Bachelor 4. Sem. / Experimental Design, 2SWS, 2,5 ECTS / Tools: Rhino/VRay Level I+

Architecture is not space itself
but the experience of it

Henri Lefebvre
‘The Production of Space’
John Wiley & Sons, 1991

Space is how we see it, therefore architecture and the city are how we see it. So when we design space knowing the status-quo of the regular (guarded by regulations) is one thing, but are we using the full potential of space when it comes to the (bodily) experience of it? This question is the main focus of this semester’s GED/D course.
In order to experiment both with space and the physical implications to the body and with the significance of physical experience and spatial perception your architectural task is to …

design
a skatepark!

for outdoor skating that is connected to a smaller indoor landscape part of a shop.
Detailed description further below.

But why skating ?

Iain Borden, theory teacher at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London writes in his book about skateboarding, space and the city:
‘Skateboarders are an increasingly common feature of the urban environment – recent (2001) estimates total 40 million world-wide. We are all aware of their often extraordinary talent and manoeuvres on the city streets. Skateboarders experience and understand the city through their sport. Dismissive of authority and convention, skateboarders suggest that the city is not just a place for working and shopping but a true pleasure-ground, a place where the human body, emotions and energy can be expressed to the full. The huge skateboarding subculture that revolves around graphically-designed clothes and boards, music, slang and moves provides a rich resource for exploring issues of gender, race, class, sexuality and the family. Street-style skateboarding, especially characteristic of recent decades, conducts a performative critique of architecture, the city and capitalism.’

Iain Borden
‘Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body’
Berg Publishers Int., London, 2001

That’s why.

Details of the full brief, including design principles to be considered, examples, downloads here (restricted access for TH students)

Below you find the …

results

teaching staff:

Patrick Hesse, BA. MA., Niels Jonkhans, Prof. Dipl.Arch. M.Arch., Ertan Karaköse, BA. MA., Martin Lutz, BA. MA., Denny Renz, BA. MA., Nicolas Schäf, BA. MA., Sven Tackenberg, Dipl.Ing.

review guests:

Sven Eckert, TX SPORTS GROUP, Kammerstein
Daniela Kröhnert, Wien

Vielen Dank an Sven Eckert von TX SPORTS für das tolle Feedback, Sponsoring und Stiften der Gewinner-Preise ! … (ganz runter scrollen)