The local building initiative of the district Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg of Berlin has searched the whole district for possible places for redensification. In this semester we will work on two of the plots found and develop test designs for these locations.

Cities are communal places. The concept of the common good has returned strongly to the current discourse. If urban development is left to market forces, space becomes exclusive and access to it is regulated by the economic performance of the actors. We look for alternative models to this paradigm, we design buildings that are good for different and many people and that want to make a positive contribution to their environment and neighbourhood. We are looking for forms of housing, spatial programmes and aesthetics of the common good. Under the title "how together" we work out architectural theses about future life and work.

Cities live through heterogeneity, diversity, the simultaneity of the unequal, through chance encounters, tolerance and curiosity. They also live through special places where potential futures are tried out. The fundamental question is how this heterogeneous urban field can be further developed.  We have selected two special locations for this: a solitary plot of land on a four-lane road, surrounded by post-war urban development. The second site is a larger area that is pushed into a newly built, highly commercialised part of the city. Both sites thus have built-in conflicts with which the architecture must deal. The conflicts cannot be eliminated by design, they become an architectural means. Here architecture becomes the negotiation of interests, the spatial expression of the need for protection, comfort, beauty, quality of life, also of work, noise, different rhythms of life, to name but a few.

At both locations, it is necessary to develop hybrid uses that take a position in the respective conflict situation.  A strategic decision must be made as to which conflict issue can be dealt with at which scale. What can be achieved with layers or building structure figures, which conflict can be countered in terms of building technology, for example by selecting suitable materials. Each of the sites is surrounded by a specific constellation of actors with concrete interests. In the project we will get to know these, deal with them kitically and reflect on them architecturally.

Due to its complexity, the project is primarily aimed at students with advanced design experience in the Master's programme. It is open to students in the Bachelor's programme from the third year onwards. The aim is to work in pairs.

>> Application via moodle until mo 18.00h
>> TN max. 12 
>> Tuesdays online, first meeting Wednesday 04.11.20 - 12.00h, first input: 04.11.20 - 16.00h

questions? raumproduktion_ @raumlabor.net

links:

>> LokalBau 
>> lokalbau sites map
>> site 1
>> site 2
>> fotos of both sites
>> project reference kalkbreite
>> title reference constructlab