This future workshop was an artistic building and research project for the temporary realization of the BAUPALAST in the Rathausblock in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Here, city makers, initiatives, small business owners, and residents jointly created the framework for a future long-term self-designing meeting and experimentation space.
With “BAKING FUTURES III – the bakery wagon of Rathausblock,” Constructlab created a concrete community-building usage opportunity that remains on site as a mobile bakery wagon from early to mid-September 2020. The film “TOR AN TOR,” presented on September 13, 2020, by the Guerilla Architects and OFFscreen, is the result of an artistic-documentary research on the future past of the Dragonerareal. With the “ACHTUNG UTOPIE!” workshop on September 20 and 21, 2020, the Institute for Applied Heterotopia provided a creative space in which participants could explore central questions of their individual desires and visions for the Dragonerareal up to the year 2040.
For this purpose, we developed a course that begins with an audio walk (1), leads to a writing office (2), and ends at a drawing table (3).
The concept
(1) Every spatial experience is subjective, and therefore, every spatial thinking is also subjective. Using original theories and techniques, participants are encouraged to explore new ideas and perspectives with which to explore the Dragonerareal independently. An information area will be available for initial guidance and final feedback possibilities, as well as any questions, which will be equipped with inspiration and impulses.
(2) The method of “ticking” provides messages from the future. In this form, current individual desires are already a fact. They are thematically and chronologically sorted, resulting in a glossary and a timeline. Participants can be experts or amateurs. The text snippets can be written independently or one can go to the “writing office” and have suggestions transcribed.
(3) Drawing can be a method of co-design. Needs, desires, and concrete ideas for the future of the Dragonerareal are collected at the drawing table. A shared image is created in the form of a visual collection of ideas. Anyone can draw – either alone or collaboratively, and assistance is available. Drawing is understood as an intermediate step between ideas and future realities.
Download Flyer:
The implementation
It was two sunny days in the heart of Kreuzberg, and over 100 people went through our course. The audio walk was offered as a stream on the phone via a QR code and was downloaded over 80 times. The writing office was constantly busy and produced over 100 “tickers”, of which 40 were further processed for a target image. Dozens of visualizations were designed at the drawing table, of which 24 were selected and integrated into the target image in their idea by Grit. This target image can also be found in the InspirationsBLOCK post on this blog.
For the IFAH, this project was certainly an ideal constellation. Both concept and implementation have combined all of our interests and competencies, which is reflected both in the number of participants and in the quality of the results. In addition, we received a lot of positive feedback from the organizers and the audience. We hope, in turn, to have best supported the concerns of the BAUPALAST and thus also the future of the Dragonerareal!
Impressions
