Ideas that move
Building Sustainably, Connecting Internationally, Shaping the Future
For Janina Bregen, the link between technology and architecture was clear from the start. Internships after her A-levels in intercultural management in an Aboriginal community in the Australian Outback and in hotel management on a remote peninsula in New Zealand further shaped her understanding of social responsibility.“I wanted to understand how people live and build in different cultures. That completely changed my perspective on sustainability,” says the graduate in Wood Technology & Timber Construction, reflecting on these formative experiences.
From Building Practice to Systemic Sustainability
After five years, Janina returned to Germany and to building practice. She completed a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering with a focus on European Civil Engineering Management. During her one-year study stay in Sweden, she discovered the systemic approach to sustainability. Collaborations with degree programmes at FH Salzburg’s Campus Kuchl and in Finland led to a research internship and a bachelor thesis comparing timber construction internationally.
“For me, wood is more than just a material – it’s a key to resource-efficient building,” she concludes. She deepened this focus during her master’s degree in Wood Technology & Timber Construction at FH Salzburg.
New Technologies for Settlements in Africa
Working with the social start-up Start Somewhere proved particularly influential for her career. In her master’s thesis, Janina developed the ClayTwistBlock, an advancement of Start Somewhere gGmbH’s TwistBlock technology for affordable housing in informal settlements in Kenya and South Africa.
“It wasn’t just about technology – it was about people. We worked with local communities, tested, adapted. That was true social innovation,” she says enthusiastically. Her thesis was awarded the Sustainability Scholarship by the Salzburg Chamber of Labour in 2024.
“Without the support of Erasmus+ and the scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, I would never have had the freedom to engage so deeply with these international experiences,” she emphasises. Her Erasmus+ semester abroad in South Africa brought further insights, for example through design testing with users.
Off to Africa
Today, Janina is right in the middle of it: as site manager and project coordinator at Start Somewhere Kenya, she is developing an affordable housing concept on site together with the community. For less than USD 1,000, the organisation offers people the opportunity to transform their corrugated-iron structures into a fireproof, burglar-resistant house that provides a pleasant indoor climate.
„Every day I’m on the construction site in Africa’s largest slum, watching ideas turn into reality. For me, that’s the essence of truly sustainable building,”
Janina sums up.
About Start Somewhere
Start Somewhere is a non-profit organisation based in Kenya and Germany that works to improve living conditions in informal settlements. Together with local communities, solutions such as the TwistBlock and ClayTwistBlock technologies are developed to promote safe housing and social inclusion.
„Von der Europäischen Union finanziert. Die geäußerten Ansichten und Meinungen entsprechen jedoch ausschließlich denen der Auto-rin oder des Autors bzw. der Autorinnen oder Autoren und spiegeln nicht zwingend die der Europäischen Union oder der OeAD-GmbH wider. Weder die Europäische Union noch die OeAD-GmbH können dafür verantwortlich gemacht werden.“
