Architecture

How would we like to live today? With the WerkBundStadt, the Berliner Werkbund provides a far-reaching answer and makes a concrete proposal. Taking the current political, economic, ecological, technical, and social circumstances into account, it developed an urban development model on the Charlottenburger Mierendorffinsel, applying a cooperative process. Based on jointly formulated rules, 33 international architecture firms designed three houses for three building sites, of which each is intended to create the conditions for a socially, demographically, culturally, and functionally diverse structure for the WerkBundStadt, in terms of architecture and urban space, providing flexible structures and layouts that enable fundamental changes later on without substantial interventions. Together and without an external jury, one house was chosen respectively that fulfilled all the aforementioned criteria, whilst each firm continued to participate in the ensuing process.
This book presents the location for the new WerkBundStadt, comments on the results of the procedure, and presents in detail the designs by the 33 architecture firms, with plans and images.

The publication of the book coincides with the opening of the exhibition by the same name WerkBundStadt Am Spreebord (at the WerkBundHaus, Quedlinburger Strasse 11, 10589 Berlin from September 24 to November 30, 2016)

The Liebling Haus in Tel Aviv was built in 1936 to designs by architect Dov Karmi for Tony and Max Liebling after they fled from Europe. With its bright plaster facades, deep balconies, clear proportions, and a layout tailored to the regional climate, it serves as a prime example of the locally adapted International Style that is typical of the White City of Tel Aviv. From 2015 to 2019, the building was extensively restored by Israeli and German planners, renovation experts, and craftspersons, reopening as a vibrant exhibition and community center. The Liebling Haus is supported and funded by the German Federal Government, the City of Tel Aviv, and the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Foundation.

The book, published in three languages, tells the eventful history of the structure and gathers detailed historical materials about its architecture and residents. Current interviews, an atmospheric tour by Israeli photographer Yael Schmidt, and other documents showcase the new use of the Liebling Haus since its reopening.

Zukunft Wohnen – Migration als Impuls für die kooperative Stadt ist die Fortsetzung des erfolgreichen Buches Refugees Welcome – Konzepte für eine menschenwürdige Architektur.

Im übrigen erfährt man erstaunlich vieles, lernt unaufhörlich dazu, macht die Bekanntschaft mit einem Schatz an bauhistorischen Ereignissen, die so wie ihre oft berühmten Anstifter lebhaft Gestalt annehmen. Für all dies braucht man lange – ohne es wirklich zu merken.
Manfred Sack, HÄUSER, 1-2010

Vor diesem Hintergrund widmet sich das Buch dem facettenreichen Wirken von sechs ausgewählten Bauunternehmern, die tätig waren, als Berlin mit Vehemenz zur Weltstadt gedieh. Die kompakten Abhandlungen zu Leben und Werk suchen hierbei nicht zuletzt deren weitreichenden, aber weithin unbekannten Einfluss auf die Entwicklung der Stadtgestalt und Architektur Berlins anschaulich zu machen.

Die Bauherren:
Carl August Heinrich Sommer (1801–1873)
Johann Anton Wilhelm von Carstenn-Lichterfelde (1822–1896)
Wilhelm Conrad (1822–1899)
Julius Wilhelm Walther (1857–1917)
Georg Haberland (1861–1933)
Heinrich Mendelssohn (1881–1959)

Published on the occasion of his 80th birthday, this book documents the life and career of internationally acclaimed German architect Eckhard Gerber (born 1938), including personal contributions from colleagues and friends.

Cafés, restaurants and hotels are some of the core spaces of modernity. These spaces of taste and leisure have long provided the settings for public performance and image cultivation for city-dwellers in the emerging metropolises of the world. This is where modernity is felt most strongly. Suspended between private and public space, these sites offer a backdrop for urban bohemians, for the plotting of revolutions, for the beginnings and ends of romances.

Architecture historian Franziska Bollerey takes readers on an engaging journey through the history of cafés, restaurants and hotels, analyzing their architectural and cultural significance and charting their shifting roles in the development of the modern metropolis. Thoroughly researched and abundantly illustrated, Bollerey’s Setting the Stage for Modernity: Restaurants, Cafés, Hotels offers a richly faceted view of this important part of Western cultural history for the first time.

