Feline Knapp has received the 2026 study prize of the Lower Saxony Savings Banks Foundation for Monument Preservation, which is endowed with 2,000 euros. The foundation has thus awarded her master's thesis "Hidden Values. A method for evaluating and communicating grey and golden energy in existing buildings", which was written at the HAWK Faculty of Design in Hildesheim.
The jury, which included Robert Marlow, President of the Chamber of Architects of Lower Saxony, justified its decision as follows: “With her method for assessing the material ‘embodied energy’ and the architectural ‘golden energy’ of the current building stock, Feline Knapp makes an important contribution to the resource discourse, which addresses central messages of historic preservation.”
Of particular note is the interdisciplinary approach: Feline Knapp uses exemplary accounting to demonstrate the possibilities of the method she developed. In her work, she primarily examined buildings at the HAWK (University of Applied Sciences and Arts). Two of the projects are listed as historical monuments: the former pathology building in Renatastraße in Hildesheim and the half-timbered house on Brühl, one of the oldest buildings in Hildesheim. Furthermore, she designed and implemented an exhibition on her project for the Faculty of Design’s "Werkschau" showcase. She consistently linked all these areas together.
Feline Knapp completed her thesis in August 2025 in the field of expertise Interior architecture of the Master's Degree Program in Design completed. For this, she has already received a prize from the faculty as well as the graduate award “bdia – excellent!” from the bdia – Association of German Interior Architects. The master's thesis was supervised by Prof. Patrick Pütz and Prof. Günter Weber.
With the recognition of Feline Knapp, the Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation’s Study Award for Heritage Conservation goes to a HAWK alumna for the second consecutive time. In 2025, Dr. Carolin Prinzhorn, former professor of administration at the Faculty of Building and Preservation, was delighted to receive the prize.
Since 2023, the Lower Saxony Savings Banks Foundation, in cooperation with the Society for the Preservation of Monuments in Lower Saxony and the Chamber of Architects of Lower Saxony, has awarded the Lower Saxony Savings Banks Foundation Study Prize for the Preservation of Monuments, which is endowed with 2,000 euros. The prize is awarded by the foundation for outstanding bachelor's, master's or doctoral theses that relate to the Lower Saxony heritage landscape and address relevant topics for Lower Saxony's heritage preservation and the differentiated scientific or conceptual handling of the high-quality inventory.
The award aims to honor exceptional achievements across all fields of modern heritage conservation and to highlight the importance of architectural heritage, along with innovative and sustainable approaches to managing it. Graduates and PhD students from universities and universities of applied sciences in Germany and abroad with theses that have a clear connection to the monument landscape of Lower Saxony are eligible to apply.
