WINTER SEMESTER 24/25

Single-family homes take up large plots of land and are often inhabited by only a few people. “According to the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs, and Spatial Development (2020), only one or two people now live in about 60% of single-family homes in Germany.”

A lot of sealed-off land, a lot of private green space for few people—a huge potential that needs to be harnessed.

Under the guiding principle “Never demolish, never remove—always add, transform, and reuse” (Lacaton & Vassal), in this studio we will work with you to explore how an exemplary single-family home with a house and garden can be transformed into a vibrant, community-shared space and densified without increasing the footprint (sealed area).

The assignment was to design innovative spaces and programs for communal living, working, and recreation based on our own needs. Particular emphasis was placed on connecting indoor and outdoor spaces for communal use while involving the neighborhood.

Faculty: Prof. Mag. Arch. Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs, M.Sc. Harun Faizi
Tutors: B.Sc. Sunijia Wang, B.Sc. Jonas Baumann, Alina Ditenbir

In 2018, Guido Pusch converted his family’s farm in Marienrachdorf (Rhineland-Palatinate) into a care farm. This pioneering project is regarded throughout Germany as a trailblazer in the socially sustainable repurposing of existing buildings. There is high demand from both people in need of care and owners of farms.

In Diedenshausen, the first care farm in Hesse is being built on a half-timbered farmstead. There, people aged 60 and older who require care will live alongside animals. The shared living communities in Diedenshausen are scheduled to be ready for occupancy by 2024 at the latest.

At Vertical Studio, we will use a farm in the Werra-Meißner district (a district in the Kassel administrative region ) as a case study to restructure it into a care farm.

We’ll kick off the project with research. Each student will develop expertise in a potential area of farm management, such as raising chickens, geese, alpacas, … or for growing vegetables, herbs, and fruit varieties, … always considering the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of resource utilization, and the potential for social interaction.

The research forms the basis for developing the space, program, and design of the care farm, which—in addition to farming and assisted living—also offers space for additional activities for the surrounding neighborhood. The research also serves to gather inspiration for the design process.

A basic spatial program is provided, but students are free to interpret it flexibly in order to create opportunities for users to interact, be creative, and engage in community activities with others.

The focus is on “working with all available means”—using algorithms and straws, analog and digital tools, and transforming them from one medium to another.

The goal is to develop forward-looking and distinctive spatial and programmatic concepts for a care farm that will have a positive impact on the surrounding community. The project is supported by the Hessian Center for Housing Counseling (Nathalie Heuser and Vanessa Fricke).

Instructors: Prof. Mag. Arch. Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs, Birgit Sieler, Dipl.-Ing., Architect

The Hugenottareal infrastructure tower was once again built using AR technology!

After serving temporarily for two years as part of the art area at the Hugenottenhaus & PERLE Café + Bar in Kassel, the tower must be dismantled and rebuilt at a different location. A new, suitable home for this tower (Boreal – Schlachthof Kassel Cultural Center) has been found, offering the opportunity to permanently reassemble it and test aspects of its original design concept (such as serving as a vessel for new ideas and flexible uses, hybrid manufacturing methods using AR/MR (Augmented Reality/Mixed Reality), and circularity/sustainability through the reuse of materials).

This Vertical Studio in the 2024–2025 winter semester was conducted as a “design-build studio” and was tasked with rebuilding the Infra Tower on a 1:1 scale (reusing its materials wherever possible) with newly conceived elements of its design for its new, permanent cultural location in Kassel. The studio had the opportunity to design and fabricate several new elements for the tower, as well as to create replacement structural connections, with feedback and calculations from the Structural Design (TWE) course. The result of the studio is the completion of the Infra Tower at its new location by the end of March 2025.

In 2021/22, the Infra Tower—also in collaboration with the TWE—was designed and built by students using AR/MR systems for the Hugenottenhaus art complex in Kassel as part of the opening of Documenta 15. The Infra Tower is a complex, vertical timber-frame structure created as a symbol of cultural and artistic activities in the city center. The project was an experiment that enabled students to learn digital and analog hybrid workflows while applying advanced technologies in collaborative, full-scale material fabrication, and incorporating circular concepts for the future use of its materials into the design process.

These original principles continued to serve as the foundation for testing (or investigating, reviewing) and redesigning the Infra Tower in Boreal, where the tower’s infrastructure is being adapted and transformed into a new symbol of culture and the local community in Kassel.