Our Roof
RoofUz creates living space through sustainable roof extension
Getting up on the city's roof: Interior designer Gabriela Postole and digital expert Kilian Eckle © WISTA Management GmbH
The founding team of RoofUz wants to create additional living space in cities without paving over new surfaces. TIts approach is to add new storeys to existing roofs using sustainable construction methods. At least 70,000 living units could be created in Berlin alone.
"We are inspired by the simplicity of Lego elements," explains RoofUz founder Kilian Eckle. "We don't build variable brick on brick, which is prone to errors, but use serially produced wooden panel modules. This saves time, costs and resources - and by that we don't just mean materials, but also skilled labor, which is much less in wood panel construction". Eckle's many years of experience in the construction industry and the skilled trades drive the business economist to focus primarily on digitalization, sustainability and networking: "Too few processes are effective, communication between the construction site and the office doesn't yet work optimally, data is often not consistently usable." Take civil engineering: In the past, tools for archiving valuable documentation were often lacking. If photos or videos are lost, the earth may have to be torn up again to assess a situation.
Eckle, who as a serial founder and "push-puller," as he calls himself, has already supported industry heavyweight Würth with software development, is passionate about making the industry fit for the future. For example, he initiated the founding of the German Digital Construction Association (BDBau), which sees itself as a mediator and matchmaker between start-ups in the construction industry, politics and science. "This gives us a perfect insight into what is happening in terms of innovative developments in the construction industry," says Kilian Eckle.
With RoofUz, Eckle and his five-member team from the fields of craftsmanship, architecture, design and digitalization have been supported by the Gründungswerkstatt Adlershof (GWA) since the spring of this year. Eckle's cousin Max Salzberger, who builds complete wooden houses using CNC (Computerized Numerical Control) machines, gave him the idea of using modular construction to extend roofs and create new living space. In order to be able to renovate in series, RoofUz is now developing a kind of toolbox that is being perfected for the subject of roof construction. The mission of the founding team is to make roof extensions with wood construction respectable, because building with wood is still uncharted territory for most construction professionals, even in 2022.
The founders are currently looking for vacant roofs and their owners for pilot projects. There are already concrete offers and contacts with housing associations and large construction companies. However, the federal government's reform of the state building subsidy for renovations has slowed things down. "Nobody builds without subsidies," says Eckle, hoping for positive developments. Ideas for "healthy" and future-oriented urban redevelopment are bubbling up: "Wood-panel building modules could be used elsewhere in the future. Cities must become more liveable and greener, we will grow more food and there will be fewer cars. For now, though, it's all about RoofUz, because: "If everyone does what they do best and knows when and where they're needed, then a roof will come out of it.
Peggy Mory for Adlershof Journal