Engaged Autonomy denotes methods and strategies which question and extend pre-ordained systems and urban design processes in order to achieve new forms of engagement. Collaborative thinking and an active involvement on the part of the public in peripheral and conflict-ridden urban areas is made possible through the employment of new media and innovative design processes. Both new technologies and an interdisciplinary understanding of architecture extend the possibilities of collective action, creating new spaces for autonomous forms of expression and a bending of the rules by which urban planning and architecture is goverened.

The Vienna-based group of young architects have embarked on a project which seeks to overcome the architectural limitations of social housing, and at the same time succeed in incorporating the potential inhabitants in the design process. The project stands at the crossroads of two contrasting systems of logic: individualization and specification of each housing unit, and community orientation and collectivisation of the entire housing complex. The processes involved in this form of participatory architecture are both lengthy and complex, but the result pushes the boundaries of social housing and creates a new sense of collective identity. All the 39 apartments are different, meeting a wide variety of current lifestyles. The building thus presents an interweave of heterogeneous typologies, and the living areas are accompanied by many collective areas and facilites, including a library, multimedia room, laundry room offices (for working at home). All the areas of community interaction are located in the heart of the building, and form its nucleus. The final result is structured around a radical programmatic line of thought, and a process which is rare in this field of architectural design. ‚Our basic principles for this new situation is to support a social mix as a platform for communication A merger of living working and culture, Ways of unconventional dwelling`

more text

www.bkk-3.com

In 1995 Philippe Grégoire and Claire Petetin opened their agency in Paris and won the ‘L`Envers des Villes` prize with their study of a portable dwelling for new urban nomads in Berlin - the portable house is conceived as a technological extension of the person and his senses: it puts people very close to the original isotropic space of the metropolis, nowadays transformed into an infinite host of spatially scattered micre-spaces. They have continued their exploration of future urban styles of living and an experimentation with new communications technologies by coming up with temporary shelters with many variables and ephemeral functions.

more text

Caroline Raspé founded her architectural office in 1994. In 1996 she joined the BDA Berlin, where she was on the board between 1996 and 1998. in 1999 she was named the art&architecture representative for the BDA Berlin. With Joyce Hari, she is co-curator of the exhibition "Athens Now” - contemporary Greek architecture.

more text

www.raspe-architekten.de

Maria Papadimitriou is an artist whose previous work has revolved around the notions of parody, the paradox and personal identity. The Temporary Autonomous Museum for All (T.A.M.A): social facilities for itinerant populations in Greece is a project which has developed through her personal engagement as she started to apply her past experience to social matters: Attracted by the locality of Avliza in Menidi, a shabby area in western Athens used as a pied-à-terre by migrant populations such as the gypsies and the "vlach-Rumanians” from Veria, she has developed a large interdisciplinary network to develop the facilities and the structures not yet available in this peripheral area. ‘A network without electricity` is what she describes as having developed between artists, architects, and the makeshift settlement, though Papadimitriou acts as the lynchpin, making the needs of the community known to her associates, negotiating with the mayor for planning permission for ‘compact buildings` - an architecture which fulfils basic needs.

more text

The Haus des Lehrers on Alexanderplatz in Berlin has made the headlines over the past year, and has within this time become increasingly recognised as a space for temporary use. The small companies, which represent the gamut of self-employed professions in Berlin, became a community which was increasingly defined by collaborative actions, and whose perception of the city space, and particularly Alexanderplatz which faces such radical change, was altered and defined by the collective temporary use of the building. The tenants organised exhibitions, events, and urban actions. Haus des Lehrers became the synonym for a collective spirit which is involved in reanimating spaces in the city which can be occupied for a limited period. Haus des Lehrers symbolised a way of life which has increasingly established itself through the in-between and temporary spaces which Berlin had to offer.

more text

After gaining experience worldwide, Steffen Lehmann founded the architects BDA in Berlin in 1993. He has taught worldwide until 1998. In Berlin he designed significant buildings such as the seat of the Federal association of German banks, and the French embassy at Pariser Platz. He also developed the concept for the use of the S-Bahn arches in Berlin Mitte.

more text