Open Planning Cultures. Design Principles for Transformative Spaces
 
How can climate knowledge be translated into sustainable living through design principles which directly support climate adaptation in urban development and spatial planning?
 
OpenCultures is an inter- and transdisciplinary research project that develops design principles which directly support climate adaptation in urban development and spatial planning. It sets out to disentangle the complex relationship between climate knowledge and the praxis of urban design and sustainable living. By bridging expert/non-expert divides, it creates new ecologies of knowledge by the fusion of disciplinary and scientific knowledge with other forms of knowledge. A Climate Future Lab funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture and the Volkswagen Foundation, it includes over 20 researchers from TU Braunschweig, the Julius Kühn Institute Braunschweig, and the Scientific Centre ‘Genealogy of the Present’ at Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg. Organized in three SubLabs, and in close collaboration with praxis partners and civil society groups, they explore the social, material, and symbolic dimensions vital for a climate-sensitive approach to urban design.
 
My role in the project Klima.Zukunftslabor Open Planning Cultures is to coordinate its development and implementation – from the initial proposal phase to its ongoing realization. I focus on strategic project management, interdisciplinary coordination, and translating between different disciplinary perspectives.
 

www.opencultures.org ↗

und jetzt! Akute Positionen junger Büros zu Architektur und Planung
 
What does the future of architectural practice look like? The present offers an answer to this question. So do those who are shaping tomorrow, those who will have to live with the consequences of today's actions longer than others.

The exhibition presents five firms as examples of a new practice that opens up perspectives for the future of architecture. They demonstrate that our understanding of architecture must evolve in line with the demands we place on it. But they also show that this change is not just possible—it is happening now, not in the near or distant future.

Featuring: INTO STORIES, forty five degrees, o r t o, POLY-CARBONARA, and Studio Malta
Curated by Lena Engelfried, Christian Holl, and Hanna Noller

Architekturgalerie am Weißenhof
Stuttgart

AMOR MUNDI

– Space for urban innovation and collective action
– Öffentlicher Raum für urbane Innovation und kollektive Handlung

Wie lässt sich Architektur denken, die nicht nur Raum bildet, sondern soziale Prozesse trägt? Wie kann ein Gebäude nicht nur stehen, sondern bewegen? Das Projekt AMOR MUNDI stellt diese Fragen neu – und antwortet mit einem offenen, lernfähigen Ort kollektiver Stadtgestaltung. Es ist ein architektonisches Gemeingut, das urbane Aushandlungsprozesse ermöglicht und dauerhaft zugänglich macht.

AMOR MUNDI ist kein Repräsentationsbau, sondern eine räumliche Infrastruktur für gesellschaftliche Imagination und demokratisches Handeln. Es bietet Raum für urbane Innovationen, in dem Kooperation, Konflikt und kollektives Denken architektonisch Platz finden. Menschen aus unterschiedlichen gesellschaftlichen Feldern – Zivilgesellschaft, Fachöffentlichkeit, Verwaltung, Politik – können sich hier auf Augenhöhe begegnen, informieren, beraten, ausprobieren und entscheiden.

Das Projekt knüpft an historische Visionen wie Cedric Prices „Fun Palace“ oder das „Inter-Action Centre“ an – Orte, die nicht als fertige Form, sondern als soziale Möglichkeitsräume gedacht wurden. AMOR MUNDI führt diesen Gedanken weiter: Es ist eine Arena, ein Labor und ein öffentlicher Salon zugleich. Es lädt ein zum Bleiben, Denken, Kochen, Diskutieren, Zeichnen, Streiten, Entwickeln.

Architektonisch ist AMOR MUNDI als offenes System konzipiert: zentral gelegen, barrierefrei zugänglich, programmatisch wandelbar. Seine strukturelle Offenheit erlaubt spontane wie organisierte Nutzungen – von der Werkstatt bis zur Bürger:innenversammlung, von der Ausstellung urbaner Innovationen bis zur performativen Planungsbeteiligung. Mobile und modulare Elemente fördern flexible Raumaneignungen, analoge wie digitale Infrastrukturen stehen allen zur Verfügung.

