Designing the City:
Wood as a Guiding Principle.
Learning Journey Berlin 2025
Berlin is synonymous with transformation, movement, vision, and new pathways. That’s why the German capital is the next stop on our Rubner Learning Journeys, an inspiring format for architects, designers, builders, and anyone who wants to actively contribute to sustainable urban development.
On 30ᵗʰ September 2025, we invite you to join us on an extraordinary journey: we will visit a selection of Rubner projects in and around Berlin. Their common thread? Demonstrating how timber construction is revolutionising the way we conceive urban space.
Experience timber construction live. Deepen your knowledge. Strengthen your connections.
The Learning Journey Berlin 2025 is more than just an excursion. It’s a day dedicated to exchange, discovery, and collective reflection on the future. We will show you what can be built today with wood for schools, homes, offices, and social spaces.
On the agenda:
- Guided tours led by experts of revolutionary timber projects
- In-depth insights into design, construction, and implementation on-site
- Introductory presentation on the role of timber construction in sustainable urban development
- Exchange with partner companies and industry professionals
Residential Construction: Designing Sustainable Living Spaces
Johannisgärten
Berlin-Johannisthal
HOWOGE, Berlin
roedig.schop architekten, Berlin
In the heart of Berlin Treptow-Köpenick, the new district “Johannisgärten” has emerged, redefining the concept of sustainable living. Of the 20 independent buildings, seven have been constructed with a hybrid timber-concrete structure, using façade elements designed, produced, and assembled directly by us.
A total of 6,647 m² of large-format spruce timber elements were employed, complete with windows and solar shading, featuring an airtight inner side, all ready for dry installation. The lifting of the elements with a crane beam and high-precision assembly allowed for the installation of up to six elements per day for each house, ensuring incredible efficiency.
This project demonstrates how serial timber construction can contribute to urban densification while ensuring rapid timelines, functionality, and a remarkable aesthetic outcome.
School Construction: Building the Future
Erich Kästner School
Berlin Marzahn-Hellersdorf
HOWOGE, Berlin
Thoma Architekten, Berlin
In Berlin Marzahn-Hellersdorf, a modern school complex is currently being built to accommodate over 800 students, consisting of 4 buildings, 3 in concrete and 1 in timber. For this project, we created 6,020 m² of prefabricated elements for façades and roofs, and 1,500 m² of glulam timber façade.
The challenge of this project was the complex geometries and tight tolerances. However, due to meticulous planning and timely logistics, each individual element fit together perfectly, even with prefabricated connection components such as Isokorb joints. The new complex will be inaugurated in the 2025/26 school year, providing a modern and bright study environment.
Schule am Kirschgarten
Bernau, Berlin
Barnim District
Gina Barcelona Architects, Barcelona
DGI Bauwerk, Berlin
In Bernau, Brandenburg, the Schule am Kirschgarten is emerging, a next-generation school building. The project is based on the “Compartment” construction system, an innovative concept that allows for flexible spaces, perfect for learning across different age groups.
For this project, we executed all the timber elements of the building, from planning to prefabrication to assembly. The new building combines timber with concrete elements in the basement and stairwells, complemented by an extensive green roof, a large photovoltaic system, and district heating. Completion is expected in 2026. This project demonstrates how the needs of contemporary school construction can go hand in hand with cutting-edge architecture.
Model Gymnasium of the
“Am Stadtpark Steglitz” Primary School, Berlin
Urban Development Department
DGI Bauwerk, Berlin
Just in time for the start of the 2021/22 school year, the new multifunctional gymnasium of the “Am Stadtpark Steglitz” primary school was inaugurated. This is one of seven model gyms built as part of the “Berliner Schulbauoffensive” initiative. In less than a year and a half, a modern structure has been constructed that stands out for its use of sustainable materials and environmentally friendly insulation systems.
For this project, we were responsible for the construction of the timber structure, including façade elements and the integrated solar shading system within the building components. This versatile and functional gym offers optimal conditions for both school sports activities and those of sports associations.
Social Spaces: Architecture of Value
SOS-Kinderdorf Berlin
Botschaft für Kinder
SOS-Kinderdorf e.V.
Ludloff Ludloff Architekten, Berlin
ARUP GmbH
In 2017, in the heart of the Moabit district of Berlin, just steps from the central station, the “SOS Children’s Village Berlin – Embassy for Children” project was realised, a place to learn, meet, and be heard politically. The building envelope is our work: on the lower floors, we installed 800 m² of glulam façade, while on the upper floors, 1,407 m² of wall elements with Robinia wood cladding.
Notably, the textile membrane façade enveloping the building, with its partially sliding elements, creates a striking play of light, shadow, and depth. It is no coincidence that the project was nominated for the DAM Architecture Prize 2019, demonstrating how timber construction can unite social quality and architectural excellence.
Science and Culture: Responsible Design
Free University of Berlin
Extension Project
Free University of Berlin
Florian Nagler Architekten, Munich
In the heart of the historic Dahlem campus, we realised an extension for the “minor disciplines,” including ancient oriental studies, Turkology, and Korean studies. Completing the building is a modern university library with approximately one million volumes and nearly 1,000 reading spaces.
For this project, we supplied and installed 5,000 m² of glulam façade and 6,000 m² of external wall elements, complemented by metalwork, roof railings, skylights, and solar shading systems. The high degree of prefabrication and numerous interfaces required careful planning and perfect coordination, tasks we managed excellently thanks to our technical expertise and extensive experience in the field.
Urban Timber Construction:
Building the City of the Future Today
Wood is an extraordinary material for constructing all types of buildings—homes, schools, or offices—that are simultaneously sustainable, efficient, and aesthetically appealing. However, it is primarily in urban spaces that the great potential of modern timber construction emerges, offering the following advantages:
- Sustainability, because wood, as a renewable resource, sequesters CO₂ and actively contributes to achieving climate goals;
- Speed, because the high degree of prefabrication reduces construction times and ensures precise work processes;
- Precision, because careful design and industrial production guarantee the highest quality;
- Economic Efficiency, because wood allows for efficient mass production even at large scales.
Leader in timber construction.
The construction technique of tomorrow? It’s already a reality in Berlin.
European Timber Construction Specialists for the Cities of the Future
As one of the leading companies in large timber projects in Europe, we accompany every project from the initial idea to the handover. With a competent team, innovative technologies, and excellent production capabilities, we bring innovative and tailor-made architectural projects to life, placing timber at the centre of everything.
Let’s build together with courage.
Our experts are at your complete disposal for personalised advice.
