disch has dedicated particular focus to regional renewable and sustainable energy. As head of his own architecture firm, Rolf Disch Solar Architecture, Disch is committed to advancing Germany's incorporation of solar energy generation into residential, retail, and commercial building and design. In 1994, Rolf Disch built the Heliotrope in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

which was the world’s first home to create more energy than it uses, as it physically rotates with the sun to maximize its solar intake. Disch then developed the concept PlusEnergy, simply making it a permanent goal for his buildings to produce more energy than they consume in order to sell the surplus solar energy back into the grid for profit. Rolf Disch’s biggest venture was completed in 2004 with the 59 PlusEnergy home Solar Settlement and the . PlusEnergy Sun Ship. In June 2009, Disch launched the 100% GmbH organization, with the aim to make Freiburg and its surrounding district the first 100% sustainable

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

region in the world.

Biography

Early years

Rolf Disch was born in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

in 1944. Disch first studied cabinetmaking in 1958 until later switching to masonry in 1961. In 1962 he enrolled at the Structural Engineering School in Freiburg as a structural engineer. Disch knew he was passionate about building, although he found his true heart lied in architecture and after only one year, in 1963, he transferred as an architect to the University of Applied Sciences in

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

, Germany. After his graduation in 1967 Disch worked as an architect for two years and established his own firm in 1969, Rolf Disch Solar Architecture.

Activism

Rolf Disch became an environmental activist during the protest against the construction of a nuclear power plant in Wyhl, Germany. As an educated environmentalist Disch saw this form of energy as destructive, seeking

as an alternative to achieve sustainable development. The protesters in Wyhl succeeded and the nuclear power plant was never built which fueled the

anti-nuclear movement The Anti-nuclear war movement is a new social movements, social movement that opposes various nuclear technology, nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified them ...

. This success in mind, Disch applied his architectural knowledge to the advancement of renewable and sustainable energy systems in building. The “Disch Design” was a concept he worked on from 1985 to 1988 building solar powered vessels of all sorts. During this period, in 1987, Disch raced a self-designed solar powered automobile in the World Solar Challenge, a race using only solar powered vehicles from Darwin,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, Australia. Disch cofounded three organizations promoting the use of renewable energy: Energie in Bürgerhand (''Energy in citizens’ hands''), 100% GmbH and FESA – Förderverein Energie- und Solaragentur Regio Freiburg (''Development association for energy and solar businesses in the Freiburg region''). Disch is an active member of the associations Eurosolar, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sonnenenergie (''German society for solar energy''), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen e.V.(''German sustainable building council''). WorldChallengeAustralien

Built with the Sun

With a focus on solar power use in his designs, in 1993 Disch started an initiative to make Sport-Club Freiburg the first solar soccer team in Germany with photovoltaic panels to power their stadium. Together with Coach Volker Finke, the Dreisam stadium in Freiburg was the first soccer stadium in Germany to install solar power. In 1995 Disch designed the Heliotrope building, a house that physically rotates with the sun to maximize sunlight and natural heat use. The Heliotrope was the first building worldwide to have a positive energy balance, meaning it generates more energy than it consumes. Different types of renewable and sustainable energy concepts in addition to solar power are used in the original Heliotrope, built in Freiburg’s Vauban quarter. It was the first of three such structures to be built in Germany. After the design of the Heliotrope Disch has been promoting the use of Energy-plus-houses. His practice, Rolf Disch Solar Architecture, is using the brand name PlusEnergy to describe these structures which produce more energy from renewable energy sources, over the course of a year, than they import from external sources. It has designed several such buildings since, including the residential project Solar Settlement.

Awards

2008 German Sustainability Award
2007—2008 Japanese PEN-Magazine Creativity Award
2006 Germany's most beautiful housing community
2005 Wuppertal Energy and Environment Prize
2003 Global Energy Award
2002 European Solar Prize
2001 Photovoltaic Architecture Prize Baden-Württemberg

Selected works

* Heliotrope, Vauban Quarter

, 1994 * Heliotrope,

Offenburg Offenburg (; "open borough" - coat of arms showing open gates; Low Alemmanic: ''Offäburg'') is a city in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in south-western Germany. With nearly 60,000 inhabitants (2019), it is the largest city and the administrat ...

, 1994 * Heliotrope, Hilpoltstein, 1995 * Solar Settlement, Vauban Quarter

, 2002 * Sun Ship, Vauban Quarter

, 2004 File:Heliotrop Freiburg.jpg, Heliotrope in Vauban

, 1994 File:Heliotrop Nacht.jpg, Heliotrope built for

Hansgrohe Hansgrohe SE is a German plumbing materials and sanitary fittings manufacturer. It was founded by Hans Grohe in 1901, in Schiltach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Hansgrohe is one of the world's largest shower head, hand shower and tap suppliers, n ...

, 1994 File:SSHaus.jpg, A PlusEnergy home designed by Rolf Disch Solar Architecture, 2000 File:LuftSS.jpg, 59 PlusEnergy Homes - the Solar Settlement in Vauban

, 2002 File:SoSchiff_Ansicht.jpg, The PlusEnergy Sun Ship in Vauban

, 2004

References

External links

Rolf Disch Solar Architecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Disch, Rolf Living people Solar building designers 1944 births