NOWs: Floating University – The future of the kitchen

26 July 2018 / Nows

Floating University

The future of the kitchen

SOE Kitchen team and Institut für Raumexperimente are invited by Markus Baader and Anna Kokalanova to join project presenations and discussion on Space Production Studio – Floating University Berlin: Designing around the kitchen table.

From May to September 2018 raumlaborberlin creates a visionary inner city offshore laboratory for collective, experimental learning. With numerous partners they experiment with knowledge transfers and the formation of transdisciplinary networks to challenge routines and habits of urban practices – Floating University Berlin.

The site is an almost forgotten place in the center of Berlin: An old, concrete rainwater basin right next to the Tempelhof airfield. A third landscape on the verge of disapearance. Here raumlaborberlin builds a generic structure, a drilling platform for a scarce urban resource: sensitivity for decision-making.

Students and scientists from more than twenty international universities come together with artists from all over the world, local experts, architects, musicians, and dancers. Together, they research and investigate the daily routines and practices of urban living and formulate visions and ideas for a better future city In the territory around the rainwater basin Floating University is looking for contemporary, resilient forms of urban practice with a visionary focus on an unknown future.

In April, students and their teachers from Berlin, Europe and elsewhere collaborate on building the campus: learning spaces, workshops, an auditorium, a performative laboratory tower for experimental water filtration systems, a discursive kitchen, a bar as a protest generator and a fast food greenhouse. Spaces are created for exchanging knowledge within experimental, educational formats. A place where transdisciplinary research teams and diverse positions come together to tackle the complex questions of urban practices.

During three ‘Open Weeks’ in May, July and September we invite the local and international public to explore the rainwater basin and the campus, as well as to participate in workshops, lectures, seminars, hot tub talks, concerts and performances.

Project proposals. Photo: Christina Werner

Discussions around the kitchen table. Photo: Christina Werner

The kitchen at the Floating University. Photo: Christina Werner