diploma unit 4

09.11.1989 : the fall of the wall happens fast; most would agree too fast. Hardly any of it remains…its physical presence no longer visible.

09.01.2007 : being in the city was almost like visiting a sleepy rural town, a slow pace passes over the day into the night and the streets are partly occupied but never full until the spring.

Berlin is in a process of renewing itself and its image that is so inherently bound to its recent past. Its current struggle/opportunity for identity has confronted its inhabitants with new situations and ways of occupying the city. The lifestyles here are variegated as a result of this and people are adopting their own lifestyles without the ‘inspiration’ of capitalism, an experimentation ground and collective participation.

Here, Unit 4 continued its search for ‘domestic urbanism’. During the visit, we met, conversed, discussed, debated with emerging architects and academics - sectioning through different modes of urban living: from the introverted luxuries of the ‘Self Container’, to ‘Self Initiated Living’ exploring modes of building and living under one’s own terms, to “Extreme Living” concepts of the squatting scene or the appropriation of structures of war.

Unit 4 were the last group to visit “Sammlung Boros” before it closes its doors to the public - the much talked about conversion of an air raid bunker into an art collection and private residence by Realarchitektur, a young architectural practice from Berlin , “Body and Form” looked at tailor making spaces. The Erika Mann Elementary School, by Baupiloten, an education reform project, is a community participation scheme, designed collaboratively by students from TU Berlin with school children.

Meanwhile, projects by BAR (Base for Architecture and Research) and Deadline Architects provided alternative models of architectural practice, where projects are self-initiated, funded and built. Especially BAR’s self-built housing project became a valuable prototype for making and inhabiting; undergoing a permanent process of adaptation.

These case studies were intersected with guided walks through the model city Siemensstadt and Kreuzberg , site of the Squatter’s Riot during 1980s. Here, architect Elke Knöss revealed how the need for housing can become a primary driver for social and political change which still affecting the city today.