Beiträge von: Stephan Höhne, Eingartner Khorrami, Eckert Negwer Suselbeek, Klaus Theo Brenner Stadtarchitektur sowie Rico Kallies, Dietmar W. Nöske und Wolfgang Sonne
Fotos: Maximilian Meisse

The latest issue of Perspectives in Metropolitan Research examines the culture of hybridity in urban planning, asking, “What happens when artists act as developers or architects act as social workers?”

On Stage!, published to accompany a traveling exhibition, gathers portraits of women in the fields of planning and engineering. The 34 women portrayed hail from various countries across Europe, South America, Asia and the Middle East.

This book provides an account of the constructional development of the Frankfurt old town between Dom and Römer. A look at urban developments in Germany and Europe allows a comparison with the specific Frankfurt situation. There is a particular focus on the debate about the pros and cons of old town reconstruction, as well as its significance for identity and tradition.

The cities and urban societies of America and Europe were subject to dramatic shifts of power in the 19th century: the founding of new nation-states, industrialization and the increased mobility that went along with these developments were accompanied by tremendous social changes. New parties strove to participate in shaping society and urban space. New ways of using the city not only promoted the physical expansion of the developing capitals and metropolises, but also required a new coding of existing urban structures to meet changing requirements and expectations about life and society.

Recoding the City explores the intentions and claims of the protagonists who shaped the cities of the 19th century. Developed from a series of international research initiatives, Recoding the City examines this decisive moment in the history of the Western city and considers its continuing influence on our lives in the present day.

Architectural highlights from two decades of work by German firm JSWD

Founded in 2000, Cologne-based architectural firm JSWD focuses on large-scale city planning and architectural projects within fixed or constrained urban settings. JSWD: Ensembles collects a selection of projects and competition designs, illustrating JSWD’s creative solutions to challenging limitations in multi-building campuses and neighborhoods.

This publication examines the contemporary international phenomenon of retro districts, the new cities built to imitate historical models. It investigates historicizing urban construction through 14 international case studies, including the Hallstatt in China, Poundbury in England and the Mercado District in Tucson, Arizona.

This publication synthesizes two years of intensive research on concepts of metabolism, ecosystems and circular economies in Europe conducted by the Laboratory on Urbanism, Infrastructure and Ecology.

Neuroarchitektur verknüpft Neurowissenschaft, Wahrnehmungstheorie und Gestaltpsychologie, Musik, Kunst und Architektur zu einem ganzheitlichen Ansatz, der Gesetze der Strukturbildung und die Bewegung des Menschen im Raum ins Zentrum stellt. Christoph Metzger, Autor von Bauen für Demenz und Architektur und Resonanz, analysiert Bauten von Alvar Aalto, Sou Fujimoto, Hugo Häring, Philip Johnson, Hermann Muthesius, Juhani Pallasmaa, James Stirling, Frank Lloyd Wright oder Peter Zumthor im Kontext der Amsterdamer Schule der Architektur und deren Kritik am Funktionalismus. So entwickelt er Grundlagen und Kriterien einer zeitgemäßen, anthropologisch geprägten Architektur, die neurowissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen verpflichtet ist.

Experimental dwelling forms and cultures of cohabitation are entering the mainstream—but to what extent are they accessible and affordable for all, including those with lower income, refugee status or with disabilities? CoHousing Inclusive reviews model projects.

As the average human lifespan increases, it is increasingly necessary for the architectural profession to rethink the design of residential solutions for aging people, particularly those with dementia. With advancing age we are increasingly dependent on a spatial environment that not only has a positive effect on us, but also supports our everyday activities and takes age-related restrictions into account.

One focal point of this issue is the sensory factor: color and lighting design, sound design, tactile materials and surfaces and haptically attractive forms that foster an atmosphere in which the resident feels comfortable, providing security and orientation and fostering motor skills and cognitive abilities. Building for Dementia has been developed as a guideline for contemporary and dignified architecture that meets the requirements of people with dementia and views them as an integral part of society.

Partizipation macht Architektur is not only targeted towards architects and architectural agents, but also towards communities, administrations, and especially the users of the city and architecture.

