Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Receives Four Awards for Innovative Construction Methods
With its application-oriented cutting-edge research into resource-saving building materials and forward-looking construction methods, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar was represented at the international trade fair iENA – Ideas, Inventions, New Products in November 2025: Four patent applications have now been awarded two gold and two silver medals. At the award ceremony on 11 December 2025 at the Technical University of Ilmenau, the scientists were presented with their medals and certificates in a festive ceremony.
With their award-winning projects, the researchers are making an important contribution to reducing the ecological footprint in the construction industry and opening up new perspectives for a sustainable construction industry.
The two technologies »microwave straw« and »masonry method« were awarded gold. Microwave straw is an innovative process for processing residual biomass using microwave technology. Targeted treatment produces a high-quality, high-performance building product that is particularly resource-efficient. The masonry method creates a new, technically optimized masonry composite that both increases load-bearing capacity and enables faster construction.
Silver was awarded to the sustainable building concepts »agro-mineral construction« and »agro-forestry construction.« In agro-mineral construction, researchers combine natural mineral raw materials with agricultural residues to create a new, sustainable building material concept. Agro-forestry construction uses forestry and agricultural resources and demonstrates new ways of achieving climate-friendly material cycles.
The award-winning developments were presented at the beginning of November 2025 at the trade fair »Ideas – Inventions – New Products« (iENA) 2025 in Nuremberg and are the result of intensive research work at the Chair of Structural Design and Structural Engineering at the Bauhaus University Weimar. »The four awards reflect the high innovative strength of our work – especially in the field of sustainable materials research, construction practice, and technology transfer,« explains Dr. Katrin Linne, research assistant at the professorship. The award-winning processes contribute to actively addressing the ecological challenges of construction and pointing out new ways for resource-efficient building.
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Katrin Linne, research assistant at the Chair of Structural Design and Structural Engineering, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, by email at katrin.linne[at]uni-weimar.de or by phone at +49 (0) 3643 / 58 31 46.
For information on the exploitation of patent applications, please contact the Research Department at the Bauhaus University Weimar by email at patente[at]uni-weimar.de.