PUBLIC DEBATE

HUMAN SCALE REMEASURED
New spatial requirements, societal demands and economic values in architecture

Exhibition: 16 January – 20 May 2021
Symposium: Friday, 7 May 2021


HUMAN SCALE REMEASURED presents exemplary built projects and outstanding conceptual models by architects and planners from all over the world. The exhibition and accompanying symposium offer new visions for the built environment concerned with a better socio-economic coherence. With HUMAN SCALE REAMEASURED, ANCB proposes a solution-oriented contribution to the discussion that our way of life is losing its measure in overwhelming expansions, short-sighted decision-making and the demand for immediate economic profit.

The exhibition demonstrates how 15 selected architecture and urban projects and ten academic contributions from international universities can initiate a positive change by targeting challenges holistically and implementing approaches accordingly. The accompanying symposium puts conceptual approaches – especially focussing on alternative, resourceful and post-growth economic and finance models – up for discussion and presents the newly released exhibition catalogue that combines a documentation of the show with in-depth essays.


THE SYMPOSIUM
Friday, 7 May 2021


Video: Reframe – Videos for the Web

PROGRAMME

Welcome & Introduction 00:00–12:37
Hans-Jürgen Commerell, Director, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin
Sascha Suhrke, Director, Head of Politics and Society, ZEIT-Stiftung, Hamburg
Miriam Mlecek, Programme Manager, ANCB, Berlin

Lectures and Discussion
Keynote: Momoyo Kaijima, Co-Founder, Atelier Bow-Wow, Tokyo: Architectural Behaviorology 12:37–39:00
Impulse: Marco Carrano, Ria Pepper Architects, Berlin: Flex Building Model. An environmentally and socially sustainable building programme for the third millenium 39:00–51:45
Impulse: Hendrik Weiner, Raumdialog, Berlin: DesiLocal Lab 51:45–01:09:00
Impulse: Jeremy Anterola, Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl, Hamburg: GreenScenario. A data-driven design process supporting sustainable, climate-conscious and evidence-based planning 01:09:00–01:21:14
Keynote: Marcel Fratzscher, President, DIW Berlin (German Institute of Economic Research); Professor for Macroeconomics and Finance, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin 01:21:14–01:49:23

Discussion moderated by: Nora Sophie Griefahn, Co-Founder and Executive Managing Director, Cradle to Cradle NGO, Berlin 01:49:23–02:16:00

Participants' Bios
Jeremy Anterola is a landscape architect and urban planner. At Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl, he specialises in sustainability certification systems and R&D projects focused on climate adaptation and decision support systems. Together with Mariusz Hermansdorfer, he was critical in establishing the GreenScenario platform, a software-based planning and design process for simplifying climate adaptive planning in practice.

Marco Carrano is an architect. In 2015, he joined Ria Pepper Architekten in Berlin to develop holistic sustainable future projects. From 1994–99, he developed the project Citergy, the city of energy, which has been praised by Noble Peace Prize laureate Al Gore. From 2006–2014 he directed MCA Architectural office in New Delhi to develop sustainable urban planning. He taught Sustainable Architectural Design at the Chandigarh College of Architecture.

Marcel Fratscher's work focuses on macroeconomics, distribution and European integration. He is, among other things, a member of the UN High-level Advisory Board on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a member of the Advisory Board of the German Federal Ministry of Economics. In October 2020, Berlin Verlag published his latest book Die neue Aufklärung (The New Enlightenment), which argues for using the Corona crisis as an opportunity for society, the state and the economy.

Nora Sophie Griefahn is executive managing director and co-founder of Cradle to Cradle NGO. As the only German, she was elected as a GreenBiz’ 30 Under 30 inspiring young leader in 2018. In 2012, she co-founded Cradle to Cradle NGO (C2C NGO) with Tim Janssen in order to establish Cradle to Cradle principles in economy and politics. C2C NGO connects the fields of business, education, politics, and civil society by creating networking platforms and educational formats.

Momoyo Kaijima is an architect and co-founder of Atelier Bow-Wow together with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto. Since 2017, she has been Professor of Architectural Behaviorology at the ETH. While engaging in design projects of houses, public buildings and public spaces, she has conducted numerous investigations of the city through architecture such as Made in Tokyo and Pet Architecture.

Hendrik Weiner is an architect, urban researcher and developer. He addresses the quality of public space, tests design appropriation possibilities and design methodologies, and develops approaches for user-based urban development, while initiating co-design projects. With raumdialog, he develops exhibition designs, urban development concepts and corporate designs as communication in space.