Das Gebäude ist nicht nur Bühne, sondern auch Archiv, Werkstatt und Vermittlungsraum: Es bietet Zugang zu Plänen, Protokollen und Entscheidungsprozessen, macht Stadtentwicklung transparent und verständlich. Mittels künstlerischer Formate, kuratierter Beteiligung und aktivem Wissensmanagement vermittelt es zwischen Perspektiven und Disziplinen.

Ein Team intermediärer Akteur:innen begleitet die Prozesse: Sie moderieren, übersetzen, dokumentieren, reagieren. Sie sorgen dafür, dass das Haus kein neutraler Raum bleibt, sondern ein aktives Gegenüber – lernend, irritierbar und offen für Veränderung.

AMOR MUNDI ist als architektonisch-organisatorische Struktur stabil und zugleich anpassungsfähig. Es verbindet architektonische Gestalt mit einer Governance, die Beteiligung nicht verwaltet, sondern ermöglicht. Als urbanes Gemeingut ist es keinem Einzelinteresse verpflichtet, sondern dem Versprechen, Stadt gemeinsam zu denken – und zu bauen.

In einer Zeit, in der urbane Komplexität, soziale Spaltung und ökologische Transformation neue Formen der Kooperation verlangen, schafft AMOR MUNDI einen Raum, in dem Architektur nicht abschließt, sondern öffnet: für Austausch, für Verantwortung, für Liebe zur Welt.
 
„Amor Mundi“ ist Latein und bedeutet wörtlich: „Liebe zur Welt“. Der Begriff wurde besonders durch die politische Philosophin Hannah Arendt geprägt. Für sie ist Amor Mundi keine naive Weltbejahung, sondern ein ethisch-politisches Prinzip: die Entscheidung, sich trotz aller Widersprüche, Brüche und Konflikte der Welt zuzuwenden, Verantwortung zu übernehmen und mit anderen zusammen zu handeln.

Illustration von Cristina Estanislao:
Three color Screenprint,
841x1189mm Limited edition of 20 copies,
signed and numbered. (Available for purchase)

What's happening in St John's? This church is on a journey at the moment!
It is a journey that (as good journeys go) is a little uncertain. The only thing that is clear is that this is a place where life should be happening, a place where everyone feels at home, regardless of their denomination.
Perhaps there will be climbing between the high walls of the church, perhaps there will be cinema films on Tuesdays and cheese and fruit stalls on the forecourt on Saturdays. Maybe people will dance to salsa music on the steps and play table tennis. One thing is certain: the journey does not take us far away, but brings us closer together. Perhaps it will even bring the whole of Emmendingen closer to this place?

A process design and intervention together with Stadtlücken e.V. for the parish of St. Johannes in Emmendingen.

https://www.in-sankt-johannes.de/

With the CoLiving Campus a cooperative science quarter is being created in Braunschweig that brings together stakeholders and projects from science and urban society in an urban space and invites active participation. Through a cooperative planning process, the city of Braunschweig and the Technische Universität Braunschweig have laid the foundations for a wide range of research projects and real-world laboratories at the CoLiving Campus. Ideas, visions and suggestions were developed in a co-creative participation process as part of the Co_nference and Co_Workshop and have been incorporated into the co-operative Co_Wettbewerb.

https://www.coliving-campus.de/

Kitchen island built out of plywood left over from the International Design Build Summerschool Urban Conflicts in Hanover 2022.

In my contribution to the IBA StadtRegion Stuttgart International Building Exhibition reader "Voices on the IBA", I show what participation can achieve and why it is important to continue and document it as a permanent instrument: https://www.iba27.de/beteiligung-braucht-einen-ort/

making waves - Festival Theaterformen 2023
 
Under the motto MAKING WAVES, the British collective The DisOrdinary Architecture Project, led by the deaf architect Richard Dougherty, designed a festival centre on Prinzenstraße that was characterised by a deaf architectural aesthetic.
I supported Festival Theaterformen and the artists in organising, coordinating and realizing the project and acted as an intermediary between the various actors involved from the fields of art and stage design.

