Raumgestaltung RWTH - Forschungsfeld M.Sc. - Sailing the Stadtarchipel: from the Island to the Archipelago

“Proprio questa ‘dialettica’ è il lógos comune di tutte le lingue e le forme dell’Arcipelago (…). Per le forme incerte, confuse, balbettanti (‘barbare’) vale l’occasionalità, la contingenza del rapporto (che allora non è vero lógos); esse non possono formare che effimeri ‘grumi’. Ma per quella figura che si distingue assolutamente (e assume sopra di sé tutto il pericolosum dell’ágān) il rapporto con ciò da cui si distingue è essenziale. In quanto assolutamente distinta (e non occasionalmente distinguibile), essa permane in essenziale relazione con il carattere delle altre figure.”

Massimo Cacciari, L’arcipelago (Milano: Adelphi, 1997), p. 34

Following up on an “anatomical studies” of the Stadtinsel, this winter semester research module attempts to investigate further the ideas of Urban Island and Archipelago in several key projects designed by Oswald Mathias Ungers –– and by extent a “third way” for the contemporary city.

The concept of an archipelagic city still offers new categories to read and design the multifaceted contemporary city. It still tries to grasp its dialectic essence.

Beyond that “grünen Naturlagune”, where the urban islands would have laid (O.M. Ungers, Die Stadt in der Stadt – Berlin: ein grünes Archipel), there is the “Meer der Metropole”. How do these different paradigms of archipelagos confront the real city — and not only a generic “nature”? How can we re-examine the terms “land” and “sea” in the Archipelago city? What compositional techniques define these archipelagic designs? What are the tools to interpret and design the archipelago city?

Through analytical redrawing and a model, students will investigate selected projects by Oswald Mathias Ungers as case studies, trying to understand methodologies and principles of formation behind their conception.

The Introductory lecture and the handing out of the assignment will take place on 13.10.2022 at 11:00 a.m. in R209 (Lehr- und Forschungsgebiet Raumgestaltung). This event is open to all interested students, even without an allocated placement.

Weekly meetings take place on Thursdays, 11.00 to 13.00. A detailed program of the course and a calendar will be handed over during the first meeting.

Module: Forschungsfeld M.Sc. - Sailing the Stadtarchipel: from the Island to the Archipelago
Module Code: 21.00046
Semester: WS
Jahr: 2022/23

Mitarbeit: Nicola Carofiglio
Module: Forschungsfeld M. Sc. - Sailing the Stadtarchipel. Anatomy of the urban island, Forschungsfeld M.Sc., Techniques of Transformation