What to expect?

The idea of the workshop is mainly to direct you into viewing the built space as an ongoing potential. They can be built for a certain purpose but then be re-appropriated to serve a different function.
Occupying a space doesn’t have to be for the sole purpose it was designed for. Accordingly, you will be visiting several re-used buildings/ spaces in Berlin where the function it holds now was not the function the space was built for.
An example of these spaces is the Berlin Bunker which is now a famous exhibition space. You will understand how new uses and users appropriated and adapted to these spaces. With this in mind, the workshop will be focused on designing a building on campus that used to be a factory but now it is used as a space for architecture students as a kind of workshop, workplace, and common area for them.
Sequential occupation of functions will be an interesting topic to know the different layers that existed in a place and have them as a scenario in mind when tackling the history of uses in the place. Not just uses, but also materials, atmospheres, lights, and reactions of the users to the space.

The idea is then to transform part of the space into another function with its different atmospheres, lighting, furniture, ideas, etc.. yet putting in mind that the design of this space should be coherent with the existing function if not completing it.

It should still allow the existing use of working spaces to occur. The process of understanding and reflecting will be supported by excursions to sites in Berlin that hold the same idea of spaces being re-used after a certain function ended allowing the imagination of how a space could be designed and built for a certain function yet being appropriated with another function.
Judging the adaptation and how sustainable it is to use existing spaces rather than always thinking of going into the idea of building new ones. The workshop will end by choosing a design that fits the most to the circumstances and the space to be implemented. Students can manipulate and think of the spaces, the lighting, the furniture, the walls, etc. Functions are based on their choice and complementing the existing function in the space important. Examples of these functions are exhibition space, coworking space, lounge area, storage area, reading area, presentation space, leisure area, etc.

The Workshop is open to all students who are interested and would like to experiment with designing.

Download the information related to this event here.