THE EXHIBITION
16 January – 20 May 2021

The display structures – 15 cardboard-tubes made of recycled material, 1 metre in diagonal and 2,2 metres high – are derived from the form and function of the German 'Litfaßsäule', a traditional announcement and advertisement column placed in the urban public realm. The installation integrates architecture models, drawings, photos and videos among other media. In addition, 10 academic projects from international universities offer fresh and unconventional proposals to complement the exhibition and are presented on work tables. A reading table will provide the opportunity to browse a collection of books, videos and podcasts on post-growth spatial and economic strategies.

SHORT DESCRIPTIONS OF THE 15 PRESENTED PROJECTS
Team Stadsvrijheid: SVP-Architectuur en Stedenbouw, Amersfoort, Netherlands; OKRA landschapsarchitecten, Utrecht, Netherlands; CROSS Architecture, Aachen, Amsterdam, Cologne; Advier, Delft, Netherlands; The Future Institute, Rotterdam, Netherlands; INFO, Amsterdam, Netherlands; BPD Bouwfonds Property Development, Amsterdam, Netherlands; The Missing Link, Utrecht, Netherlands
City of the Future: A new connected framework for developing cities
Utrecht, Netherlands
The City of the Future research project introduces a new vocabulary and conceptual framework for developing cities in a future, where everything is connected to everything – people as well as things.

Rafi Segal A+U, Boston, USA and Marisa Morán Jahn, Artist, New York, USA
Carehaus: An intergenerational care-based co-housing project
Baltimore, USA
Carehaus is an innovative, intergenerational care-based co-housing project, where caregivers, older and disabled people have independent living units clustered around shared spaces allowing them to enjoy the benefits of co-living.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, London, United Kingdom
The Future Roads of Grand Paris: Transforming motorways into multi-use public corridors
Paris, France
The study The Future Roads of Grand Paris explores how motorways can be transformed into a network of linear, multifunctional parks that complete and expand the existing public transport systems through multi-use armatures that privilege shared transport systems, walking and cycling.

IMKEWOELK + partners, Berlin, Germany
Hypercity 2130: A visionary concept for urban growth corridors
Highway A24 Hamburg-Berlin, Germany
The project is an urban model that can be considered an attachment to existing mobility infrastructures. The hypothesis describes a futuristic urban agglomeration stretching along the A24 Hamburg-Berlin highway.

Other Architects, Sydney, Australia
Burial Belt: Rethinking logistics, experience and environmental impact of burial
Sydney, Australia
Burial Belt is a proposal that rethinks the logistics, experience and environmental impact of burial. Responding to dwindling reserves of urban cemetery space and widespread deforestation, the project envisions the gradual acquisition and transformation of grazing land on the city fringe.

INCLS (One Design), Shanghai, China
One Hour Loop: A new pedestrian network
Ningbo, China
The One Hour Loop project is a proposal for a new pedestrian network, connecting existing and future public spaces around Ningbo’s inner city waterfront.

Arch. Alfredo Brillembourg / Urban-Think Tank Design Partners, New York, USA
Empower Shack: A new model for informal settlement upgrading
Khayelitsha, South Africa
The Empower Shack housing project aims to reshape informal settlement upgrading by offering a fair distribution of public space, delivery of basic services and an urbanisation scheme targeting new economic and social possibilities.

Experientia, Singapore, Turin, Basel
Design for Ageing Gracefully: New public service concepts and design guidelines for a retirement community
Singapore
Design for Ageing Gracefully is a strategy that combines mixed-use and community-focused public service concepts with design guidelines for Singapore's first integrated retirement community Kampung Admiralty, designed by WOHA architects.

UNStudio / UNSense, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Brainport Smart District: A holistic living laboratory for a sustainable, circular and socially cohesive neighbourhood
Helmond, Netherlands
Brainport Smart District (BSD)  is a development of 1,500 new homes and 12 hectares of business premises, characterised by the application of the latest knowledge to achieve a sustainable, circular and socially cohesive neighbourhood that enjoys joint energy generation, food production, water management, digital data management and revolutionary transport systems.

Municipalidad de Curridabat with A-01 (A Company / A Foundation), Curridabat, Costa Rica
Sweet City Vision: Uniting citizens, fauna and flora in a new type of urban development
Curridabat, Costa Rica
The multidimensional development strategy Sweet City Vision unites citizens, fauna and flora in a new type of urbanity, based on wellbeing. It recognises biodiversity and ecosystemic services as the base for healthy and inclusive neighbourhoods, with the endemic flora and fauna receiving citizen status in the city.