How can an urban community revitalize dormant empty spaces for the long term? Building Platforms explores the phenomenon of interim usage, time-limited projects that can serve as a trial run for the development of long-term solutions. Drawing from illuminating examples, the volume is a must-have for urban development.

The architectural design process often starts with a practical interpretation of a theme; the object becomes the associative raw material for the architectural design. Werkstücke considers this stage of the process, compiling sketches of the objects that will eventually become homes.

This publication explores a unique phenomenon of 20th-century urbanization, the new town that is planned and built from the ground up. How do these new cities manage issues of location, size and layout? How do they relate to their regional and environmental contexts?

Home to more city dwellers than any other continent, and the locus of many of the world’s most populous metropolitan areas, Asia is moving to center stage in popular and academic debates about global urban futures. This volume comprises essays examining the intersections of the urban and futurity. While attentive to emergent forms of urban Asia, contributors also examine futures past, the afterlives of historical projects and archaeologies of the future. Many essays provide ethnographic and field-based empirical insights into emerging urban cultures, while others explore the theoretical and political implications of the urban future in Asia. Essayists include Asher Ghertner (Rutgers University), Christina Schwenkel (University of California, Riverside) and Andre Sorensen (University of Toronto).

More than half of the world’s population is now living in cities, and this number is predicted to rise. This means that more people than ever before will share the same urban infrastructure, and city governments around the world are heavily investing in smart city technologies to prepare. At the same time, scholars argue for a movement toward smart citizens and more participatory approaches to city making.

Making Cities Smarter focuses on an often-overlooked element of the smart-city discourse—the interface between citizens and smart-city applications. This volume translates principles from the field of user experience design to explore city-specific challenges, such as integrating physical and digital experiences. Offering a practical perspective on the concept of the smart city, this volume is the first comprehensive publication to focus on the citizen as the end user of smart-city systems.

Imagination offers a personal, intimate survey of the work of Algerian-German landscape architect Kamel Louafi (born 1952) in which the designer reflects on the events, experiences, encounters and anecdotes that have shaped his work.

This is a comprehensive monograph of the artist group Myvillages, founded by Wapke Feenstra, Kathrin Böhm and Antje Schiffers.

Focusing on urban-rural relationships, the artists—who hail from small villages—have created projects in international rural contexts since 2003.

Planning Projects in Transition offers a legal and financial roadmap for urban planners and researchers taking on modern urban development. Through in-depth case studies, the book addresses the key aspects of urban transformations.

Science and the City tracks the history of Hamburg’s path into architectural academia.

Das Liebling Haus in Tel Aviv wurde 1936 nach Entwürfen des Architekten Dov Karmi für das aus Europa geflohene Ehepaar Tony und Max Liebling gebaut. Mit seinen hellen Putzfassaden, tiefen Loggien, klaren Proportionen und einem nach dem Stadtklima ausgerichteten Grundriss ist es ein Paradebeispiel für den lokal angepassten Internationalen Stil, wie er für die Weiße Stadt Tel Aviv typisch ist. Von 2015 bis 2019 wurde es von israelischen und deutschen Planer*innen, Sanierungs-Expert*innen und Handwerker*innen aufwendig restauriert und als lebendiges Ausstellungs- und Nachbarschaftszentrum wiedereröffnet. Das Liebling Haus wird getragen und finanziert von der deutschen Bundesregierung, der Stadt Tel Aviv und der Tel Aviv Jaffa-Stiftung.

Das in drei Sprachausgaben erscheinende Buch erzählt die wechselvolle Geschichte des Hauses und versammelt ausführliche historische Materialien zu dessen Architektur und seinen Bewohner*innen. Aktuelle Interviews, ein atmosphärischer Rundgang der israelischen Fotografin Yael Schmidt sowie weitere Dokumente zeigen die neue Nutzung des Liebling Haus seit der Wiedereröffnung.

