Architectural Design IV: Real Archaitecture - To Main Street (E.Christ / Ch.Gantenbein)

Abstract

What about the historic city centre?Design an urban project with a concrete program in four steps:1. Reading of the place, recognition of potentials2. Translation of the findings into a scenario - social, political3. Through architectural principles: Translation into a spatial structure4. Develop a real project

Objective

The ultimate goal of the semester is the independent development of an architectural project that deals with a current issue. The design comprises not only all levels of scale, from urban planning to constructive questions, but also the entire design process - from reading a concrete location to formulating an attitude to one's own project, from building up an argument (linguistically as well as architecturally) to the precise expression of the building through the appropriate means of representation. - Analysis of a real, inner-city context on site and with various media (photography, drawing, sketch) - Use of different design techniques, especially collage - Dealing with basic architectural principles and their creative implementation in a project - Developing an independent, complex architectural project from the urban setting to the construction - Drawing architectural perspectives in addition to ones with conventional representation techniques (plan and model)

Content

The second semester of our studio is the conceptual counterpart to the first semester: The ideal form without place and time is contrasted with the real project in a real environment, in the here and now. The Prachtsstrasse becomes the “Main Street” of Basel: the Freie Strasse. The “Main Street“ is the paradigm of the street as a place of exchange for civil society. This historical model is challenged today by changes in consumer behavior and lifestyle habits. In the field of tension between the demands of local preservation committee, international franchises and citizens, we are confronted with the current, explosive question: What do we do with the historic city centre? How can we rebuild the inner city into an everyday living space of tomorrow's city through a critical examination of the site? The task is to find a visionary scenario for the contemporary needs of urban life and to create an architectural form for it. In which buildings and spaces do we want to shop, live, work and spend our leisure time? The site is the starting point of the design: We examine the existing both on the basis of historical archive material and during an excursion to Basel. Drawing on what has been seen, we will recognize potentials, characteristics, but also problems that are not visible at first glance. These insights are the starting point of the scenario. The scenario describes the spatial intention of the project but also defines the specific plot, the size of the project and the concrete programme. This first idea of what could happen along Freie Strasse in the future will be given an architectural form by implementing the repertoire of principles that we developed together in the first semester from the Genoese projects. The first step is to make collages in which site and vision clash directly - a first image for the building to be designed. From this a typological design is then developed in plan and model. Through systematic refinement - supported by working models and drawings - the concrete project is finally created. The abstract idea of architectural form is thus translated into a concrete and specific phrasing. And here in its concrete use, form will gain its social, economical as well as political relevance. And the ideal should become real.

Resources