Articles in this Topic

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  Berliner Flussarbeiten (2) - Mitte aus dem Ruder [Studio]

  Kursbeschreibung

  Teaching

  Die Werkstattreihe Straßenarbeiten/Flussarbeiten untersucht seit 2011 lineare Strukturen in Berlin und anderen europäischen Großstädten (London, Zürich). Dieses Semester erkunden wir den Spreeraum in Berlin Mitte. Hypothese: keine städtebauliche Situation ist zu verkrampft, dass sie sich nicht von Potenzialen durchfließen lässt; trotz aller Evidenzen bleibt Mitte ein geeigneter Raum für wilde Fantasien. Die Initiative „Flussbad Berlin“ sehen wir als mögliche Bresche. Kann die Transformation eines ungenutzten Spreekanals in einen sauberen Fluss / Bad mitten in der Stadt eine positive Kontamination der umliegenden (grauen) Bausubstanz initiieren? Eine definitive Rückkehr des Zweifelns, nach Jahren eindeutiger Einsätze? Im Spiel: Gemeingüter als Mulden Urbanität und sozialer Vielfalt, die Entstehung neuer Ökologien in der Stadt, die innere Kolonisierung und Sedimentation aller möglichen Baustrukturen – selbst Attrappen und tristen Monstern aus der 90er Jahren. Methodik: präzise/sensible Untersuchung, Dokumentation und Kartierung des Umfelds des künftigen Flussbads Mitte. Ziel: während des intensiven 5-wöchigen Workshops werden städtebauliche „Prototypen“ und Zukunftsszenarien entwickelt für eine wildere, unschärfere Mitte.
  In Koop. mit Flussbad Berlin e.V.

  (fig: Spree am Bodemuseum, A. Hausschild / OSTKREUZ)

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  Wohnen in Berlin (5) - Mauerpark & Beyond [Studio]

  Kursbeschreibung

  Teaching

  Berlin is growing (again). 50.000 inhabitants each year since 2011, and the dynamic is expected to linger. Empty apartments won’t cover for the bump this time. New flats need to be provided. Quite many, actually. What typologies should be introduced? At what cost and for whom? At stake, the conditions that have made Berlin attractive for years: cheap rents, abundant space, socially and culturally diverse neighbourhoods… Less discussed is the question of Berlin’s urban model in the wake of a future construction wave. Will it remain this unique system of fragments as we know it, surrounded with green and open spaces?
  By looking at Mauerpark and its surroundings (including the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark and the Brunnenviertel), we would like to explore all these dimensions at once. Here a conflict happens to oppose a private investor willing to build up the northern fringes of the park, to the tenants of “100% Mauerpark“. Is it possible to imagine alternative densification models that combine the benefits of quantity, diversity and the intensification of Berlin’s open spaces? To overturn the perspective of a city entirely in private hands through new cooperative housing prototypes? To go complex and hybrid, where current plans meet neither the specific character of Mauerpark nor its metropolitan dimension?

  (fig: Mauerpark & surroundings, source Google Maps)

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  The Peripheral Dialogues

  Studio brief

  Teaching

  “Città diffusa“, “Zwischenstadt”, “Plankton City”…
  As the discourse on the urban periphery grows – its charms and mysteries being more and more discussed, examined, partially disclosed, Berlin remains a very specific case. In a city that through the Wall-division multiplied border situations as well as reinforced its already strong, historically developed centers, the housing question applied to the so-called “Außenstadt” requires specific and subtle answers – ones that are rooted in Berlin’s multilayered/multi-centered reality. Where does Berlin’s periphery start and where does it end? What specific features does it entail (i.e. textures, sporadic events, lifestyles etc.)? Is there anything to learn from other cities, regarding typologies and the overall performance?
  The urban design studio will examine models to comprehend and transform a wide range of peripheral urban situations in Berlin – from East to West, North to South, throughout lakes, forests, highways, single family homes, Großsiedlungen… Landscape will be a preferred lens to observe and a favored medium to operate. The building of controversies as well as prolonged on-site immersion will complement this wide investigation on still overlooked, but nonetheless decent, in their own way powerful, urban realities.

  In collaboration with “No Image” (D. Bauer, S. Weindauer, A-M. Yuste)

  Excursion to Paris during the first half of the semester.

  (fig: Edeka in Berlin-Hellersdorf, D. Levain)