Informace o kurzu

Contemporary concerns for sustainability recognise that post-industrial building construction habits, and large supply chains based on linear economy have been generating enormous  resource wastage, apart from other challenges like increased transportation, and loss of local skills and know-how.
In this context, and addressing society's demand for circular economy, our studio investigates Berlin's urban waste and trash culture - that offers a substantial opportunity for re-thinking sourcing of building materials, how we design, how we use and maintain our buildings. A wide range of materials collected as ‘urban waste’ generated by the act of contemporary lifestyle will be examined as unconventional materials that can be repurposed as building materials.
We will investigate the potential of architecture to take advantage of particular ‘waste’ materials identified during field research. Our aim is to remove materials from their original context and reinterpret them architecturally. We will work analog and digital, hands-on, and in 1:1 scale.  The studio aims to encourage ideas that make a practical difference.
The studio is expected to incorporate inputs from practitioners who have successfully reused waste, who bring broader perspectives, and who can share insights related to supply chains and circular economy concepts. The studio will help students to develop the vocabulary to collaborate effectively, and take a greater role in inter-disciplinary attempts to address the transition to a non-extractive economy.
This semester is conducted in close collaboration with the Structural Design and Construction department, under the leadership of Prof. Kerstin Wolff and her team.