E1 Bachelor Design Course TRANS FORMATIONS: An Urban Archipelago for Science in Innsbruck 

As part of the i.SD and its overarching theme of a new „House of Science“ in Tyrol, this semester’s E1 Design Studio will propose a series of interdisciplinary, hybrid interventions that together result in an Urban Archipelago for Science in Innsbruck. Relying on the existing urban framework, these spaces will be of parasitic nature and act as strategic catalysts to promote the Science Centre at large and to create an awareness of the importance of science in everyday life.
Focusing on the environmental and socio-cultural challenges of the Tyrolean alpine regions, that reach from global warming, the retreat of glaciers and shifting borders to social movements, territorial claim and living crisis, the individual projects will analyse and address areas of Trans-Formation to generate places of In-Formation.

“All history is nothing but a continuous transformation of human nature.” – Karl Marx
During times in which the world is facing environmental threats on a global level, unstable political, economical and socio-cultural challenges on a societal level, and a notion of unsettlement and insecurity on a personal level, we are confronted with constant transformations.
The normal state of things is constantly disrupted by the multi-layered and complex interlinkage of all these urgencies, thus constructing a world in which catastrophes and crisis can no longer be perceived as exceptions but start to define the everyday life. Whether they are temporary, periodical or indefinite, these events change our perception and understanding of what we have become accustomed to as normality, safety and order.
Although these environmental and social transformations result in various fields of uncertainty, their retrospective analysis allows us to learn from the past while the initiation of prospective measures enables us to reduce the level of unpredictability of future scenarios alike, improving social and existential resilience of mankind. These prospective measures cover various fields of science and rely on a wide range of scientific research methods that start to deconstruct and unfold the complexities of human-nature relationships.

DESIGN PROPOSAL
The E1 studio will engage with the local challenges of environmental and socio-cultural transformations in the Alpine regions of Tyrol through the lens of science. As discussions for a new Science Centre in Innsbruck are ongoing, we will propose small scale interventions within the city of Innsbruck that correspond with the institution at large and create moments of interaction between the public and various scientific disciplines at carefully chosen locations.
Working with the built city fabric we will generate volumetric structures that correspond and merge with existing buildings, voids and thresholds. With a highly analytical and volumetric approach, we will aim to create transitory spaces for the representation of transforming places. Generating a multi-disciplinary environment, students will address both natural and social sciences as well as humanities to enable challenging conflicts and to stimulate discussions of present issues within a defined spatial framework.
The crafted spaces will be adaptive and therefor responsive to ongoing exhibitions, incorporate areas of display for selected collections and activate the public realm through the implementation of collective and inclusive programs. As a studio we will compose an urban archipelago for science in the city.
DESIGN METHODOLOGY
Students will begin their investigations through analytical and informative site research, observing human behaviour, interaction and movement patterns within the built urban fabric. Existing building structures, voids and thresholds will be analysed through drawing and digital documentation to understand how different spatial constraints direct and impact the speed, pace and direction of users as well as the atmosphere experienced by them. These studies will be compiled in an atlas of transitory sites which will start to inform the project boundaries of the Urban Archipelago for Science in Innsbruck.
The individual projects will define one field of Trans-Formation that will enable social and spatial intersections between science and the public. We will work through a volumetric and data-driven design process, both through three-dimensional drawing as well as digital and physical model making, in order to test and to generate adaptable and transformable parasitic spaces.
DESIGN DELIVERABLES & FORMAT
The studio project challenges students to engage in a dynamic exploration of analytical and artistic expression and volumetric design thinking by creating an architectural proposal for the Urban Archipelago for Science in Innsbruck.
By synthesising traditional and modern techniques, students will explore and represent their projects through various drawings and formats such as maps, diagrams, floor plans, elevations, section and explanatory axonometrics; renderings and atmospheric views of three-dimensional volumetric designs; physical model building techniques such as laser cutting, casting, and 3D printing.
The final submission will conclude with data-driven and conceptual diagrams followed by a full set of architectural drawings including a site plan, spatial plans, elevations, sections, three-dimensional drawings and views as well as a physical model.