“Cities as Power Plants”
Without public space, the private sphere lacks context; both areas are marked by constant reciprocity and mutual interdependence. Accelerated by the way in which both spheres are becoming superimposed by digital realities, this structural fabric is currently shifting massively. Forming the physical framework of this fabric, architecture and urban planning are equally confronted with new needs, potentials and challenges. Therefore, Superscape 2014 focuses on the interface between public urban space and private living space, inviting protagonists of architecture and space planning to submit their ideas and visions of future concepts. Which spatial practices will result from concepts already tested, such as home offices, guerrilla gardening, functional hybrids in the ground-floor zone, communicating façades, individually adaptable buildings or functionally open architecture? Which new forms of space usage between the private and public sphere are needed? Which frameworks can architecture and urban planning provide to reach these goals? How might this change the understanding of the private sphere and public space?
Given the pluralistic society and changing individual life situations, architecture that is elastic in form as well as in content is necessary. The use of architecture is not only a phenomenon of space, but also of time, being invariably embedded within a social and personal context. Buildings which are never finished, but grow and can be expanded according to their use, life spaces that can be adapted and designed according to private needs, as well as modular spatial solutions – all these open up new perspectives on architecture and potentially respond to the complexity of modern society.
