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• Team
  • Univ. Prof. Arch. Matthias Karch
  • Max Justus Hoven
  • Mohammad Reza Abdollahi Bidhendi
  • Nicole Nickel
  • Dr. Philipp Reinfeld
  • Łukasz Lendziński
  • Wolfgang Zurborn

• Guest lectures _WHERE ARE WE NOW?

• 2024
  • FT F60 bridge Brandenburg 
  • FT Cologne Deutz harbor 
  • AD Grossmarkthalle Cologne_01 
  • AD Grossmarkthalle Cologne_02 
  • AD Grossmarkthalle Cologne_03 
  • AD Grossmarkthalle Cologne_04 
  • AD Grossmarkthalle Cologne_05 
  • AD Marine Research Center Stavanger 
  • AD Fun Palace ICC Berlin 
  • FT Fun Palace ICC Berlin 
  • RO Architectural Narratives 
  • MD Tegel-Süd 
• 2023
  • AD Data Center A 100
  • AD LIB 686 Cologne_01
  • AD LIB 686 Cologne_02
  • AD LIB 686 Cologne_03
  • VR Dark Tourism
  • MD The Block: Narrative Models
  • MD City of Consumption
  • MD Sensitive Volume
  • MD Celluloid
• 2022
  • EX | GREY BOX TESTING _Workshop
  • EX | GREY BOX TESTING _ALMERIA
  • EX | GREY BOX TESTING _KOLWEZI
  • EX | GREY BOX TESTING _SILICON
  • EX | GREY BOX TESTING _AUTONOM
  • AD In Limbus
  • AD Atlantikwall
  • AD Zentrum für Fotografie_01
  • AD Zentrum für Fotografie_02
  • AD Zentrum für Fotografie_03
  • AD Zentrum für Fotografie_04
  • AD Immigrants hotspot Calais
  • AD Spreepark Berlin
  • AD EXPO2021 Transformation
  • AD Calais
  • RO Cooling Clay
  • RO Projective Fabrications
  • MD Dover
  • MD Blind Spot
  • MD Power of Spaces
  • MD Flickwerk
  • MD Scaffolds
• 2021
  • AD Gasometer Schoeneberg_01
  • AD Gasometer Schoeneberg_02
  • AD Gasometer Schoeneberg_03
  • AD Gasometer Schoeneberg_04
  • AD Perception as Reality
  • AD Ebertplatz Koeln_01
  • AD Ebertplatz Koeln_02
  • AD Ebertplatz Koeln_03
  • AD Rural Taxonomy - Rheinland
  • VR Agora Virtuell
  • MD Weaving Worlds
  • MD Behind the Scenes
  • MD Borders Crossing Borders
  • MD Perspektivwechsel
  • MD Ghosts of Beirut
  • MD Codifying Embodied Practices
  • MD Flux-House
  • MD Peripherie BS
• 2020
  • EX NEUXKÖLLN
  • CO VR Symposium, Hannover
  • FT Schnöggersburg
  • EX VR-Präsentation TU Berlin
  • AD Assemble - DisAssemble_01
  • AD Assemble - DisAssemble_02
  • AD Assemble - DisAssemble_03
  • AD Rural Taxonomy - Lausitz
  • AD Virtual Reality Center
  • AD Allotment Garden Berlin
  • AD Cinematheque for Berlin
  • AD Neft Dashlari
  • VR Unbefugte Nutzung
  • MD Rural Taxonomy - Almeria
  • MD Interrail Travel Guide
  • MD Interrail Speculative Narrations
  • MD Mapping MySpace
• 2019
  • EX Kino der Moderne
  • AD Yellow Tower Hildesheim
  • AD Silk Road Duisburg
  • AD Ein ZKM für Berlin_01
  • AD Ein ZKM für Berlin_02
  • AD European Hub Inden
  • AD ÖKOstrie 4.0_BioDigital
  • AD Reverse Architecture Chemnitz
  • FT Chemnitz
  • VR Zeichnen virtueller Raumbilder
  • VR Entwerfen in der Virtuellen Realität
  • VR Being a Drone
  • VR Raumzeichnen 1
  • RO Intrinsic Acoustics
  • MD Digital Stereotomy
• 2018
  • EX Roboramics _FUTURIUM
  • AD Avus North Curve Berlin
  • AD Wuppertal Reloaded
  • AD Neues Sehen
  • AD Benno Ohnesorg
  • RO Endless Space
  • RO Roboramics
  • AR Spatial Information
  • AR Augmented Realities
  • VR Fieldstation Berlin Teufelsberg_2
  • VR Fieldstation Berlin Teufelsberg
  • MD Bending Bamboo
  • MD Skins
  • MD flow fly fold
  • MD From Idea to Design
  • MD Digitale Fabrikation
  • MD Spatial Informa(p)tions
  • MD Information Space 2
• 2017
  • CO With eyes wide shut
  • EX Photo-Based Architecture
  • AD In.Form the Void
  • AD Info.Tecture
  • AD Transforming Tegel
  • AD The space could also be different
  • VR Mit weit geschlossenen Augen
  • VR This is real
  • VR Designing Virtual Realities
