SoSe 26 LEER: REDESIGN

In this year's studio, we are addressing the topic of vacancy from the perspective of the "talents of vacant buildings". Students will examine existing buildings based on their spatial, structural and atmospheric qualities: air flow, light, shadow, volumetry, materials, sound environment, warmth, humidity as well as constructive and other elements.

In this research studio, students explore alternative and collective strategies for activating, reusing, and transforming vacant spaces. The seminar approaches radio and podcasting as research methods: through sound, voice, and listening, places are investigated, documented, and reinterpreted.

The excursion will visit selected Berlin projects focused on renovation and the revitalization of vacant properties. Using current examples, we will explore strategies for transforming existing buildings as well as alternative project development and planning models. Visits will include the model project Rathausblock in Kreuzberg, the VOLLGUT Areal in Neukölln, and the Haus der Statistik, which exemplify cooperative, public-interest-oriented approaches to revitalizing vacant properties.

In Roman law, property was defined as the unrestricted right to dispose of an object or physical entity. The USUS was the owner's right to use the object in accordance with its purpose or nature, the FRUCTUS the right to reap the fruits, and ABUSUS was the right to dispose of the object or entity based on the authority to alter, sell or destroy it. Ownership was perpetual, absolute and exclusive. This ancient logic is still present in the spatial development of our cities, but one that is sometimes countered with resistance and application of opposite ideas.

Renovation Economies, Architecture as a Policy of Renovation, Construction Costs I, Construction Costs II, Vacancy – Introduction, Vacancy Presentation Exercises I & II, Public Construction Economy, Public Good, Cooperatives, the Commons, Land Policy and Other Planning Instruments, Construction Economy – Postcolonial, Housing and Building Economy, Building Economy of Labour

This impromptu is dedicated to working conditions in construction, in particular the role of migrant workers. Using case studies that we have developed ourselves, we will examine together which power structures, economic dependencies and conditions shape construction sites and thus ultimately also architecture. The short projects will be shown in the form of drawings, mapping and interviews in the tour.