Natural Stone Foundations

Concrete accounts for a substantial amount of global CO₂ emissions, and its use is widely accepted as inevitable in underground construction today. Foundations represent roughly 15–20% of a building’s embodied carbon, making them one of the most urgent challenges on the path to net-zero construction. While natural stone is experiencing a renaissance in contemporary architecture, its potential for cement-free underground construction remains largely unexplored, despite being an obvious standard in historical construction methods.

Building on a realised prototype that used solid granite point foundations for a single-family house, Natural Stone Foundations develops and scales cement-free foundation typologies for larger buildings. The project maximises resource efficiency by mapping natural stone and material leftovers from German quarries, systematically testing stone types, cement-free mortars, and ground conditions to examine compressive strength, deformation behavior, and durability.

Moving from material tests to a series of 1:1 prototypes with transdisciplinary partners, the research examines how load-bearing patterns, stone dimensions, and jointing strategies directly shape floor plans, structural grids, and architectural expression. By translating these findings into design principles, the project enables the transition from a single prototype to a systematic methodology, reframing the terrain-building interface as a dialogic design field where ecological, structural, and spatial logics intersect.

Simon Jüttner and Sebastian Kofink are the founders of the Munich-based practice Buero Kofink Schels. Together, they combine material research, architectural practice, and academic teaching to challenge conventional construction methods.

Simon Jüttner graduated in architecture from TU Munich and works across architecture and photography. Following the Förderpreis für Architektur from the City of Munich in 2016 and a scholarship at the German Academy in Rome in 2020, he was appointed full professor of Building Typology and Design (Gebäudelehre und Entwerfen) at Hochschule Biberach in 2026.

Sebastian Kofink combines his background as a trained carpenter with studies in interior design and architecture. He has worked internationally with practices such as Studio Carsten Nicolai in Berlin, Finsterwalderarchitekten in Rome, and Regional Associates in Uganda. After holding teaching positions at TU Munich and the Munich University of Applied Sciences, he was appointed full professor of Materials and Construction at Nuremberg Institute of Technology in 2025.