Fostering Change through Images: How Architects Can Lead the Conversation
Prize for Architectural Design Excellence 2021
An essay by Jacob Leckie Schluessel & Ting-Chun Yang Undergraduate
Berkeley
(own photography)
Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence 2021 Fostering Change through Images: How Architects Can Lead the Conversation 2
image above: The church St. Severin and its adjacent church square (own photography)
T hroughout history, architects and urban plan ners have more than once been enablers of the display of wealth and power. We are taught about the Stourhead Estate in the United King dom as a marvellous example of the English Landscape Garden whilst omitting the involvement of the builder’s family in speculation in the transatlantic slave trade. We are taught about the creation of suburbs in the United States as a result of economic prosperity and advancement in industrial prefabrication rather than mentioning its role in the effort to en hance residential segregation. We learn about Frederick Law Olmsted’s Central Park in New
An essay by Jacob Leckie Schluessel & Ting-Chun Yang (jacob.schluessel@rwth-aachen.de, ting-chun.yang@rwth-aachen.de)coverimage:StourheadEstate
York City without talking about the Seneca Vil lage community that fell victim to its creation. Needless to say, if architecture acting as a physical manifestation of power were the only means of artistic expression for members of our profession it most certainly would be the inescapable agent of our downfall. Among few other professions, architects have the rare ability to work prospectively. Architects can portray the future in a way that seduces people into imagining alternatives to the existing sta-
Fostering Change through Images: How Architects Can Lead the Conversation
image below: bird’s eye perspective of Martin Bachem’s “Stadtplastik” (2.2.2021: tent/uploads/2014/09/Stadtansicht-1120x622.jpg)www.stadtplastik.de/wp-con
Well aware that his proposal “Stadt plastik” was far from providing a feasible solu tion within the political climate at that time, Bachem’s rendered images and collages created a thought-provoking vision that was im possible to ignore. Due to the imposing nature of images, his proposal triggered instant press coverage. What followed was a public discus
tus quo.Like many German cities that are af fected by rural-urban migration, the city of Cologne is facing a growing shortage of hous ing and is projected to gain another 200.000 inhabitants by the year of 2040, according to a study commissioned by the provincial government. To fight the mounting challenges of housing shortage, land use for urbanisation and climate change, the young local architect Martin Bachem proposed the construction of a high-rise ring in 2015 that would symbolically represent the old medieval city wall and create living space for 100.000 new residents.
sion about the future of the city involving the mayor, the head of the city planning depart ment and local residents. Martin Bachem’s proposal is proof that architects can influence their environment not only by creating build ings - and moreover suggests that visualising ideas and offering new perspectives should be the driving force behind our work.
Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence 2021
Fostering Change through Images: How Architects Can Lead the Conversation
A glimpse at the business practices of real-estate investment company Signa in col laboration with world-renowned David Chip perfield Architects is a clear illustration of a contrary use of images for the development of large shopping malls throughout Germany. With the help of the architectural office, the inves tor publishes rendered images of the proposed new buildings that are calculated to give the impression of historical legitimacy within the
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image above: historical buildings along the village’s main road (own photography)
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struck the region in the 1970s, the municipality of Loevenich that had remained independent until then, finally gave up its hyperlocal identity in favour of a superordinate identification with the city of AlongCologne.withthe loss of its administrative autonomy, the incorporation meant ceding all planning authority to the central body of gov ernment in Cologne. As a result of the regional incorporation effort, suburbs were neglected which is indicated by the fact that the main focus lay on touristic city centres. As dormi tory towns, suburbs were seen as a means to an end. Little to no attention was paid to green spaces and places of public life that were tra ditionally centred around the local church par ish found no secular equivalent. With the de mise of stationary retail, the genius loci today is characterised more by dependence on the city of Cologne than by a spirit of its own. Within the perimeter of a city of one mil lion inhabitants, Loevenich is considered one of eighty six “Veedel”, which is the Cologne di alect word for quarter or neighborhood. If one views the city as fabric with the weaving-relat ed terms tissue, texture, thread and knot, then none of the latter can be found in this part of the city, at most indications of a once flourish
Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence 2021
the ancient Roman route tothe city of Aachen (latin: Aquisgranum), Lo evenich was for many centuries an insignifi cant village outside the city walls of Cologne, whose morphology was mainly shaped by its three farmhouse courtyards and the houses of agricultural workers scattered along the main road. The construction of the railroad and rap id population growth during the industrial rev olution encouraged workers in factories in the nearby city of Cologne to settle in Loevenich, commute to work by train and thereby escape the problem of inner-city housing shortage. This marked the beginning of its development towards a dormitory town and suburb of the adjacent city. When a wave of incorporations
Fostering Change through Images: How Architects Can Lead the Conversation
The comparison of the proposal “Stadt plastik” for the city of Cologne by Martin Bachem and the shopping mall project in Berlin by David Chipperfield Architects offers a critical insight into the ambivalence between con tribution and complicity that shapes the archi tectural profession. Facing social constraints of receiving recognition as young future ar chitects on a city wide platform, we decided to focus our query on the local community of Cologne-Loevenich.Locatedalong
surrounding neighbourhood. For their shopping mall project in Germany’s capital Berlin, the company proposed the reconstruction of the colossal facade of the a building that was erected in the same place in the 1930s and presented an atmospherical rendered image showing a white, bourgeois elite dancing on the rooftop. This, however, stood in stark contrast to the diverse und multi-cultural neighbour hood of Berlin-Kreuzberg in which they sought building permission und faced a barrage of criticism by local politicians and residents. As a reaction to the public’s indignation, images and terminology were changed and mobile cafés set up in order to imply genuine enthusiasm for the local community and to deceive the public into accepting their proposal. In this case, the architects act alongside the investors as antagonists to the public’s interest.
Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence 2021
The village square in front of a threenave basilica from the twelfth century with its adjacent parish hall once was the centre of social life within the majority Catholic village community. Today the architectural ensemble creates an ironic kind of construction site aes thetic. With a sea of parked cars and sealed as phalt surfaces, it is reminiscent of the mournful fate of the old piazza in the Sicilian town of Giancaldo as pictured in the movie Cinema Paradiso. Merely on two weekends per year are marquees set up on the square to provide a temporary indoor space for local festivities.
A 19th century clay pit which, after being ex hausted, functioned as a waste disposal site, was converted into a field for the local soccer club in the 1950s. Since the completion of the new development area in the neighbouring village a few years ago and the subsequent move of the club, the field has become wildly over grown and lies fallow for lack of major initia tives. In order to take advantage of affordable sports and leisure facilities, residents have no choice but to seek them in one of the neigh bouring villages that are separated from Loev enich by agricultural land.
ing social life.
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Within walking distance of the church is a pub whose long annex building in brick was originally used as a ballroom and later, until the
1970s, as a movie theatre. Today the building is divided into separate units for commercial use and is not open to the general public. Although these three examples are symptoms of a larger problem, they are a re flection of the indifference and unwillingness of municipal planning commissions to maintain or create publicly accessible places for social life. Looking beyond the current situation, a deeper inquiry into Cologne’s history of social norms and business practices reveals some of the challenges that are still relevant today. Unfortunately for its residents, the city of Cologne is known to have a history of dis regarding their wishes with a clique of politi cal dignitaries that practice nepotism and re ject transparency. The idea of intermingling to procure reciprocal benefits has its roots in the Middle Ages when Cologne removed itself from the political influence of the archbishop as ter ritorial sovereign and expanded its power as a free city within the Holy Roman Empire along the principle trade route of the Rhine river. Today, this practice known as “Koelsche Kluengel” continues to be rooted in local culture. While its effects are not always negative, this nontransparency opens the door to corruption,
Fostering Change through Images: How Architects Can Lead the Conversation
image above: house that formerly was the local book binder’s workshop (own photography); image left: historical brick building along the village’ main road (own photography)
Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence 2021
Communicating this vision to the local community and creating an action plan to be presented in a public event, an exhibition and a local information campaign is the objective of the third stage. The local community is en couraged to actively participate in the dis course with its own ideas and to influence the decision. The design team as decision-making body incorporates the results into the consid eration process. Communication takes place in an open and reciprocal manner. As a general rule of thumb refining the vision should happen in close collaboration with the residents. However, when there is a discrepancy between the values of the planners and members of the local community, it must be considered not a backlash but a chance for the design team to eliminate preconceptions and reshape the idea of what an ideal community should be. This open forum discussion is posed to create a dy namic and enthusiasm among residents that can be capitalised on through a reliable and binding confrontation of municipal government officials with the results. In this way, the local
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Fostering Change through Images: How Architects Can Lead the Conversation
at bullet points in election manifestos of major political parties reveals a lack of courage and direction concerning the built environment. Suburban communities are simply seen as areas with lower property prices where land can continuously be consumed to advance the urban sprawl through large-scale developments of single-family homes. For a steadily growing community like Loevenich, this only exacerbates the need for a compre hensive strategy toward community interac tion.