Studio Anna Heringer, Laufen, Germany
Anandaloy: A centre for people with disabilities and fair textile production
Anandaloy, Bangladesh
The Anandaloy building combines a centre for people with disabilities with a small studio for the production of fair textiles. Constructed from local mud and bamboo, the building material and applied crafts(wo)menship became a catalyst for regional development.

DnA_Design and Architecture, Beijing, China
Shangtian Village Revitalisation: Preserving the traditional context and establishing economic opportunities
Shangtian, Songyang County, China
The Shangtian Village Revitalisation is based on collective hybrid ownership, aiming to develop eco-agriculture and traditional handicrafts through tourism. The architectural approach promotes conservation and transformation of historical buildings into spaces for public programmes.

Team WoGen Quartiershaus, Vienna, Austria: WoGen Wohnprojekte-Genossenschaft e. Gen (developer), feld72 (design cluster house), raum & kommunikation (project development, general planning), transparadiso (design residential group house), Carla Lo Landschaftsarchitektur (landscape design)
WoGen Quartiershaus: Cooperative, ecologically sustainable and speculation-free living and working
Vienna, Austria
The planned WoGen Quartiershaus creates spaces for communal, ecologically sustainable and speculation-free living combined with co-working opportunities in the centre of Vienna, based on a cooperative model.

Sauerbruch Hutton, Berlin, Germany
Franklin Village: A multi-generational residential quarter oriented towards the common good
Mannheim, Germany
Planned as a timber construction, the multi-generational residential quarter Franklin Village aims to create affordable and collectively accessible living space that is supported by community-oriented users and developers and that promotes the integration of the residents into local social structures.

nonconform, Vienna, Austria
Revitalisation of a Small Town Centre
Trofaiach, Austria
A comprehensive morphological analysis and a broad citizen participation process preceded the revitalisation strategy for the centre of Trofaiach. Various short-, medium- and long-term measures were developed, and their implementation is to be monitored by a newly appointed town-centre coordinator.

ACADEMIC PROJECTS AND PROPOSALS
University of Technology Sydney, AU – Master of Architecture studio
Apocalypse Now: What Can Design Do?
Design responses to natural and human-caused disasters identified by students
Students: Tara Baghaee, Jordan Bamford, Declan Barnett, Polly Davies, Grace De Rome, Rashaka Faiz, Levi Fletcher, Weimin Huang, Aimal Khan, Rose MacMahon, Maxwell McGrath, Marni Reti, Nazmus Sakib, Michael Searle, Freya Spencer, Simal Tekin, Danyon Torpy, Luigi Velez
Faculty: Prof. Deborah Ascher Barnstone

Technische Universität München (TUM), DE – Fakultät für Architektur
The Perivàllonistic Manifesto
A manifesto defining sustainable urban strategies and new rules for equal rights for all species
Students: Joris Allemann, Tim Keim, Wolfram Meiner, Freya Probst, Julia Wolf
Faculty: Prof. Benedikt Boucsein (Urban Design)

TU Delft, NL – The Why Factory (T?F)
Inhabiting Zero Wasted Space
Master thesis investigating a new model of space efficiency based on patterns of movement and actual use
Student: Stavros Gargaretas
Faculty: Prof. Winy Maas, Ulf Hackauf, Huib Plomp, Adrian Ravon

Beuth Hochschule für Technik Berlin, DE – Fachbereich Architektur
Green Tower
An urban “farmscraper“ combining research, agriculture, food production and living space for self-isolation
Students: Kathy Colino, Svenja Spinkler
Faculty: Prof. Susanne Junker (BHT Berlin), Prof. Marcel Robischon (HU Berlin), Kathrin Specht (HU Berlin)

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, ES – Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura del Vallés (ETSAV)
Learning to Design Responsibily
A studio as pedagogical model concerned with teaching collaboration and process mediation skills as well as economical planning and designing with limited resources
Students: Álvaro Alcázar, Roser Garcia, Eduard Llargués, Meri Mensa, Iñigo Ocamica, Sergio Sangalli, Aina Santanach, Iñigo Tudanca
Faculty: Claudi Aguiló, Julia Campomaggi, Nacho Costales, Raimon Ferrer, Xavier Gimferrer, Josep Giner, Tiago Lópes, Lorena Maristany, Josep Ricart, David Steegmann, Xavier Ruiz, Roger Sauquet, Isabel Castiñeira, Marta Serra

Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, DE – Fakultät Architektur und Urbanistik
Cooperation / Kooperation: Hudson Valley Initiative – GSAPP, Columbia University, New York, US
Hudson Valley Ecologies
Proposals from a research and design studio addressing social and spatial transformations against the backdrop of the Green New Deal and urban-rural interdependencies
Students: Johann-Andreas Baumgart, Clara Maria Blasius, Daniel Granzin, Mara Günther, Sebastian Jäger, Julia Anna Janiel, Karlotta Könneke, Danny Liu, Hannah Meisel, Lilo Nöske, Kai Pieper, Zeno Schnelle, Ernst Schubert, Kilian Schwartze, Sophie Weber, Lennart Weski
Faculty: Prof. Verena von Beckerath, Till Hoffmann
Guests: Susan Danziger, Thomas Kröger, Kaja Kühl, Artemis Shaw, Julia Solomonoff, Meg Walker, Momoko Yasaka, Maximilian von Zepelin

HBK Braunschweig, DE – Design in der digitalen Gesellschaft, Visuelle Kommunikation
CUT + CULT Catalog of Unnecessary Things / Catalog of UsefuL Things
A catalogue depicting expendable products, habits and systems and their respective sustainable alternatives
Students: Jessica Apel, Dania Asrraj, Jan Barckmann, Korena Baron, Theresa Bäcker, Annika Bethke, Lisa Blädtke, Moritz Boos, Laurien Breitinger, Emily Blockmann, Miriam Pujiula Buhl, Jennifer Burgdorff, Maximilian Dauscha, Tanja Deinhart, Elisabeth Do, Dajana Düring, Leon Ehmke, Alime Ertürk, Cäcilie Fabritius, Lisa Feige, Katharina Filippov, Eva-Lena Gagern, Stefan Gantner, Sven Gebauer, Nils Gerber, Stephanie Gerns, Julia Gierzynski, Lisa-Marie Gremm, Cho Gyeongmin, Balut-Eva Hadi, Diana Harder, Sofia Harley, Charleen Hellermann, Lydia Hempel, Franziska Hennings, Marlon Herde, Lina Heuermann, Gideon Hoja, Ron Hollemann, Saki Hoshino, Stephanie Hörschgen, Ayleen Jaschinski, Gunnar Immo Jäger, Raja Jeremias, Fabien Diffe Kamga, Eileen Kappenberg, Klara Kapprell, Johanna Kastner, Lea Sophie Klotz, Paul Kluth, Merle Knüchel, Elisabeth Kracke, Sina Kramer, Selina Künneke, Maria Ladendorf, Dong Kwon Lee, Xin Li, Paula Charlotte Lindner, Chiara Linzenmeier, Julius Lipinski, Anna Lipski, Martha Lohse, Maurice Lötel, Tim-Daniel Ingo Lüders, Jasmin Marchewa, Daria Mikhailova, Elina Mishina, Gesina Narciss, Nina Josephine Neugebauer, Norma Neumann, Anna Ocklitz, Josefine Oppe, Emilie Paeth, Anna Peters, Frederik Postulat, Ina Prellwitz, Lilvia Rafanelli, Judith Rakebrand, Mimi Rehmann, Julia Reichert, Hendryk Riedel, Stella Risch, Sumi Roh, Susanne Rosier, Benedikt Schaudinn, Florian Schulz-Müllensiefen, Nicolas Siewert, Sebastian Spiegler, Verena Stippe, Johanna Trautmann, Sylvie Tittel, Anna-Ruffina von Gilsa, Cecilia Vossbeck, Valentin Wedde, Nadine Wegwitz, Lena Wilkens, Qian Zhu, Patrik Ziolkowski, Nele Zumbeck
Faculty: Saskia Hebert (M.A. transformation design)
Graphic Design: Mona Hofmann