Built places that can be experienced in everyday life play an important role in the perception of identity and belonging; they express the democratic attitude and orientation in a society and at the same time create diverse opportunities for participation and access.

With a nationwide competition "Built places for democracy and participation", the Wüstenrot Foundation looked for examples of how such places can make democratic values tangible and support the participation opportunities of different population groups. This publication contains further contributions that deal with the complex topic of "Built places for democracy and participation" from different perspectives and expand on the insights gained from the competition.

Clearing - Festival Theaterformen Braunschweig 2022
 
The festival centre CLEARING was conceived and constructed by the British architects' collective The DisOrdinary Architecture and the deaf architecture experts Richard Dougherty and Chris Laing. The temporary structure on Herzogin-Anna-Amalia-Platz behind the Kleines Haus invited visitors to linger with a bar serving food and drinks, a dance floor for the silent discos and art installations, and was very well received by the public, artists and passers-by.
The design was derived from deaf culture and sign language: the circular arrangements that arise when deaf people come together became a large clearing in the design, which opened up the space for the diversity of people and their realities of life. Large stickers on the floor with slogans by disabled activists also drew attention to the structural conditions of the square, which make it difficult for people with pushchairs, wheelchairs or long canes to cross the square on a daily basis.
I supported Festival Theaterformen and the artists in organising, coordinating and realizing the project and acted as an intermediary between the various actors involved from the fields of art, stage design, technology and city administration.

Urban Conflicts (Design Build Summer School)
 
In the urban coexistence of the city, conflict situations are the norm today. Different interests, goals and values ​​ of individuals and social groups meet here. As architects, we want to fight against a self-satisfied discipline that expresses itself as an exclusively affirmative concealment of conflict. Because a spark for the development of the city through architecture can be struck out of urban conflicts. It is crucial to discover the possibilities that lie within and the repertoire to use them. The prerequisite for this is an unbiased view that appreciates the latent poetry of the city.

As part of the international DesignBuild Summer School "Urban Conflicts" at the Institute of Urban Design at the Faculty of Architecture and Landscape at Leibniz Universität Hannover, we want to use productive urban dissonances and make them visible through architectural interventions in the field of tension between language and architecture at several locations in Hanover.

Inputs from guests from the fields of fine arts and conflict counseling as well as a final feedback with Assemble Studio on the realized projects formed the framework.

The one-week summer school was part of the international conference for experimental urban development "you promised me a city" conceived by endboss and took place on June 10th and 11th 2022 in Hanover.

REcycle City (MA Design Studio)

„Die Stadt der Zukunft unterscheidet nicht zwischen Abfall und Vorrat.“ (Joachim Mitchell, in: BBC Future, “Turning Waste into Building Blocks of the Future City”, 2013)
 
Das Ziel des MA-Design Studios REcycle City war die Entwicklung eines lokalen Zentrums für die Wiederverwendung von Bauteilen und Baustoffen. Dieser REcycling Hub soll Raum bieten für Experimente, die Weiterentwicklung von Aufbereitungstechniken, die Erschließung neuer Anwendungsfelder sowie die Vermittlung des damit verbundenen Wissens und handwerklicher Fähigkeiten. Zugleich soll er die Praxis des Re- und Upcyclings im Stadtraum sichtbar machen. Die architektonische Entwurfsaufgabe bestand in der Ausarbeitung einer neuen Gebäudetypologie, die unterschiedliche Formen zirkulären Handelns – Reparatur, Re- und Upcycling, Tauschen, Teilen, Bildung – miteinander verbindet und durch ergänzende soziale Angebote zu einer Anlaufstelle im Quartier werden kann.

