The atlas »Modes of Realising - Project Neue Heimat« brings together aspects of possible, non-profit modes of realising housing. The transposition of these aspects in the form of project developments now follows this atlas produced in the context of the Urban Design Project 1 under the annual theme Modes of Realising.

Housing is fact! Never have we experienced and lived such diverse and rich lifestyles; never have we been as mobile as today; never have we used more space for individual use. We have succeeded in creatively appropriating the existing housing stock, thereby re-negotiating the modern function-based zoning. Our lifestyles have overwritten the old hardware.

We have recognised that specific typologies are particularly well-suited for today’s urban life. Particular spaces therefore have particular qualities that can be transposed into new modes of realising. The urban block, for instance, allows for flexibility and variability that as such are impossible to plan but have to emerge through practice and action. Urban life as lived practice has tapped into these potentials and it is our declared aim to enable such and similar qualities to emerge through future appropriation. However, there is an astonishing absence of these insights into planning and building processes despite the rise of participatory approaches. What’s missing are the articulation and representation of collective interests into high quality spatial organisation.

The Interdisciplinary Project will propose an innovative architectural and urban design approach building on attempts to skilfully assemble different requirements and necessities (underused building stock; translation of existing diversity of lifestyles into new modes of planning, building and associating; tackling questions of types of ownership and social relations) in the form of spatial products.