Different homes… as if they had always been there.

None of them looks alike. Yet none of them feels out of place.

Set along the shores of Lake Edersee, the buildings blend quietly into the landscape through their restrained architecture and natural materials. At first glance, Ways of Life Campus seems like a collection of unrelated houses. Yet there is another story here.

This is not simply a campus filled with experimental architecture. It is an attempt to understand whether different ways of living can coexist without being expressed through a single architectural formula.

Christoph Hesse first introduced this idea at Experimenta Urbana in Kassel in 2017. Since then, the project has evolved into a real campus overlooking Lake Edersee. Today, eight buildings have been completed, while three more are under construction. As a result, the site continues to grow as an ongoing architectural experiment rather than a finished place.

Rather than asking every architect to follow the same visual language, Christoph Hesse invited them to interpret the future of rural living through their own cultural backgrounds, material knowledge and design philosophies.

The result is not a campus of similar buildings, but a collection of very different ideas.

Anna Heringer’s Fachwerk Capriccio returns to earth construction and seasonal living, encouraging people to adapt to the climate rather than control it. Noa proposes a house that moves between the forest floor and the tree canopy, allowing everyday life to unfold at different levels within the landscape. Tatiana Bilbao explores how privacy and community can coexist within the same home, while Penda draws attention with its farm-to-kitchen concept. None of these projects tries to solve the same problem in the same way—and that is precisely the point.

The most interesting buildings here are not necessarily the most unusual ones. They are the ones that begin with a different question.

Many architectural projects begin with a programme. Ways of Life Campus begins with a way of living.

J.MAYER.H’s SEGMENTS dissolves the boundaries between retreat, work and gathering instead of assigning each activity its own space. Yamazaki Kentaro Design Workshop treats craftsmanship as an essential part of everyday life, proposing a building where making becomes inseparable from living.

Architecture becomes a framework for new ways of living.

The real project here is not the campus itself. It is the dialogue between the buildings and the landscape.

That may be what sets Ways of Life Campus apart from many contemporary residential developments. The project is never in search of a signature style or a single vision of the future. Instead, it allows contrasting ideas to exist side by side.

Diversity itself is a design strategy.

This ambition also reflects Christoph Hesse’s broader Rural Rebellion initiative, which argues that innovation does not belong exclusively to cities.

Architecture often promises answers. Ways of Life Campus remains valuable because it continues to ask questions.

Nearly a decade after the idea was first introduced, the campus is still evolving. New buildings continue to be added, new architects continue to contribute, and the project deliberately resists becoming a finished masterplan. Perhaps that is what makes Ways of Life Campus so compelling. Rather than offering ready-made answers for the future, it creates a space where architecture can continue asking new questions.

Project : Ways of Life Campus

Location: Lake Edersee, Hesse, Germany

Founder & Curator : Christoph Hesse Architects

Project Status: Ongoing (8 completed buildings, 3 currently under construction)

Project Concept: An experimental campus exploring new models of living, working and community through architecture.

Participating Architects : Christoph Hesse Architects, Anna Heringer, noa* (Network of Architecture), Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, PENDA, J. MAYER H. und Partner, Yamazaki Kentaro Design Workshop, Atelier Alter, Robert Konieczny / KWK Promes

Key Themes: Collective Living, Community Architecture, Rural Innovation, Future Housing, Experimental Architecture, Sustainable Design

Main Materials: Timber, Rammed Earth, Concrete, Brick, Steel, Glass

Programme: Residential Prototypes, Workspaces, Community Spaces, Experimental Housing

Initiated: 2017 (Experimenta Urbana, Kassel)

Current Development: Construction continues as new architectural prototypes are added to the campus.

Photo Credits: courtesy of Ways of Life