Pratt Institute, New York
17 May – 30 June 2016
For the 6th time, architecture students at Pratt Institute returned to ANCB to work with the urban structure of Berlin. Berlin today is remarkable - even amongst European cities - in its experimental use of public space that broadens the traditional notion of city and suggests innovative, contemporary solutions for place making. They reorder our perception of the city and its institutions, and democratize the urban condition. Berlin’s many voids, its still reasonable rent and extensive interconnected green space buttress these innovations.
This Advanced Architectural Design Studio challenged 4th year students to demonstrate the understanding and ability to design and conceptualize an architectural/urban project in Berlin, with the emphasis on inserting small size urban incubators that contain programmes for film, media spectacles, small neighborhood festivals and public viewing, together with housing elements. This studio advanced the students' ability to experiment, to create their own or group-defined conceptual approach and to develop a novel and original project that reflects the students' freedom within an engaged discursive environment.
The scale of the Pratt students' intervention differ radically from the institution-driven urban design of the past and demands a new and innovative architecture that is able to respond to the fluid and amorphous condition of public space. Cross programming, new adaptable structures for the public, novel systems of transport and goods delivery were addressed in the urban design the student produce in their time here in Berlin. The students developed their projects until the end of June to then finalize their design at Pratt in Brooklyn, NY until the end of July.
Studio Coordinators: Dagmar Richter and William Menking, assisted by Michael Tingen
