Studio Details

Location
Venice, Italy

Date
3-14th July, 2023
(8/9th weekend free unless notified otherwise)

Fee
2500 Euro

Studio Directors in Venice
Juan Lucas Young (director / partner, Sauerbruch Hutton), Mareike Lamm (partner, Sauerbruch Hutton), Christian Seidel, (associate, Sauerbruch Hutton)

Studio Project
Reuse and Circularity

Time Commitment
3.5hrs / day classes (+ field trips, lectures and site visits)
*students should expect to spend additional time outside class to develop their projects

Required Skills
No specific requirements

Required Software
No specific requirements

Resources
Laptop computer

Field Trips and Site Visits
Mestre modernism walk and M9 museum visit

Venice city walk with a focus on conversions and transformations

note: The cost of all studio activities are covered by the Venice Studio program (inc. any transport), therefore there is no additional cost to students.
A week-long public transport ticket and entry ticket to the Architecture Biennale (Giardini and Arsenale) are also included.

Studio Project

Shopping malls have been conceived as modern centres of commerce and social meeting points (sometimes even replacing the typologies of plazas/squares) and can be found in almost every European city centre. Due to the rise of online shopping, now enhanced by the onslaught of the pandemic, this typology is threatened to losing its relevance and it is becoming increasingly difficult to profitably run them in the city’s high streets, rendering large amounts of empty retail spaces in prime locations.

Dealing with these built relics of past realities within the inner city is one of the tasks for future urban developments the Western World is facing. Due to the shrinking of resources and the impact of climate change demolition and new construction is no longer an adequate i.e. can not be the only answer to deal with this problem. Building upon the concept of the circular economy it is important to identify and explore the potential of existing buildings and to implement new uses while keeping their structure as much and efficiently as possible.

The Centro Commerciale Le Barche in the centre of Mestre, built 1996 according to the design by Studio Ferrari Architetti, is a typical example of this. Using this building as a case study, the students will be asked to investigate the possibilities of subsequent (re)use of this typology while preserving as much as possible of the structure i.e. the embedded grey energy of the building. Within the design dismantled parts and materials of the shopping mall should be reused, possibly supplemented with other i.e. external materials to be identified, enhancing the circular strategy of the project.

In addition to the development of reuse concepts and to the exploration of spatial experiments within an existing framework the work should focus on cities as existing urban mines and the reused and refurbished department store itself as an urban mine of the future.

Sauerbruch Hutton

Sauerbruch Hutton is an international agency for architecture, urban planning and design. It was founded in London by Matthias Sauerbruch, Louisa Hutton in 1989 and is since 1993 based in Berlin, Germany. Juan Lucas Young became a partner in 1999. In 2020 the agency nominated 12 new partners and 8 associates.

Sauerbruch Hutton realises sustainable solutions for architectural projects, urban master plans, interiors, furniture and exhibitions. While the practice is noted for its synthesis of colour in the design process and for the use of fluid curvilinear forms, it also has been one of the most important and experienced representatives of sustainable building in Europe for around 30 years. Their planning approach combines functionality and ecological performance with sensuality and intuition. Their projects, developed for both private and public clients throughout Europe, stand for the concept of a responsible modernity, which seeks to communicate with its context – both urban and ecological.

The office’s best-known buildings include the GSW Headquarters in Berlin, the Federal Environment Agency in Dessau and the Brandhorst Museum in Munich. More recently, the Experimenta Science Centre in Heilbronn and the Museum District M9 in Venice Mestre were opened.

Outside of Germany the firm has worked on projects in the UK, Finland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Buenos Aires.

|| Berlin, Germany || Web link || Instagram link ||

Internships

Students accepted into the Sauerbruch Hutton Studio at Venice Studio may be considered for available internship or job opportunities at Sauerbruch Hutton. Selection of candidates is at the sole discretion of the studio director and Sauerbruch Hutton. Places are not guaranteed.

VS23 Program Information

For Deatiled Program Information click HERE

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