Bilingual edition (English/German) / Zweisprachige Ausgabe (deutsch/englisch)

GAM’s twentieth volume is dedicated to the search for the everyday in architecture. Its title, "The Infraordinary," refers to an artistic concept first used by Paul Virilio and Georges Perec: In the 1970s, they introduced the term l’infra-ordinaire to describe the habitual and ordinary––the opposite of the extraordinary. With this in mind, GAM 20 aims to delve more deeply into the unexceptional in architecture. Seeking to go beyond glorifying or emphasizing the banal, the intention is to highlight stories of the repurposing and refurbishment of existing architecture, as well as its day-to-day use. In daily life, after all, architecture tends not to look the way it does in glossy magazines, on the websites of renowned architecture firms, or on Instagram.

With contributions by Luigiemanuele Amabile, Beatrice Azzola, Ajna Babahmetović, Alberto Calderoni, Michael Heinrich, Johanna-Charlotte Horst, Ena Kukić, Thomas Meinecke, Luc Merx, Denise Scott Brown, and others

Die zwanzigste Ausgabe von GAM begibt sich auf die Suche nach dem Alltäglichen in der Architektur. Der Titel „The Infraordinary" bezieht sich dabei auf einen Kunstbegriff, der erstmals in den Arbeiten Paul Virilios und Georges Perecs auftaucht: Um das Gegenteil des Extraordinären, also des Außergewöhnlichen, zu beschreiben, führten sie in den 1970er-Jahren den Begriff l’infra-ordinaire ein. Ganz in diesem Sinne will sich GAM 20 eingehender mit dem Nicht-Außergewöhnlichen im Kontext von Architektur beschäftigen. Jenseits einer Idealisierung oder einer Emphase des Banalen soll es dabei um Geschichten der Neuperspektivierung und Aufwertung konkreter Architekturen sowie um deren alltägliche Gebrauchsweisen gehen. Denn Architektur stellt sich im Alltag zumeist anders dar, als es die Abbildungen in den Hochglanzzeitschriften, die Webseiten namhafter Architekturbüros und die vielen Instagram-Accounts zu suggerieren versuchen.

Mit Beiträgen von Luigiemanuele Amabile, Beatrice Azzola, Ajna Babahmetović, Alberto Calderoni, Michael Heinrich, Johanna-Charlotte Horst, Ena Kukić, Thomas Meinecke, Luc Merx, Denise Scott Brown und anderen

What if urban planning and design were to prioritize rather than merely accommodate the unbuilt environment? Territorial Urbanism Now! calls for a paradigm shift in the conception of urban transformation. It urges us to favor sustainable systems in order to collectively tackle the challenges of climate change. Until now, urban planning and design professionals have integrated green and active mobility systems in the residual spaces available. In the reverse approach envisioned here, these systems become structuring elements of the territory, supported by a much more frugal built environment.

The contributions by urbanists, artists, architects, and landscape architects in this publication come from research, practice, and teaching. Paola Viganò, Eric Luiten, Eva Pfannes, Stefan Rettich, Susanne Eliasson, Davide Curatola, Tommaso Pietropolli, Elena Andonova, Julio de la Fuente, Ward Verbakel, Beatrice Galimberti, Lilli Lička, Hannes Gröblbacher, Johannes Bernsteiner, Stefan Devoldere, Sandra Guinand, and Stefan Bendiks not only introduce a much-needed paradigm shift, but also show us the premises for its realization.

Wie kann Stadtplanung im Sinne der Bauwende das Bestehende weiterdenken, statt fortwährend nach Neuem zu fragen? Welche Planungskulturen braucht eine offene Gesellschaft? Welche Schnittstellen fehlen zwischen der Verwaltung und den Handelnden vor Ort? Perspektivischer Ausgangspunkt für die Bearbeitung dieser Fragen ist Mannheim-Käfertal – ein Stadtteil, der aufgrund der Konversion ehemaliger Militärflächen gegenwärtig einer außergewöhnlich dynamischen Transformation unterliegt.
In einem experimentellen Prozess arbeiten hier unterschiedliche Akteur*innen wie etwa eine evangelische und eine katholische Gemeinde, ein Sportverein und Nachbarschaftsgruppen gemeinsam mit der Stadtverwaltung daran, ein soziales und grünes Zentrum zu schaffen, das Alt und Neu verbindet. Zwischen institutionsübergreifenden Verhandlungen, Stadtentwicklung, dem Schaffen von Öffentlichkeit und Interventionen im Maßstab 1:1 entsteht eine kooperative Methodik zum Umgang mit baulichen Beständen.
Piazza Spinelli zeigt auf, wie sich komplexe städtische Situationen lokal verankert weiterdenken und -entwickeln lassen.