Carnegie Mellon University, US – Chair of Urban Design
TU Braunschweig, DE – Institut für Entwerfen und Gebäudelehre
USC University of Southern California, US – School of Architecture
TU Wien, AT – Wohnbau und Entwerfen
California College of the Arts, US – Urban Works Agency
Cooperative Housing for the 2000-Watt Society
Design proposals for new typologies of collective living and resource conservation
Students: Deepthi Ganesh, Fon Euchukanonchai, Yeong Il Jo, Keon Ho Lee, Shariwa Sharada (Carnegie Mellon University); Minyue Du, Paul Kimmel, Aleksandra Komina, Jiasheng Li, Felix Luther, Charlotte Mahrenholtz, Jana Naeve, Paulina Navarro Hoyo, Maurika Sathasivam, Qingling Weng, Melis Yildiz (TU Braunschweig); Danann De Alba, Ian Leung, Jeanne-Marie Pelletier, Diana Perez, Skyler Rosin, Cameron Seltzer (University of Southern California); Caroline Faber, Roswitha Goy, Julia Maretzki, Theresa Reiter (TU Wien); Sanyukta Bhagwat, Craig Dias, Jason Gonzalez, Shih Ting Huang, Chaitanya Khurana, Savannah Lindsey, Kyle Matlock, Kevin Pham, Abigail Rockwell, Alexander Roos, Marion Rosas (California College of the Arts)
Faculty: Prof. Stefan Gruber (Carnegie Mellon University); Prof. Almut Grüntuch-Ernst, Anna Kostreva, Elizaveta Mosina (TU Braunschweig); Prof. Sascha Delz, John Dutton, Yo-Ichiro Hakomori, Lisa Little, Hadrian Predock, Olivier Touraine (University of Southern California); Prof. Michael Obrist, Michael Klein (TU Wien); Prof. Janette Kim (California College of the Arts)

Technische Universität München (TUM), DE – Fakultät für Architektur
Modellquartier Schwanthalerstraße – Referat für Stadtverbesserung*
Urban redevelopment proposal addressing new modes of mobility and efficient local spatial solutions
Students: Michelle Hagenauer, Annika Hetzel, Magdalena Schmidkunz, Linus Schulte, Maximilian Steverding, Markus Westerholt
Faculty: Prof. Benedikt Boucsein, Prof. Frank Petzold

Harvard University Graduate School of Design, US – Advanced Design Studies Programme: Risk and Resilience
Anti-Plantation
Research thesis examining the role of public parks in the USA in times of crisis and against the background of slavery, inequality and migration
Student: Fernando Schrupp Rivero
Faculty: Prof. Dilip da Cunha

BACKGROUND
Crises evoke fears in the public about visible and invisible threats and have an impact on the physical appearance of our cities. A holistic approach is needed to respond to these fears and to recover after the crisis subsides. In light of the current crisis, there is a growing sense of responsibility among architects, urbanists, researchers and economists worldwide to use their knowledge to develop designs and models for new spatial requirements, societal demands and economic values: measured to the human scale. Worldwide emergencies, such as climate change, pandemics, but also rapid growth, social and global inequalities and migration waves, demonstrate the urgent need to reduce the impact of urban life on resources, from the scale of the individual to an international approach. The momentum of the current crisis also leads, besides hardship and struggle, to constructive reflections on new concepts and typologies for living, learning, working and leisure beyond short-term economic profit in order to instigate social, infrastructural and ecological change. The on-going pandemic has fundamentally shifted priorities in and perspectives on society, job markets, health care and basic needs. Responses developed and implemented now might help mitigate an even more dangerous crisis predicted by science: climate disaster and a global battle for living environment. A shift in policies and planning objectives is essential to keep the consumption of natural resources within the regenerative capacity of ecosystems and planetary boundaries. Environmental policies will need to be linked to an employment policy to improve qualifications and generate new jobs, creating the opportunity for new spaces for knowledge and production in the city as well as flexible workspace typologies to emerge. Re-thinking supply chains and travel habits can lead to new concepts for mobility and infrastructures.

Moreover, the pandemic demonstrates a longing for the human body and a desire for public and private spaces enabling human encounters, which calls for new ways to use public space, to interact with each other inside and outside of buildings and for an architecture of flexibility.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
In the summer of 2020, ANCB published an open call, asking for responses to urgent questions about the living conditions of humankind and the built environment in architecture and urban planning, by inviting to submit proposals that are:

Among more than 100 submissions, ANCB selected 15 projects from Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, China, Costa Rica, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa and the USA to be presented in the exhibition. Some contributions propose typologies for co-living and working that are based on cooperative ownership and alternative financing models aiming at a robust social infrastructure where community members of all generations support each other. Several projects address a circular and regenerative agenda with energy generation, food production and the use of local materials, while others offer transformed transport systems and infrastructures or strategies to activate rural space. Updated conceptual frameworks for an urban development caught in the planning priorities of the last century are also put forward in order to tackle structural polarities and the unfair distribution of public space. The human scale is also contextualised in unique proposals in relation to biodiversity and burial procedures.

Exhibition and Symposium are made possible with the generous support of:
Capital Cultural Fund (HKF)
and
- ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius
- Austrian Cultural Forum Berlin
- Henrik Frode Obel Foundation

Photos © Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk





 





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