Studio BA5 (Loeliger et Strub)

Inside out * Outside in

The question "How do we want to live?" serves as the starting point for a playful and speculative exploration of new forms of communal living. Over the course of two consecutive semesters, each building on the other and starting from diametrically opposed perspectives, students develop urban housing concepts that integrate social, ecological, and structural considerations. The work moves from the individual room to the apartment and the house and then to the city and back again. Different notions of community, privacy, and neighborhood are explored and translated into precise architectural projects.

In the first semester, students develop new forms of housing from the residents' perspective. By questioning conventional notions of housing and addressing specific spatial needs, they create apartments, houses, and ultimately an urban building block for a larger community. The design process deliberately begins without a fixed program of spaces or a predetermined building site. Individual residential units are combined to form a large building for several hundred residents. Diverse neighborhoods, communal spaces, cultural offerings, and workspaces are organized and interconnected within an architecturally varied building structure and are only situated as a building block of the city at the very end.

In the second semester, the question of the future of housing is examined from an urban perspective. Every architectural intervention takes place within an existing context. The starting point is an existing neighbor-hood, whose spatial, social, and ecological conditions are analyzed. Based on an understanding of existing structures, potential sites for densification are identified and building sites for complementary urban elements are designated. Students develop their individual projects as standalone buildings within this urban context. Existing developments, open spaces and social structures are incorporated and complemented by new forms of housing, communal uses, additional services to fill gaps and public spaces.

The design process combines analytical, speculative, and constructive approaches. Introductory lectures, short exercises, workshops, presentations, and discussions guide the development of a project throughout the entire semester. The work spans various scales - from a room to an apartment, a house and the city - and explores different perspectives - from program to floor plan, structure, construction, and expression. It is supported by interim reviews, group discussions and individual guidance.