WohnWissen: 100 Begriffe des Wohnens is dedicated to one of the most multi-layered conversations of our time: the question of land and housing. Short, incisive texts by numerous experts explain key concepts related to the concept of housing. From basic terms such as single-family home, vacancy, and loneliness to specialist terminology such as the brownfield dilemma and new concepts of “non-profit housing”, this interdisciplinary glossary addresses discourses within the field, political debates, and different housing needs, considering topics that have thus far received little attention in the process. In this way, WohnWissen offers a multi-faceted overview of the topic of housing as a basic need.

Zweisprachige Ausgabe (deutsch/französisch) / Bilingual edition (French/German)

Die Publikation untersucht Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten der Landschaftsarchitektur in Frankreich und Deutschland. Dabei wird die Frage aufgeworfen, inwieweit zeitgenössische Landschaftsarchitektur durch Gartenkunst und Gartenkultur beeinflusst wird. Französische und deutsche Autor*innen gehen den Spuren des Gartens in der Landschaftsarchitektur nach und wenden unterschiedliche Herangehensweisen wie etwa biografische oder wissenschaftliche Reflexion an. Das Buch richtet sich an Forschende, Studierende und Entwerfende in der Landschaftsarchitektur sowie an eine breitere Öffentlichkeit, die an dieser Facette des kulturellen Austauschs zwischen Frankreich und Deutschland interessiert ist.

L’ouvrage est une réflexion sur les ressemblances et dissemblances de l’architecture du paysage en France et en Allemagne. Il soulève parmi d’autres la question de l’influence de la culture et de l’art des jardins sur le paysagisme contemporain. Des autrices et auteurs des deux pays explorent les traces du jardin dans l’architecture du paysage en adoptant des approches différentes, que ce soit la réflexion biographique ou scientifique. Ce livre s’adresse aux chercheurs, aux étudiants et aux architectes paysagistes, mais aussi à un public plus large intéressé par cet aspect des échanges culturels entre la France et l’Allemagne.

Julius Poseners wohl schonste Hinterlassenschaft ist seine Sprache. Schreibend hat er Hauser gerettet und so das Gesicht Berlins verandert – ohne selbst zu bauen. Katrin Voermanek begibt sich auf die Spuren des 1996 verstorbenen Architekturhistorikers, Kritikers und Aktivisten. Anhand von neun Hausergeschichten zeichnet sie nach, wie Posener in seinem Kampf fur das bauliche Erbe vorging und wie er seine Kritik an Neubauten vorbrachte: mal impulsiv, mal strategisch, immer auf Basis umfassender Bildung, mit viel Humor und einer sanften Sprachgewalt, die bis heute ihresgleichen sucht. Die kurzen Erzahlungen, die unter anderem von der Schaubuhne, dem Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, dem Kino Babylon sowie zwei Villen von Hermann Muthesius handeln, lassen das Berliner Baugeschehen der 1960er bis 1990er Jahre lebendig werden und belegen sowohl die Notwendigkeit als auch die Wirksamkeit einer engagierten Architekturkritik.

The concept of the urban parterre plays a central role in considering what makes a city liveable. The urban parterre is the zone of the city at eye level: the urban ground floor. It is a fabric composed of the built and unbuilt spaces in which we move and interact every day. While urban research has previously tended to focus on either the ground floor level or public spaces, this book considers the systemic interplay of ground floor, inner courtyards, streets, and their interfaces. Using Urban Parterre Modelling to carry out a comprehensive analysis of architectural structures dating from the late nineteenth century (the Gründerzeit), the hidden challenges and opportunities posed by these buildings are explored and discussed with reference to the sustainable, resilient, and circular future use of existing architecture. Taking Vienna’s Gründerzeit parterre as a starting point, the author takes a critical and comparative look at the development of the urban parterre systems of various European cities.

