I was doing some reading on green building today, for a profile I’ll be doing on an alumnus for the IC alumni magazine (now ICView, formerly the IC Quarterly). I read through all of the material on the guy’s site, did some googling, and then hit up Wikipedia for more on the basics. Well, what did I stumble on but several references to Freiburg, in the Germany section of a wiki page. It mentions the “Solarsiedlung” which sounded vaguely familiar, and then Vauban, which is where I actually lived during my semester abroad in the fall of 2005.

I’m not sure if I ever actually blogged about it, but Vauban was a French barrack until 1992, when it was turned into housing. 16 of the 20 units are for students of Albert-Ludwigs-Universität. The remaining four were expropriated by.. well, squatters basically. The entire complex is quite green and sustainable: portions using greywater, passive and active solar power, and all of the related tricks.

Regardless, I followed links till I happened upon pictures of Vauban. And, believe it or not, I sort of miss that place. Vauban, Freiburg, and Germany were certainly pretty interesting. I wish I did more while I was there.

Vauban, Freiburg entry at Wikipedia
Some info in English

Photos of Vauban (Click on the street names (the long ugly German words mostly ending in “Straße” at the end of the page)). And here’s where I lived! This site is great.

EDIT: Looking over my Germany category, you know another thing I miss? Glühwein. Ach!