Prekarität als Chance
We set up a workshop to investigate what it takes to downgrade ones personal life to the basics in regards to this semesters topic, "precarious habitation" at TU Graz.
Therefore a group of students moved to an abandoned warehouse in the city to stay and create for the duration of a week.
The aim was to question our lifestyles - what do we really need, what are we willing to invest?
The system we live in is becoming more and more vulnerable and it doesn't forgive a lot of mistakes. So if bad turns to worse, what will our options be?
By setting up this worst case scenario, we do a first step towards more conscious, more self-reflected living.
The individual projects grew organic, without predefined outcome. Some approached the topic rather theoretical, others used the chance of a first hand experience by salvaging material from the structure of the warehouse and building improvised shelters for the night.
After experiencing this first night, things became quite dynamic - issues like insulation, upcoming waste, water supply, food sources, heating, sanitary facilities etc became imminent and needed solutions...
Although groups and individuals built on their own, the experiment led to the formation of a community - the different projects started to complement each other until the group came up with the basic model of a tiny village.
the headquarter
the (industrial) campfire place - meeting point during events and for the evenings
building furniture for the community from salvaged material
the village's chicken shed
exploring and improvising sportive activities - team building
interiour of a shelter, even in precarious habitation art and coziness play an important role
interior of the headquarter, bottom left: candle stove; above: steam heater connected to hotplate, background: workspace and bed.
a solution for an architect's office - a one person - on demand workspace
further away from the village center, an installation referring to an industrial garden
all images by Clemens Nestroy (thank you!)
TU-Graz Wohnbau Workshop:
http://www.iwtugraz.at/iw/157515-workshop-3-tatschl.html