Architectural Design V - IX: in Linn (GD L. Bollinger)

Abstract

Tracing human and non-human species, we explore the small village of Linn on the Bözberg. With a focus on neighborhoods and cooperation, we seek architectural solutions for sustainable living spaces for all.

Objective

· Develop and articulate a personal, self-critical attitude · Practice questioning and critical thinking · Practice active participation in the studio assembly: represent ideas and values, formulate arguments, negotiate, make compromises, and develop shared forward-looking goals · Assume self-responsibility and actively take part in shaping the environment · Acquire interdisciplinary and topic-specific knowledge (societal issues related to politics, history, sociology, sustainability, ecology, architecture, construction, etc.) · Observe carefully, analyze sensitively, and document precisely · Follow intuitions, interpret them, and translate them into a comprehensible design narrative · Think simultaneously across multiple scales: from territorial mapping to constructive detail · Develop a village-related and architecturally high-quality design based on an independent idea with reference to Linn · Select and elaborate appropriate representational and communicative tools for one’s own design and the insights gained from analysis · Cultivate craftsmanship, expressiveness, and an appreciation for process-oriented detail · Acquire adequate and meaningful forms of expression through models, drawings, or other media · Reinterpret graphical standards, mix analog and digital forms of representation · Develop the capacity for abstraction to represent the essential

Content

Not far from a mighty, centuries-old linden tree lies—almost unnoticed—a small farming village set in a picturesque landscape, which takes its name from that very tree: Linn. Closely spaced farmhouses with overhanging, tile-covered roofs; flowing front and intermediate spaces within the compact streetscape; ornamental and vegetable gardens, trees, cobblestones, fountains. After a first year in which we examined the systemic principles of a “prototypical” village like Arni and explored the specific characteristics that define the character of Hüttikon, we now want to reverse our perspective in the second year. The village remains our object of study, but it will no longer be observed from the outside with a comprehensive panoramic focus. Instead, we approach it from a more intimate, internal viewpoint. Through the eyes of the local species, we turn our attention to sufficient strategies and processes of nature. We consider Linn, a village of about 100 souls, struggling with its identity. Linn has a village image listed in the ISOS inventory and is embedded in the beautiful landscape of the Aargau Jura Park. Beneath it lie the concrete tubes of the Bözberg highway tunnel, and a nuclear waste repository is also planned here. Rural communities are clearly in crisis: “The village” is a metaphor, a symbol, and even an urban fantasy, fueled by the longing for a communal, nature-connected life. The lack of a contemporary narrative for rural life also reflects our estrangement from nature. Between hills, forests, waterfalls, and fields, we attempt to understand how individual species live and coexist here, and how neighborhoods thrive. We learn to direct our attention to the inhabitants—human and non-human, year-round and seasonal. We try to recognize the invisible networks and synergies that surround us. How do nodes and interconnections manifest in the built and unbuilt reality of the village? The scale of a single being, space, or element serves as the starting point for our explorations—our own body as a compass. With open eyes, we discover poetic in-between spaces, unknown forms of habitation, unexpected moods, and engage with tactile and tangible aspects that we aim to perceive with all senses. We understand architecture as a bodily experience and situate ourselves within a temporal continuity. Our interventions are precise, temporary, resistant, fragile, porous, and elastic. They promote novel ways of living and building, foster new spatial qualities, create unexpected proximity and cross-species inclusivity. We design gaps, shells, and niches. We focus on the living: on transformation, on the aging of materials and buildings, on the combination and encounter of diverse elements, and on the growth of an idea within the design.

Resources