100 hours urban intervention

Architecture as action starts due to the conjunction of social systems and spatial structures. The methodological starting point of this project is lying in the intensity of the working process. In a set time frame of 100 hours urban interventions are developed starting from the conceptual vision, through design elaboration till the implementation and the physical realisation of a project in a specific urban context. The city serves here as a laboratory. The interventions intervene on different levels into the context and change it temporarily – the temporary is thus integral part of the corresponding strategy.

It is the objective of the project to develop spatial interventions in an intercultural working process that intervene directly into specific and contextualized situations around the Zunda area in Riga. The starting point is a spatial analysis that later enables a (design) reaction to specific social situations. The aim of the workshop is to intervene in an existing urban tissue and to corroboratively produce a temporary place that will explore the potentials of urban public space in terms of creating a platform for interaction, informal meeting and new imaginations.

“100 students – 100 hours – 100 euros” is the starting point for the workshop that took place during a study trip of first year students of the Technical University Berlin. In cooperation with the architectural faculty of the Riga International School for Economics and Business Administration almost 100 students have worked on 9 different projects in the harbour area of the Latvian capital Riga.