SS24

Spaces of Circularity
Exploring Logistical Backends of the Future Building Industry

The Circular Economy (CE) concept has risen as a counterpoint to the conventional linear production-consumption model. Within the construction industry – a lavish contributor to atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions organised within global or trans-local networks – future trajectories towards sustainability encompass diverse approaches. These include developing alternative / bio-based materials, implementing net-zero production cycles, embracing adaptive reuse practices, and adopting radical regionalism to constrain excessive transportation routes. While substantial transformation knowledge is gathered and applied in pilot developments, the scale and spatial extent of the infrastructural network organising these future models is hard to anticipate.

Looking at the city region of Vienna, this seminar invites students to investigate the logistical spaces of the future circular building economy and speculate about the subsequent reconfiguration of the urban and regional contexts they are embedded in. For this, participants will (1) read, (2) ask and (3) assemble. 

The first part provides foundational texts to gain an insight into the concept of CBE and the construction industry’s current infrastructural networks and logistic backbones. 

In the second part, participants will leverage their knowledge through a series of guided interviews with international experts aimed at understanding the current state, envisioning the desired state, and delineating the pathway from the current situation to the desired outcome. 

The seminar will be conducted in collaboration with TU Wien and Biofabrique Vienna, a pilot project of the Vienna Business Agency and Atelier LUMA. Guests will include researchers from Bauhaus Earth. A site visit to Vienna is to be determined.

Insurgent Design
Unlearning practices through marginalized spaces and communities

Through a set of collaborative methods and tools for mapping and design the studio proposes  to develop a critical understanding of the role of architects and urbanists, especially in contexts of marginalized spaces and communities.

The studio intends to promote a transdisciplinary debate by focusing on the perceptions of inclusion of refugees in Berlin, and by collaborating closely with local actors and institutions. Thus, it encourages students to reflect on the integrative and co-productive role of city-building professionals and to devise  scenarios that aim to transform the current situation.
The discussions will address issues of spatial conflicts and negotiation, insurgent planning and design, the right to the city, housing vs. shelter from the perspective of institutional barriers, architectural and infrastructural elements and social-spatial dynamics.

In close collaboration withe the Senate’s integration program “BENN” in Marzahn, students will have the opportunity to engage with local actors and the community, develop activities and interventions and establish a dialog with refugees living in Berlin shelters. 

The studio is a cooperation of the research project „Beyond the Shelter: Limits and Possibilities between Departure and Endurance in Refugee Shelters in Berlin“ (DFG) with Juliana Canedo, the project „Architectures of Asylum“ (SFB: 1265 Re-figurations of Space“, DFG) with Qusay Amer and Francesca Ceola, as well as Maureen Abi-Ghanem and Saba Barani. The Studio will be developed in cooperation with the Seminar Contemporary Arab Urbanism and joint activities will be planned. 

A PIV connected to the Studio will deal with broader theoretical questions related to migration and refugee studies; it will be conducted as a lecture series in cooperation with “Architectures of Asylum”.