EUROPAN 17 – BCN – LIVING CITIES /2
MA Projekt: REIM­AGI­NING ARCHI­TEC­TURES BY CARING FOR INHA­BITED MILIEUS
Dozent: Dr.-Ing. Andreas Brück
SoSe 2023

Umfang: 8 SWS / 12 ECTS
Typ: Projektseminar
Sprache: DE / EN

Start: 27.04.2023
Thurs­days 14–18 h
Raum: B 314 (Projektraum)

The aim is to explore the rege­ne­ra­tive capa­ci­ties of living milieus amidst new ecolo­gies that attempt to over­come the oppo­si­tion between nature and culture and anthro­po­cen­trism during times marked by natural disas­ters and a climate emergency.

How can we care for inha­bited milieus?

The incre­asingly alar­ming nature of the diffe­rent IPCC reports, most recently that of March 2022, and the COVID-19 pandemic with its planet-wide impact, have made the vulnerabi­li­ties of the living world and the meta­mor­phoses of habi­ta­bi­lity even more starkly appa­rent. The very possi­bi­lity of living is now in doubt for all, given the exces­sive consump­tion of natural resources by certain human groups to the detri­ment of the needs of the global popu­la­tion, excee­ding what planet earth can replace.

Climate emer­gency, over­ex­plo­ita­tion, pollu­tion, inequa­lity and iniquity – all these ills, uphe­avals and disori­en­ta­tions demand actions of “care” that address the coexis­tence and inter­re­la­ti­onship of all the elements of the living world, and thus mandate a radical shift in para­digm. Sensi­ti­vity, respon­si­bi­lity, crea­ti­vity are aspects of care and of inte­rest in other beings.

This demands an aware­ness of the affi­lia­tions and inter­ac­tions at work in the situa­tions put forward for the compe­ti­tion. For Europan 17, the contexts demand a radical change towards a more immersive approach to the concep­tion and produc­tion of space, an approach founded in care for living milieus. A new para­digm is at work, promp­ting us to wonder how to recon­cile things and beings at a time when the habi­ta­bi­lity of Planet Earth is in ques­tion. Local and trans­local stra­te­gies are be asso­ciated both with issues of meta­bo­lism (new ways of mana­ging flows of natural elements, mate­rials and human beings with the aim of deve­lo­ping circular economy) and issues of fair­ness and soli­da­rity (inclu­si­vity of actors in processes) which were already parti­ally opera­tive in certain contexts in E16.

Reim­agi­ning archi­tec­tures that are embo­died in “visions” or “narra­tives” of the evolu­tion of sites between present and future.

In response to these terri­to­rial chal­lenges, it is more than neces­sary to create complex, global and dynamic spatial recon­fi­gu­ra­tions in damaged inha­bited milieus in order to revi­ta­lise biolo­gical and human commu­ni­ties. The care-based approach will lead to a neces­sary inter­play of inno­va­tive, dynamic and varied project processes:

  • produ­cing an active under­stan­ding of what is already in place (biolo­gical + socio-anthro­po­lo­gical scales), a situa­tional intelligence;
  • on the basis of this immersion, repai­ring mistreated territories/spaces by subtrac­tion and recreation;
  • rein­for­cing, rege­ne­ra­ting or crea­ting quali­ties of hybri­di­s­a­tion between nature and culture;
  • linking the scale of stra­tegic and dynamic reflec­tion on terri­to­ries (the large-scale struc­tu­ring ecolo­gical chal­lenges) with the scale of local spaces and their re-concep­tion (ever­yday spaces and shared spaces);
  • imagining/creating spaces today with a view to the connec­tion between present and future and ther­e­fore their produc­tion and adap­ta­bi­lity over time (sustainable development);
  • tack­ling projects with a readi­ness for design and produc­tion processes that involve all actors with their diver­sity and their diffe­ring roles.

In order to achieve this comple­xity, the situa­tions that will be chosen for the Europan 17 compe­ti­tion must be such that the projects submitted can acti­vate in diffe­rent contexts and at diffe­rent scales:

  • symbiotic links between the living world and the cultural world, vital rela­tions between human and nonhuman beings;
  • spatial syner­gies (actions conducted in concert between diffe­rent elements, enti­ties or stake­hol­ders): these are types of natural and cultural re-liances at diffe­rent scales between elements that have become frag­mented as a result of the moder­nist deve­lo­p­ment of milieus;
  • natural and human tempo­ra­li­ties (cycles and rhythms of the living world and the social world) in process-projects.

The STUDIO will work on the BARCE­LONA case:

The site includes the two dimen­sions of nature (natural elements) and culture (inha­bited spaces) and combines two scales:

  • the terri­to­rial and geogra­phical scale of the “reflec­tion site” (deli­mited with a red line and which raises the big issues around ecology, mobi­li­ties and must be taken into account by the compe­ti­tors and where they can propose ideas of evolution…)
  • and the proxi­mity scale of the “project site” (deli­mited with a yellow line and which may range from a single buil­ding and its imme­diate envi­ron­ment to larger frag­ments where the archi­tec­tural project links in with the wider terri­to­rial scale).

PROJECT / STUDIO WORK

The course is expli­citly aimed at students with design expe­ri­ence (i.e. design-basics are NOT part of the course curri­culum). Students will work in small groups which will have a high degree of inde­pen­dence. The group­work is framed by a joint kick-off session, the excur­sion* and conclu­ding presentation(s). At the begin­ning of the semester, the neces­sary basics are worked out toge­ther (e.g. in the form of info­gra­phics and presen­ta­tions). At the end of the semester, overall findings of the design work are jointly reflected and prepared for the project bazaar at ISR (inclu­ding a written report).

* In the week of May 8–12th we will offer an excur­sion to Barce­lona as part of the project/studio.

Brief

MOSES-LINK

Abbildung: © Labor K