30 students, 5 teams and one common goal: the development of chimney prototypes that use the sun's energy to generate electrical energy through rising heat - in the record time of just under a week (24 - 30.04.2025). That was the mission of the student excursion to TOBB University in Ankara as part of the ERASMUS+ teaching project "Designing and Constructing a Solar Updraft Chimney with 3D Printing".
The participating students from Ankara (Turkey), Zagreb (Croatia), Rosenheim and Köthen (Germany) had met once a week since the beginning of March in an online meeting to work out design concepts together. However, things got really intense with the excursion, during which these design concepts were put into practice and the prototypes were tested. The task of the students from the EMW Department - Yuliia, Vitalina, Nick, Tim D. and Tim P. - was to design, implement and test the electronics of the systems. A real challenge! Tim D. says with a wink: "We weren't sure whether our project could work, but then we thought we'd do it like the bumblebee ... According to the laws of aerodynamics, a bumblebee shouldn't fly. But it doesn't know that and flies anyway."
The students worked on their projects in five teams. A special spin: the teams were not only intercultural, but also interdisciplinary, as the participants from Ankara and Zagreb are studying Architecture, while the participants from the two German universities are engineering students. This made the project not only a meeting of different cultures, but also a melting pot of different ways of working and approaches. The prototypes did not actually have to be completed in a functional state; instead, the main focus was on collaboration and the joint development of a problem-solving strategy. However, it quickly became apparent that our budding engineers somehow couldn't help but focus their main attention and ambition on functionality - while the future architects were much more focused on the creative process. While the creative path was the goal for the Architecture students, the Engineering students found themselves in a "survival camp with a construction plan", "with the deadline always firmly in sight", says Tim P. with a grin. "For us, teamwork in Ankara meant: creativity meets the need for control - and everyone loses a bit of sleep."
And the result of this academic roller coaster in Ankara? Five different solar chimneys, built entirely by ourselves using 3D printing and laser cutting, among other things, in which the air flowing upwards is used to generate electrical energy ... and many new friendships! "We were expecting international group work with a focus on academics - what we experienced was an intercultural exchange with Turkish tea, typical local specialties and hospitality that you can only understand and really appreciate to its full extent if you have been there yourself," says Nick, looking back on the short but eventful time.
We are proud of our students, who not only demonstrated professional expertise, but also interdisciplinary skills such as interdisciplinary teamwork, communication and cultural openness.
