newnow: Productive Horizons

newnow explores the vast changes in our contemporary society and asks: how does architecture adapt or react to these changes? The goal is to identify strategic design objectives and facilitate alternative development models that can provide empowered solutions for the global challenges of the today’s world. The students are given the freedom to imagine and test new visions for the present processes, each semester with a different focus. This semester is focused on rethinking urban productivity.

In recent decades, cities have experienced extensive urban renewal, primarily focusing on housing and occasionally incorporating offices and other amenities that assure a vibrant living environment. Nevertheless, a critical aspect has consistently been overlooked: the productive economy.

Historically, the productive sector has been intentionally segregated from other city components. Zoning regulations, which emerge following decades of urban growth, controlled land use by placing heavy industry away from residential areas. However, changes in the field, driven by digitalisation and economic transformation, are progressively blurring the lines between living, working, leisure, and productive labor, which results in the creation of mixed spatial arrangements.

How can we integrate some of the production activities back in the city, creating truly dynamic districts with higher density and diversity? What potential benefits could be derived from such reintegration? How can the production-consumption loop be relocalised to improve mobility and to contribute to an attractive urban area, that would be lively 24-7 and would complement the quality of living areas around it and beyond?

newnow: Productive Horizons critically evaluates the mixed-city concept, particularly in terms of the productive economy, addressing spatial and social disparities in living and working conditions. Reintegrating living and working could improve the hybridization between local and global economies, macro and micro strategies. The studio explores ways to strengthen small-scale urban manufacturing, recycling industries, and spaces for small and medium enterprises within the urban fabric. The primary objective is to emphasise the integration of production within the city, promoting sustainability, reducing transportation-related emissions, encouraging circular economies, and ultimately fostering collaboration to enhance the quality of urban life. Promoting production within urban areas should involve its seamless integration into the urban landscape, fostering visibility, establishing connections with everyday life, nurturing its presence, and celebrating its contributions.

The students will delve into these topics through research and design studies aimed at developing building types aligned with current and future urban productivity, especially within the context of urban densification in Berlin. The ultimate goal is to envision a more inclusive, sustainable, and productive mixed city.

Method and expected output:

The working process is organised in five ACTS or two main phases. In the initial weeks, there will be an immersive research and analysis period, during which students will craft their narratives and programs for design projects on the topic of urban productivity. In the subsequent phase of the semester, this narrative will serve as the foundation for their design work and will continuously evolve as their ideas take shape. The projects will consider current and anticipated changes in production paradigms, going beyond problem-solving to imagining a better future.