How much is a ton of CO2? A familiar figure that we can´t estimate, however. We already know that we have to reduce our CO2 emissions drastically with regard to global warming and climate targets. In addition to energy industry, transport ploays a decisive rolle too. The car is still the most popular means of transport, although we should have already been focusing on gentle alternatives, on the so-called "soft mobility" such as using public transport, walking or taking the bicycle.

The volume of a cube with the dimension of 8x8x8m corresponds to one ton of CO2 finally. This cube is the starting point for an exciting interplay of transforming, locating and modifying. Its volume offers space for a spatial program of bike service, charging station and coffee bar. At various locations in Graz, Cycle stOps serve as valuable infrastructure and can become a meeting point for environmentally aware and like-minded people in the city. We are excited to see which forms will be located where and how.

Population of Graz as well as demand for new, year-round free time spending facilities grows. This semester, we will search for the new forms and typologies of architectural spaces with a focus on water sport.

In southwestern part of Graz - Gries, between small creek Mühlgang and Puchstraße, old industrial district slowly fuses into the city. Old Taggerfabrik for fodder production changed into the multifunctional center for culture, sport and start-ups. Just next to the factory, new sport facilities like BLOC house center for boulder climbing or Ultimate Gym grew.

Surfers from Graz need official surfing facilities. This semester, we will create covered space for them and develop new waterbodies with special water pools. Environmental change requires us to act so we will provide these spaces also for the research and development facilities. Multifunctional rooms will be designed for start-ups, light production as well as creatives who need water for the development of their ideas. Design course is coupled together with the working group from architecture and timber engineering.

Population of Graz as well as demand for new, year-round free time spending facilities grows. This semester, we will search for the new forms and typologies of architectural spaces with a focus on water sport.
In southern part of Graz – Jakomini, close to Messe Graz and Ostbahnhof, there is the OBI Market with its large parking-lot. This parking-lot is oversized and slowly being replaced with a new development. We will do the same and densify it!
We will add to the heterogeneity of the area and introduce an unexpected sport facility with diving tower for jump-diving. This requires a deeper pools and higher room heights. Other new sports as underwater rugby could find their space here. Saunas and additional sport facilities are expected as well. As part of social inclusion, we will create spaces for gastro scene. Professional wine or water tasting, coffee cupping and similar food pleasures in form of tasting academy will seat here. Start-ups could also develop, present and sell their products here. Our group will cooperate with Institute of Structural Design. 

Hall Living - inner-city redensification in timber construction meets flexible and affordable housing

* A cross-scale inner-city redensification.
* The use of wood as a renewable raw material with a claim to system-compatible, circular and sufficiency-oriented construction.
* A form of housing in which togetherness has high priority and makes affordable housing possible.

In the context of the workshop, the compressed housing form of hall living will be highlighted. Permanent components of the space are defined and reduced to the most necessary. The created free living space is available to the residents in its flexibly use and expandable form.

Basic principles of timber construction design can be tested in the project of a hall extension in an inner-city Wilhelminian-era neighborhood. The reflected use of modular elements strengthens the system concept and addresses current issues such as prefabrication and circular construction.

Split is the second largest city of Croatia and the main urban area in the region of Dalmatia. Due to its strategic location on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, it has been an intraregional transport hub since its founding - long before Diocletian, the last Roman Emperor, began building his fortified palace in 293 AC. The Diocletian Palace has, over the centuries, become the framework for a modern, lively city where tradition and innovation, locals and tourists meet.

The very same Diocletian Palace encouraged the young Team X architects to refuse the tabula rasa methodology of modernism during the 1956 CIAM congress in Dubrovnik. Instead, they used it as model for a new methodologic strategy for modern architecture. In 1968, one of the attendants of the CIAM congress in Dubrovnik and GSD Harvard graduate, Architect Braco Mušič, led the winning team for the urban design competition of the Split III district. The competition comprised 14.000 housing units for approx. 50.000 residents and the corresponding schools, kindergartens, playgrounds, department stores, offices and restaurants plus an university campus and even beaches and facilities for sports and recreation.

Even though not everything was built as originally planned, Split III is nowadays, more than 50 years after completion, a very popular neighbourhood among Splicani. During this course, we will learn from its merits (the iconic combination of the urban and the architectural scales, the potential of the pedestrian zone, the balance between public and private areas, etc…) and will work on the upgrade of its western border area. 

For this task, we chose a site located at the corner Poljička Cesta / Ul. Bruna Bušića. Originally planned to house a market for the residents of Split III, it is currently severely underused as parking lot and fast food court. We take on the original purpose of the plot and update it in terms of environmental and social sustainability, thus intensifying the public realm in Split III.

"Without housing, everything is nothing"

Homeless in the city

The EU has set itself an ambitious goal: by 2030, there should be no more homelessness in the EU. In the case of Berlin, it should be possible to offer housing to all homeless people in the city by then. This plan involves a number of issues: In addition to the consideration of "where?" - justified by the pressure on the housing market and the shortage of land - the question of "how?" should be given priority.

For whatever reason, a wide variety of people in Central Europe remain without shelter. How is a roof over their heads designed that can do more than keep out the rain, a home that provides protection and privacy and at the same time offers meeting places for exchanges, a dignified place to stay?

The topic of urban living is given a clear form here. Nuances of the transitional areas between the public and the private must be set in a more targeted manner, the added value of the project for the immediate urban space must be clearly recognizable, and high-quality, private places of retreat must be developed in small space.

The project involves a field trip to the district Berlin Friedrichshain. The mixed spatial program of the townhouse will be refined during the workshop week under the preconditions.

In the sense of progressive, ecological, fast, low-noise and low-dust construction in the city, wood is the primary construction material. In the detailed elaboration, the system idea with corresponding components, connections and assemblies is required, as well as the observance of the premises of industrial prefabrication.