The transformation of a former textile factory into the BOB CAMPUS in Wuppertal-Oberbarmen demonstrates how an urban wasteland can be converted into a new space for community. In two volumes, the design processes of the award-winning site become visible. Volume 1, which will be published first, is dedicated to the building process and the gradually developing spatial qualities. Through the interplay of innovative solutions to architectural challenges, the appreciative treatment of the historic site and the existing building fabric, and a continuously coproductive process of many actors, a unique mix of uses emerges, including daycare centers, school rooms, offices, apartments, and communal spaces. Powerful images illustrate how it is possible to build for the common good—and what opportunities this offers for society. An incentive to imitate.

Vom Abriss bedroht, als Ikonen des Brutalismus gefeiert: Der Mäusebunker von Gerd und Magdalena Hänska und das Hygieneinstitut von Hermann Fehling und Daniel Gogel in Berlin-Steglitz bilden ein einmaliges Ensemble von Solisten. Die unterschiedliche Architekturauffassung, die den beiden gegenüberstehenden Bauten zugrunde liegt, die intensive Debatte um den Erhalt und die Weiternutzung der Gebäude, um ihren wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Wert sind Themen dieses Buchs. Anhand historischer Planmaterialien sowie aktueller künstlerischer Arbeiten werden besonders jene Fragen erörtert, die diese Betonstrukturen in ihrer gestalterischen Konsequenz und Kraft heute stellen. Die Fotografien von Kay Fingerle enthüllen das Innere der für die Öffentlichkeit schwer zugänglichen Bauten.

• Dokumentiert die Entstehungs- und Nutzungsgeschichte zweier West-Berliner Großbauten
• Mit Fotografien von Kay Fingerle und künstlerischen Beiträgen von b+, Alexis Dworsky, Andreas Fogarasi, FORWARD Planung und Forschung, Lothar Hempel, ludwig heimbach architektur, make_shift, Julian Rosefeldt, Tracey Snelling und Cecilia Vincent
• Basiert auf der erfolgreichen Ausstellung Mäusebunker & Hygieneinstitut: Versuchsanordnung BERLIN (BDA Galerie Berlin, 2020)

Energy is everywhere—yet the vast infrastructural networks that power our daily lives remain largely invisible. Accounting for three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions, energy systems stand at the center of our climate crisis and the transformations needed to address it. This book examines energy supply as a spatial and material phenomenon, exploring the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region through maps, drawings, texts, and photographs. It reveals the hidden geographies connecting energy production and consumption across scales—from household transformations to citywide configurations and regional supply networks. Tracing the flow of fossil and renewable energy carriers through territories, towns, and streets, Power, Flows, and Transformation offers a multi-layered portrait of our energy landscapes past, present, and future. In doing so, the book illuminates the complex assemblages and diverse localities that define and support our urban structures today, unearthing how these will shape the territorial reconfigurations of tomorrow’s energy geography.

Recognizing the dire threats of climate collapse and mass extinction, the global initiative Bauhaus Earth convened a team of scientists, architects, spatial planners, and policymakers from around the world to author a manifesto. Toward Re-Entanglement: A Charter for the City and the Earth is a call for radical transformation. It challenges all those with a role in the conception, production, operation, and governance of the building sector to address the systemic ecological, climatic, and social impacts incurred by its activities.

Twelve principles of "re-entanglement" guide the redesign of the entire life cycle of the urban realm: the reforming and rematerializing of the physical artifacts that comprise it, the reconfiguring of the socioeconomic structures that underpin it, and the reengaging of the bioregions that might sustainably supply it. In this way, the unprecedented convergence of the environmental and social crises we are causing offers powerful opportunities for systemic change.

Threatened with demolition, celebrated as icons of brutalism: Gerd and Magdalena Hänska’s Mäusebunker and the Hygieneinstitut—designed by Hermann Fehling and Daniel Gogel—make for an idiosyncratic pairing. This volume explores the different architectural principles underlying these closely situated buildings, unpacking the intense debate concerning their preservation and questions surrounding their potential reuse, as well as appraising their economic and cultural value to the borough of Steglitz, Berlin. The enduring design influence and power of these concrete structures are explored here using the architects’ historical documents alongside contemporary artistic contributions, including photographs by Kay Fingerle that offer an intimate view of the buildings’ interiors rarely afforded to the public.