Leibniz Universität Hannover
Institut für Entwerfen und Städtebau
Prof. Andreas Quednau

Stadtlabor - Festival Theaterformen Hannover 2021
 
"We are in this together but we are not the same". An urban laboratory that we set up for the 2021 Festival Theaterformen on Raschplatzhochstraße in Hanover. From 8 to 18 July, the city lab hosted over 30 Hanoverian initiatives and works by artists with disabilities and Indigenous artists for eleven days under the motto of climate justice. More than 80 events - including dance workshops, lectures, performances and DJ sets - attracted over 8,400 visitors to the closed high bridge.

Open Data City: After the Pandemic (MA Design Studio)

The MA Design Studio Open Data City: After the Pandemic explored how architecture and urban planning might respond to future crises such as pandemics. It questioned what can still be considered "normal" under changing conditions and focused on themes like urban density, flexible typologies for living and working, and the use of spatial resources.

In collaboration with futures researcher Dr. Stefan Carsten, students developed scenarios that framed the design process. Open data was used as an analytical and programmatic tool to better understand local needs and adapt urban design to them in more responsive and fine-grained ways. By integrating geospatial and statistical data, the project aimed to make cities more resilient, inclusive, and adaptable to future challenges.

Leibniz Universität Hannover
Institut für Entwerfen und Städtebau
Prof. Andreas Quednau

Urban Complexity (MA Seminar)
 
The MA Seminar Urban Complexity, was part of the "Future Performance City Lab" at the Theaterformen Festival in Hannover 2021. It addressed the complexity of urban (non-)places and the analytical and design challenges these pose for planning disciplines. A special focus was placed on the perspectives of marginalized groups, giving a voice to those often unheard in discussions and planning for future public spaces. This approach sharpened students' perception and methodological work on complex issues.

Using the public space behind Hannover's main train station, between Raschplatz and Weißekreuzplatz, as a case study, we explored and tested various methods of qualitative and quantitative space analysis (Urban Design Methods). Through discussion and the synthesis of individual investigations, students developed new, multifaceted perspectives on a complex (non-)place in Hannover.

The digital "classroom" was relocated to the public space. By working on-site, students had to step out of the role of objective observers and actively engage with the space. With input from guest speakers Larissa Fassler and Zara Pfeifer, we explored the ecosystems, infrastructures, and stakeholder groups of the public space under study, which will be documented in individual projects.

To tackle the complex challenges of urban (non-)places and develop new solutions, collaboration in working groups is essential. Therefore, students combined their individual projects into a collective work, which was presented as an intervention at the Theaterformen Festival.

MA Seminar in Collaboration with Benedikt Stoll

Leibniz Universität Hannover
Institut für Entwerfen und Städtebau
Prof. Andreas Quednau

The Future City Lab_Real-World Laboratory for Sustainable Mobility Culture has set itself the task of initiating a change towards sustainable transport in Stuttgart. In order to emphasise the cultural dimension of sustainable mobility, the real-world laboratory sustainable mobility culture worked with an expanded concept of mobility. It is not just about technologies or strategies for traffic optimisation, but about a culture of mobility and movement that is orientated towards an expanded concept of prosperity and is able to create new qualities of life and qualities in the city.
The aim of the real-world laboratory was to develop ideas for a sustainable mobility culture that conserves resources and also promotes health and social interaction together with science, administration, companies and the public.

Interior design of the production, workshop, and sales areas for Chocolatier Kevin Kugel in Sindelfingen 2020.

The open production is the heart of the chocolaterie. A generous glass partition framed in black-stained ash wood with a shelf made of natural stone OceansBlack makes this possible. Connoisseurs can observe the creation of chocolate creations while enjoying coffee and pralines. To connect the two worlds of production and sales, we have used the stainlesssteel furniture commonly found in the food sector for displaying the pralines and redesigned it.