  • LE Image-based Architecture
  • RO Hello Robot
  • RO Robot wire bender
  • MD Cyber Space Modulators
  • MD Ghost towns
  • MD Motion - Space - Object
  • MD Dynamic Surfaces
  • MD Spatial modular systems
  • MD Foams
  • MD Tomorrow land
  • MD Information Space
  • MD Hybrid Processes 2
• 2016
  • EX March Formations
  • EX Modular spatial installations
  • AD Connecting the Dots
  • FT Connecting the Dots
  • AD Kultur.Raum Amsterdam
  • AD WissensRäume
  • AD Climate Mod Station
  • RO In-Space
  • RO Spatial Composition
  • MD Totale Inszenierung
  • MD Conduct light - Transform space
  • MD Hybrid Processes
• 2015
  • EX Bigger than life
  • AD Checkpoint Charlie theater
  • AD Honecker Bunker Prenden
  • FT Honecker Bunker Prenden
  • RO The Unseen Ornament
  • MD WovenWoodWall
  • MD Bunkerarcheology
  • MD Upside down
  • MD Floating Concrete Shells
  • MD One to One
  • MD Foldable Surfaces
  • MD Image Based Architecture
  • MD Linear Constructions
  • MD Reconstructing Tschernichow
  • MD Cut Fold Turn
  • MD Metabolism Printing
  • MD Enter the Void
• 2014
  • EX Smart modular systems
  • AD Nuremberg transscription
  • AD Avus north curve
  • AD Time out zones
  • FT Time out zones1
  • FT Time out zones2
  • AD Hacking Berlin Teufelsberg
  • FT Hacking Berlin Teufelsberg
  • AD Moma Tower
  • AD Highrise Topology
  • MD The Continuity of Space
  • MD Continuum Structures
  • MD Dissolving Funnel
  • MD Photopology 1
  • MD Cut to fit
  • MD Parametric tiling
• 2013
  • EX Out of Control
  • AD The sky over Berlin
  • FT The sky over Berlin
  • MD Wolfsburg Westhagen
  • MD Neighborhoods Westhagen
  • MD PanOrama: Alles sehen
  • MD Drawing machines
  • MD perForm
  • MD Scheme and system
  • MD Blowup
  • MD Follow the line
  • MD Micro Pneumatic Structures
• 2012
  • EX inForm
  • EX ConStructs
  • AD Bauhaus Museum
  • FT Bauhaus Weimar
  • AD Ernst Reuter Platz Berlin
  • MI nCloths
  • MD Raumparallaxe
  • MD Ambiguous composing
  • MD Mapping
  • MD Wooden Textiles
  • MD OnLine
  • MD Never trust a surface
  • MD Outskirt Phenomena
  • MD Aural Architectures
• 2011
  • EX SpaceInversions
  • AD Spree Space Bridge
  • AD Rhoen Flight
  • MD Space on the drawing
  • MD Exhilarated with the depth
  • MD Stop motion space
  • MD Urban-image-spacing
  • MD Bit-mapping space
  • MD Photo stitching reality
• 2010
  • EX Explosee
  • EX Video reprojections
  • EX Tape Deck
  • AD Sustainable Center Afsluitdijk
  • AD Hangar J 1000
  • FT Junkers+Bauhaus Dessau
  • MI Hangar J 1000
  • MD Medial design processes
  • MD Responsive_wall
  • MD The flow of things
  • MD PhotoStitching Reality
  • MD Space projections
  • MD Urban_bit_map
  • MD Google's street view
  • MD Structural constellations
  • MD Intersection space
  • MD Parts of space
  • MD The section maker
• 2009
  • EX Towers in CNC milling
  • AD Frankfurt high-rise
  • MD Complex capacities
  • MD Production from Reality
  • MD Medial design processes
  • MD The parallel city
  • MD The reality of the medial image
  • MD Sequential movie objects
  • MD Street View _Locative Virtuality
  • MD Soundscapes
  • MD Space modulator
  • MD Paper cuts
• 2008
  • EX Mediaturen
  • AD Home game
  • MD Smart surfaces
  • MD The imPerfect form
  • MD On growth and form
  • MD From image plane to depth
  • MD Projection drawings
  • MD Sight in movement
  • MD Walk the Line
• 2007
  • EX Towers in color
  • PE 2' 11'' Soundscapes
  • MD The imPerfect form
  • MD Rather than plan
  • MD Programme.System.Coincidence
• 2006
  • AD Berlin Vertical
  • AD Beijing Space
  • FT Visiting China
• 2005
  • PE Mediaturen
  • EX Raum:Ge:Bild:e