• Documents the construction and use of two major brutalist buildings in West Berlin
• Features photographies by Kay Fingerle and artistic contributions by b+, Alexis Dworsky, Andreas Fogarasi, FORWARD Planung und Forschung, Lothar Hempel, ludwig heimbach architektur, make_shift, Julian Rosefeldt, Tracey Snelling, and Cecilia Vincent
• Based on the successful exhibition Mäusebunker & Hygieneinstitut: Versuchsanordnung BERLIN (BDA Galerie Berlin, 2020)

From department stores to barracks and churches, urban buildings regularly fall out of use as a result of societal changes. However, the driving forces behind these urban obsolescences have thus far not been systematically investigated. As a result of the global trends of digitalization, the mobility transformation, and changes in religious behavior, there is currently significant pressure to identify new uses for a wide range of different building types. These buildings represent a key resource for the circular development of growing metropolises, for affordable housing and uses that serve the common good, for more resilient neighborhood design that is better adapted to climate change, and for the increasing number of new functions now being carried out in our cities. Last but not least, this existing building stock is also a resource for the new infrastructures necessitated by the mobility transformation and the shift to renewable energy.

The Styrian Architecture Award is presented every two years. It highlights the particular importance of building culture in Austria’s second-largest province. Alongside the historic center of its capital Graz, which was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1999, more recent architectural history is well-represented here. The Grazer Schule gained international acclaim from 1960 onwards, and the Kunsthaus Graz by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, opened as part of the European Capital of Culture 2003 festivities, has been similarly celebrated. These elements form a fertile basis for the high-quality local architectural scene. This volume introduces a selection of new architectural projects in the province of Styria chosen by the Dutch curator Indira van ’t Klooster, director of Arcam (Architecture Center Amsterdam).

Von frühen modernistischen Designs wie der Typentankstelle von Hans Poelzig, den Reichsautobahn-Normentankstellen der Stuttgarter Schule bis zu Lothar Götz’ modularen Nachkriegstypenbauten als Wegbereiter späterer standardisierter Corporate Designs: Seit den 1920er Jahren prägen Tankstellen unsere Umgebung. Obwohl der Bau von Tankstellen seitdem auch eine relevante Aufgabe für bekannte Architektur- und Ingenieurbüros darstellt, ist der Bautypus bisher kaum ein Thema im Fachdiskurs. Franz Arlart untersucht und systematisiert den Werdegang der Tankstelle in Deutschland aus der Sicht entwerfender Architekt*innen. Unter Berücksichtigung funktionaler, technischer und symbolischer Belange werden die architektonische Entwicklung des Bautypus von 1920 bis 2020 aufgearbeitet und Tendenzen für einen zukünftigen Tankstellenbau skizziert.

Symbolische Orte verleihen physischen Orten Bedeutung. Sie berichten über historische Ereignisse, erzählen Geschichten oder stehen für bestimmte Anliegen. War das Schaffen symbolischer Orte früher meist Aufgabe von Politik und Verwaltung, ist es heute auch die Zivilgesellschaft, die sich dieser Orte annimmt. Als Potenziale können sie für die Stadtentwicklung bedeutsam sein, wenn sie aktiv im Sinne des Gemeinwohls gefördert werden.
Diese Publikation beleuchtet, was symbolische Orte auszeichnet, wie sie funktionieren und welchen Anforderungen und Hemmnissen sie unterliegen. Die versammelten Beispiele reichen von historisch belasteten Orten wie dem Berliner Olympiagelände bis zu Orten der kollektiven Selbstermächtigung wie dem selbstverwalteten Navarinou Park in Athen. Die Beiträge renommierter Autor*innen aus Geschichts- und Gesellschaftswissenschaft, Stadtplanung und Stadtmarketing wollen Mut machen, sich mit anerkannten, aber auch mit umstrittenen symbolischen Orten zu befassen oder sie in kollektiven Diskussions- und Entscheidungsprozessen zu „machen".