Latent Urbanism | Berlin

In June this year, the Aedes Gallery in Berlin staged an exhibition entitled ‘Creative, Informal, Temporary Berlin’. The exhibition showcased the work of an international collection of university design studios dealing the theme. Having led an RMIT design studio called ‘Latent Urbanism, Berlin’, Architecture Architecture’s Michael Roper took part in the exhibition, presenting some of his students’ work.

STUDIO DESCRIPTION:

When Conrad Schumann left his post guarding the Berlin Wall, choosing instead to throw down his rifle and make a leap for Western liberty, he became more than just a symbol of Cold War defection: he became the first Latent Urbanist. Seizing opportunity in an increasingly inhospitable city, he redefined the way we engage with our urban environments. He demonstrated how small, carefully considered action, enacted where the fabric of our cities are most fragile can have the most potent consequences.

The city of Berlin has since undergone several periods of significant trauma and transformation. Growing out of two world wars, living through three decades of east-west division followed by re-unification, rebuilding and more recent bankruptcy, Berlin is riddled with the scars of its history: abandoned trenches, unfinished infrastructure, bullet-ridden buildings, unrealised grandeur. Politically it is caught between socialism and capitalism; physically, between the destruction of war and urban regrowth; culturally, between division and unity. This is a city still coming to terms with its physical and cultural territories yet revelling in the uncertainty of its future. It is no surprise therefore, that the international creative class continue flock to Berlin with dreams of realising its latent possibilities.

‘Latent Urbanism | Berlin’ investigated what lies dormant in the city of Berlin. It addressed the city’s urban in-betweens, focussing on its squats, riverbanks, communes, rooftops, no-man’s lands and under-crofts as sites for physical, cultural and political appropriation. The brief was to provide accommodation and facilities for Berlin’s transient populations, including the homeless, vagrants and travelling artists.

Students were asked to design support facilities as well as the means for these transient populations to (re)integrate with Berlin’s unique culture. They were required to propose two responses to the city: a Distributed Scheme and a Condensed Scheme. The aim of the Distributed Scheme was to explore how a building and its context can address one another’s needs through a collection of small informal interventions distributed about the city, investigating themes of spatial and temporal transience.

For the Condensed Scheme, students were asked to draw upon the lessons of the Distributed Scheme to develop more traditional strategies for addressing the broader city from a singular, centralised position. This exercise focussed on themes of spatial and temporal permanence. Throughout the semester, students were encouraged to understand the role of architecture in the urban environment, investigating the symbiotic, parasitic, competitive and servile relationships which exist between cities and their buildings.

Posted: July 7th, 2011 | Filed under: Architecture, Education, Exhibitions, Michael Roper | Comments Off

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