A vibrant and attractive community needs a lively town center where people live and businesses are at home. The center is an everyday place that offers cross-generational opportunities to meet and spend quality time in public spaces. It is the heart of the town and must not only meet different needs and requirements, but also make the character of the town tangible.
The study Experimentierorte im Ländlichen Raum - Strategien zur Sichtbarmachung und Verortung digitalanaloger Vernetzung is the basis for the development and concretization of measures to improve services of general interest and social life in rural areas using a concrete case study in the Rhine-Neckar district. From the different perspectives of various disciplines and together with local stakeholders, a concept was developed that offers a digitally and spatially networked response to current challenges. The broad expertise of those involved has been incorporated into the design of the study.

A project funded as part of the "Local Online Marketplace" ideas competition organized by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Rural Areas and Consumer Protection. Conducted at the Urban Planning Institute of the University of Stuttgart at the Chair of Urban Planning and Design under Prof. Dr. Martina Baum.

Stadtlücken e.V. specializes in preserving and designing livable, non-commercialized public spaces. By fostering activating participation, the organization succeeded in going beyond mere idea generation, initiating a unique church development process. Stadtlücken e.V. relies on low-threshold communication and creative approaches to involve a wide range of stakeholders – from parish members to urban enthusiasts – in the design process.

In collaboration with the City Deanery, the St. Maria Parish, and the pastoral-theological academic support from the Chair of Practical Theology at the University of Tübingen, the project "St. Maria als …" became a widely acclaimed success model in 2017.

Under the motto "We have a church. Do you have an idea?", the project opened a unique dialogue between the church, the public, and urban society.

Through the groundbreaking co-creation efforts of Stadtlücken e.V., the initiative evolved far beyond a mere structural renovation to become a model project that redefined the church as a platform for participatory urban and church development.

Stadtlücken is a non-profit organisation initiated by designers from various disciplines. It was founded out of the need to raise awareness of the importance of public space as the basis for our democratic coexistence. The aim is to promote a digital-analogue network for the joint development of a city worth living in. Urban gaps are potential points of attack and opportunities to take the initiative in a speculative urban system. (Building gaps, knowledge gaps, legal gaps, communication gaps, social gaps, etc.) Using creative methods and strategies of cooperative urban design, we make these gaps visible, raise awareness of places and issues and open up unused space in order to make it accessible for projects oriented towards the common good. Stadtlücken is active in Stuttgart and far beyond. We are happy to share our expertise and welcome invitations and ideas for exchange, discussion and cooperation.

www.stadtluecken.de

Wir sprechen über unsere Arbeit, unsere Erfahrungen und Hoffnungen. Wir diskutieren über Stadt, wir diskutieren über Raum, Kunst, Architektur, Investoren, den Kapitalismus, warum wir etwas tun und wie wichtig es ist, etwas nicht zu tun. Wir sprechen von Verantwortungsbewusstsein, Haltung, Systeme und Gesetzesänderungen. Spaziergänge durch die Stadt führen uns Situationen vor Augen und lassen uns Möglichkeiten entdecken.

Wir bohren am 06.10.2016 um 16:51 Uhr ein Loch durch den Asphalt.

Simon Jung, Hanna Noller & Sebastian Klawiter

Ausstellungsbeitrag »Die Bohrung« im Rahmen der Reihe "Zusammen Auseinandersetzen No 1", in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Künstler Simon Jung im Projektraum LOTTE - LAND OF THE TEMPORARY ETERNITY in Stuttgart, 2016.

https://vimeo.com/232449846

Nutzungsintensivierung von Gebäudebestand durch Mehrfachnutzung und dynamische Programmierung. 24h-Echtzeitexperiment

These Zines are part of an open-source collection developed within the Reallabor Spacesharing at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart. They explore how we share space – in cities, in buildings, in everyday life – and examine the cultural, social, and political dynamics that shape our environments.
Each issue offers a compact yet critical look at key themes: from the concept of space itself, to the history of sharing, the rise of the sharing economy, and the idea of the commons. They are designed as accessible, low-budget publications that can be printed on A3 paper and folded into simple booklets – easy to distribute, easy to engage with.
Created in collaboration with students from architecture and communication design, the Zines are both a tool and a platform: for learning, for dialogue, for thinking space differently.