Studio 12

Unlivable Berlin

Michael Roper | Civic + Living Focus

This studio is available to students enrolled in ABPL90142 Studio C, ABPL90143 Studio D, and ABPL90115 Studio E.

This studio is taught as ABPL90297 Unlivable Berlin.

Overview

Unliveable Berlin is a University of Melbourne design studio, organised and run by Michael Roper (Director, Architecture Architecture). Running in second semester of 2019, this studio will take a group of masters students from architecture, landscape and urban design to the ANCB Metropolitan Laboratory in Berlin where they will explore and develop ideas for experimental housing projects.

Studio Theme: Visible Histories

Berlin has undergone several phases of trauma and transformation. Growing out of two world wars, living through three decades of east-west division followed by re-unification, rebuilding and more recent bankruptcy, Berlin is riddled with the scars of its history. Politically shaped by socialism and capitalism; physically, by the destruction of war and urban regrowth; culturally, by division and unity; this is a city still coming to terms with its physical and cultural territories.

Studio Theme: A Vision for Housing

The second half of the 20th century saw two moments of significant experimentation in Berlin’s housing program, the 1957 Hansaviertel projects, and the 1987 IBA projects. In both instances, prominent international and German architects attempted to address the political, social and economic concerns of the day. In more recent years, Berlin has become a heartland of Germany’s Baugruppen projects, a model for housing that empowers ordinary citizens to design and finance their own communities.

Studio Theme: Designing for Inclusion

With its chequered history of cultural exclusion and ideological seclusion, as well as an impressive record of refugee accommodation, Berlin presents a unique case study in the urban consequences of social disunity and cohesion. In this context we ask, how does a city express its hostilities and how, as architects, can we foster cities of inclusion?

Studio Outcomes: Global Thinkers

Stripped of well-worn reference points, the travelling studio encourages students to see with fresh eyes. They come to sense a city’s unconscious – its undercurrents – developing instincts for the manifold cultural forces that drive a place. Through the travelling studio, we aim to foster broad, global-thinking problem solvers, versed in the physical mechanisms (infrastructural, geographical) and cultural forces (political and social) that underpin urban life.

Studio Structure

In the first half of semester, in Melbourne and Berlin, student will develop strong conceptual foundations, exploring precedent co-housing projects, housing policy and approaches to housing design.

In the second half of semester, students will rigorously develop their conceptual findings into a complete design solution. Each week, students will be guided through the development of their project, progressively focussing on massing, planning, sections, renders, layouts, and verbal presentation.

Each week, studio time will be spent presenting design proposals, hearing from guest speakers and exploring themes for the following week’s assignment. Students are expected to play an active role in class discussions and project critiques.

How to Apply

To register your interest, please submit a 150 word statement explaining why you are interested in the studio and what you want to get out of it, along with a 5 page folio containing samples of your design projects. Applications should be submitted to Michael Roper at mr@archarch.com.au, by Monday 13 May.

Travel Berlin, Germany | 12-23 August | $5,500

Schedule Mondays 15:15-18:15 in MSD Room 118; Thursdays 15:15-18:15 in MSD Room 213

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