With the accelerated demise of sta tionary retail and the rise of remote working, propelled by the world-wide Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, life is slowing down and the place of residence is gaining importance among local residents. This becomes particularly apparent in the increased frequency of pedestrians fill ing the sidewalks and field paths. Throughout the village, residents have demonstrated their newly awakened sensibility for their home by planting a new tree, setting up a new fence in their garden or carrying out minor renovations in the hermetically sealed interior. However, this enthusiasm often finds its stylistic articulation in a style inspired by holiday destinations and magazines that promote something Rey ner Banham may call a „mass produced fantasy for people to live in” rather than being rooted in the identity and fabric of the village.
daily life and their relationship to their place of residence. In addition, representatives of lo cal clubs and organisations are consulted to learn about their current activities and detect possible envisioned changes that have not yet been implemented due to a lack of momentum. Finally, we wish to acquire an in-depth knowledge about local guidelines and the feasibility of interventions by establishing contact with the municipal planning authority.
To address these challenges and react to a lack of vision for the local community by municipal politicians, we envision a multi-fac eted course of action in four stages designed to activate the local community. Residents are called to participate in grass-roots processes and create an atmosphere of commitment and change.The first stage of the approach includes a series of interviews conducted with local res idents in a manner resembling anthropological field research to gather information about their
In the second stage, the information is compiled, evaluated and interpreted to form the basis for a new vision for the suburban neighbourhood of Loevenich. A design team consisting of future architects, urban and landscape planners can exploit all available means of visualisation to produce clear images based on the community’s input more directly in touch with the people. Planned interventions can range from permanent to easily reversibel and temporary measures, but must always be truly attentive to the needs of its users.
sets a focus on ostentatious projects in the inner cities and creates politically disengaged residents.Aglimpse
Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence 2021
Fostering Change through Images: How Architects Can Lead the Conversation
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As future architects we are not political decision-makers, we plant the seeds of change with our ideas. The complex nature of social problems often exceeds our sphere of influ ence. But we cannot withdraw ourselves from the responsibility we bear. It touches our pro fessional ethics to be true to our inner stance, to not simply produce designs that directly correspond to our client’s wishes - but instead thoroughly question them and push the bound aries toward a less conventional, more intelli gent solution.Localresidents
know what is good for their well-being. They know what is good for their health. They know that their community
community can gain the upper hand to demand better green spaces, a community building or a youth center.Inthefourth and final stage, we hope to create a virtual and physical community hub as a breeding place for ideas relating to commu nity improvement. The loosely defined community site is not a house, but a temporary or per manent space that can feel like a welcoming home and be used for events and social gath erings among neighbours. Making architecture, urban and landscape planning participatory allows the local community to continuously rein vent itself and reengage residents with the real world and the significance of a versatile physi cal experience close to our place of residence. Most importantly, any undertaking should help shape understanding not only of the city but of their neighbourhood in particu lar as a public living room. Our local community should be an extension of our own home, not an anonymous lifeless space. Becoming spokes people that reject the planning authority’s in-
image below: a local pub and its large hall its adjacent hall that once invited
difference toward the city on a neighbourhood scale and triggering a grass-roots initiative in creases sensitivity to existing qualities and is a goal well worth striving for.
This essay was submitted as finalist’s essay for the Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence 2021 and received an Honorable Mention.
Jury: Gauri Bharat, Aboubacar Komara, Clare Robinson, Jørgen Bech Taxholm ussel-and-ting-chun-yang-essay)say/2021/winning-essays/jacob-leckie-schle(http://berkeleyprize.org/competition/es
Temin, Peter, and Hans-Joachim Voth. “Riding the South Sea Bubble.” The American Economic Review 94, no. 5 (2004): 1654–68.
While local residents often have suggestions for improvement, it needs powerful imag es to induce vision into the conversation and well-executed initiative to convince people of an idea’s feasibility. As future architects, we are called upon to use our unique skillset to serve the need of our local community by guiding it step by step from concept to fruition. In doing so, we do not simply change the built environ ment one building at a time, but more strikingly create an atmosphere of positivity towards the future by spreading ideas that travel from one mind to another without boundaries.
Fostering Change through Images: How Architects Can Lead the Conversation
Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence 2021
Rothstein, Richard: “The Color of Law” Liveright Publish ing Corporation, 2018.
can evolve towards being more user-friendly and sustainable. As future architects and ur ban planners, we must help weave these perspectives into a bigger fabric of visions and guide the public toward designs that advocate a more inclusive, open and just community for all.
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Tajeri,http://www.stadtplastik.deNiloufar:“Architektur als ideologische Dien stleistung – Eine Projektentwicklung am Hermannplatz” ARCH+, vol. 241, December 2020, pp. 46-55.
References:
Sennett Richard. Building and Dwelling : Ethics for the City. Allen Lane an Imprint of Penguin Books, 2018.