Architectural Design V-IX: for example Arni (GD L.Bollinger)

Abstract

We aim to understand Arni in the Aargau region as a typical village from socio-economic, ecological, cultural, and architectural perspectives. We seek to find an intuitive and poetic approach, exploring solutions for livable and sustainable villages through projects at various scales. Our focus is on precise interventions.

Objective

· Develop and defend a personal, self-critical stance · Actively participate in studio discussions: present ideas and values, formulate arguments, negotiate, compromise, and develop shared goals · Embrace self-responsibility and actively contribute to shaping the environment · Acquire interdisciplinary knowledge on topics such as politics, history, sociology, sustainability, ecology, architecture, and construction · Engage in careful observation, sensitive analysis, and precise documentation · Follow intuitions, interpret them, and translate them into a coherent design narrative · Think simultaneously on multiple scales, from territorial maps to construction details, always with curiosity and a critical eye · Develop a village-oriented and architecturally high-quality design based on an independent idea relevant to Arni · Choose and develop suitable presentation and communication tools for your design and analysis findings · Master expressive forms in models, drawings, or other mediums · Cultivate craftsmanship and a love for process-oriented details · Reinterpret graphic standards, blending analog and digital forms of representation · Develop the ability to abstract and represent the essential elements

Content

Who is Arni? Arni represents many things: it’s beautiful, it’s ugly, it’s a place where people can live and grow old, yet some would never want to live there. Arni is a typical village. “The village” serves as a metaphor, a symbol, and even an urban fantasy, a contrast to the city. The crisis facing rural communities is palpable. There is a longing for a communal, nature-oriented life, yet also a fear of change. How did it come to this? The current regulations for new developments inadequately define rural areas. The village is often perceived only as the opposite of the city, which is explicitly defined. The lack of a narrative for Swiss villages contributes to a gradual erosion of village life and its character. The specific features of rural areas have not found their way into contemporary lifestyles. It is up to us to recognize, preserve, or transform the qualities of village life through architecture. We aim to study and understand Arni in the Aargau region as a typical village from socio-economic, ecological, cultural, and architectural perspectives. With an open mind, we seek to find an intuitive and poetic approach, exploring solutions for livable and sustainable villages through projects at various scales. We are interested in a frugal and resource-conscious approach to land and existing structures. Our projects are set within a broader temporal context, focusing on precise yet minimally invasive interventions—those that are absolutely necessary and add value to the village. How should we handle single-family homes as legitimate building stock? What alternative forms of living and working could we envision in the village? How could mobility in rural areas be rethought? What narratives do we want to continue for Arni and Swiss villages? Methodology In our studio, we do not distinguish between analysis and project. The process of documentation and understanding is simultaneously a product of design. Through critical engagement with the place, its residents, research, texts, and other documents, the first clues for a possible project should be discovered early on. In our internal studio assembly—modeled after the grassroots village assembly—we aim to develop a shared framework that allows for new and innovative architectural interventions in the village. Here, arguments are made, debates occur, compromises are reached, new ideas are championed, and the interplay of all interventions and interests is negotiated. All our investigations will be accompanied by hands-on work. Our focus is less on the final product and more on the process. Working documents—drawings, images, models—as reflections of “building within the existing structure,” will be constantly transformed, supplemented, dismantled throughout the semester… Sometimes roughly, sometimes precisely. This approach seeks to discover and promote the beauty of the direct and spontaneous.

Resources