Ziegelhof Brauerei - a second life - Ziegelhof Brauerei - a second life -
Second life
The programmatic title of our studio associates two things. Because the studio is dedicated to the re-use of buildings, it is obvious that by ‚Second Life‘ we mean, on the one hand, the re-use of hardware. Hardware that would otherwise be discarded, because a building or a production facility is taken out of service, because new requirements demand better performance - computers - or because the power gradually decreases - batteries - but there is still a lot of potential life left.
On the other hand, ‚Second Life‘ also describes a digital parallel world as an idealising alternative to disdainful reality. The human need for illusion is turned into a game. Those who do not succeed in self-optimisation in the analogue, physical world - that is, the vast majority of people - have the opportunity in the commercial metaverse of ‚Second Life‘ to create a better, more attractive image of themselves and to interact with other self-optimised avatars.
Bird‘s eye view and frog‘s perspective
These two diametrically opposed aspects span two poles, as it were, between which the architectural design process moves: while the reuse of used but still usable substance looks at things from very close up and takes them in hand, we turn the magnifying glass around, as it were, when we develop alternative scenarios, visions, utopias for concrete places. We look through the wide-angle lens instead of the magnifying glass, seek the bird‘s eye view instead of the eye level.
Utopias for concrete places
So we are looking for nothing less than visions that resonate with utopian potential, the promise of a better future - and this for real, existing places. We do not want to develop these visions by ignoring or smashing real conditions, but within these conditions and out of them. That is a high, not always redeemable claim.
We are convinced that it is precisely from the friction on the conditions that the productive heat and the flights of sparks arise, which are what give rise to architecture in the first place. In this sense, resistances are not obstacles but catalysts. The confrontation with the existing buildings proves to be a particularly productive resistance.
selected propositions
David Baumgartner
„[...] the Ziegelhof Areal becomes a natural part of the urban fabric. Thereby the old backyard is turned inside-out, creating a courtyard with a public passage. The new and the old are interconnecting and are creating a new entity. From outside the building complex appears as a collage of independent objects. In the inside however it becomes one spatial organism whose divisions are concealed [...]“
...see all the projects in this year's Workbook!