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN | A Participatory Data Center A 100 as a social, energetic and political resource

Berlin desperately needs a new public place where it can be seen how closely data storage and governance are linked, how great the danger of losing control is, and how necessary it is to concentrate artificial intelligence not in the servers of large private corporations, but in the hands of citizens in a decentralized way - and what opportunities then open up for a new form of enlightened civil society.

What might that place look like?

What we are looking for is a hybrid building consisting of a data center, library and museum of the future, a new educational facility where the entire population, students and politicians alike, can learn how dangerous the prevailing business model of digital capitalism is for democracy and self-determination. This public server farm could house coding schools, exhibition spaces and research facilities, even a center for digital sovereignty.

The enormous heat generated by the constant need to cool data could also give rise to entirely new public architectures: Libraries, sports halls, greenhouses, swimming pools, a collective living room for the village, domed tropical evergreen settlements, etc.

“In the age of data capitalism, such a public server farm is a symbol of civil liberty similar to what the town hall once was as a counterweight to the feudal lord's castle: a treasure trove of the digital age, in which data can be understood as collective property, a public good”. (Niklas Maak _SERVERMANIFEST)

The site in Berlin


The choice of the site is pointed: The current expansion of Berlin's A100 city highway, based on decades-old approval processes, now seems out of date: Berlin doesn't need any more cars; traffic jams are already chronic. So it could well be that the A 100 extension already under construction or planned for the future will never be completed due to the ongoing protests from civil society, and that this deepened canal will be turned into a green belt, a linear park for cyclists and pedestrians.

If this does not happen, the placement of the PARTICIPATORY DATA CENTER A 100 is still a sensible use of the airspace above this route. The image of the soon to be completely electrified traffic flows and that of the digital data flows would be literally and metaphorically superimposed as a strong sign of the actual and virtual fluidity and mobility of our living world. Everything flows.

The PARTICIPATORY DATA CENTER A 100 will at the same time help to overcome the enormous, even destructive fragmentation of the urban structure at this point, as it will connect the districts of Neukölln and Treptow like a 'Living Bridge’ or a 'Linear park' and contribute to the restructuring of this currently wildly anarchic, neglected urban space. With the right programming of the building, it will foreseeably become a new cultural and social center in that district.

Prof. Matthias Karch
_____________________________________________

Student work by: Alwin Foerstner, Henrik Frenzel, Jonas Halbruegge
Examiner: Prof. Matthias Karch
Co-examiner: Prof. Elisabeth Endres
Coachings: Nicolai Schlapps & team IMD