Climate protection in the old town: study group plans solar frames for monuments

Climate protection in the old town: study group plans solar frames for monuments

An exciting excursion by architecture students from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is the focus of current developments in Landsberg am Lech. Under the motto “Sun meets monument protection,” 21 students are tackling the challenge of combining monument protection and climate protection. Their goal: The sustainable use of renewable energies in the charming old town, which is rich in historical buildings. The students explore how the newly amended Bavarian Monument Protection Act of 2023, which allows certain measures for the use of renewable energies in architectural monuments, can be applied in practice. It is important that monument protection is not impaired, which makes the initial situation exciting. The city of Landsberg am Lech reports this on its website here.

A fundamental part of this project is the creation of a solar framework plan, which serves as a planning tool for municipalities with historic buildings. This plan is intended to define the potential and requirements for the use of renewable energies while preserving historical values. To date, comprehensive analyzes have been carried out on the historical spatial qualities, visibility and design criteria of the old town. Discussions between the city of Landsberg am Lech, KIT and the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD) are ongoing to find the best solutions.

Landsberg relies on innovative approaches

The process for creating the solar framework plan was started on September 11, 2024, and an interim status was presented to the construction, planning and environmental committee on March 26, 2025. The students analyzed numerous individual monuments and art-historically valuable city views and processed geodata in order to create a data-supported basis for future decisions. The partial roof areas of the old town are classified into categories ranging from individual coordination options to lower design requirements, which are intended to help assess visibility when installing solar systems.

Mayor Doris Baumgartl praised the students' excellent work and emphasized their comprehensibility and objective approach. During planning, it is important that all actors come together and develop solutions together so as not to negatively influence the appearance of the historic buildings and at the same time meet the requirements of climate protection.

New brochure to help you

In order to provide builders and monument owners with helpful information, the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation has published a new brochure entitled “Solar Energy and Monument Preservation”. These informative pages show how solar systems can be installed on or near monuments without disturbing the overall visual impression. The brochure also contains legal requirements and valuable information on the design of solar systems. It presents successful practical examples and is aimed at everyone who is interested in the compatibility of monument preservation and climate protection. Anyone interested can obtain the brochure free of charge from the state office's official website and thus get an overview of the best practices here.

A recent ruling by an administrative court makes it clear how important the individual case assessment is in the context of monument protection. A homeowner was able to successfully obtain permission to install a solar system on his listed half-timbered house, even though the monument protection authority had initially refused. The judges decided that the visibility and changes already made to the building kept the visual impact to a minimum and an exception to the installation was therefore possible. This shows that good compromises can be made in the interaction between monument protection and renewable energies, provided they respect the interests of both sides. You can find out more about this at here.