Design Studio – Београд (Belgrade) 2041
Belgrade, Berlin | April-July 2022
Engaging in teaching was not part of the CMMM project’s plan. However, an opportunity arose to invite Iva Čukić and Jovana Timotijević to co-teach a master-level design studio within the “Urban Design” program at TU Berlin during the summer semester of 2022. The studio was titled “Београд (Belgrade) 2041 – Futures of Post-Socialist Cities” and included twenty students. It included an excursion, which took place from 16 to 20 May and involved additional students and faculty members from TU Darmstadt and Michigan State University. Students were tasked with designing future scenarios for the site of the Belgrade Waterfront mega development until 2041, factoring in the roles and interests of different stakeholders in the form of a cost-benefit analysis and taking into account the social, economic, political, environmental, and cultural contexts and civic struggles. The resulting proposals ranged from utopic to dystopic visions, and the formats of communication varied (e.g., one group produced a short film). The feedback from the students about the learning experience and that of the Ministry of Space collective members about the usability of some of the produced materials for their work were very gratifying. In 2023, K LAB’s design studio focused on housing in Barcelona, and in 2024 its focus will shift to Berlin.
16–20 May // A group picture of the participants in the excursion that the Ministry of Space collective organized for students from TU Berlin, TU Darmstadt, and Michigan State University to familiarize with the context and the site of the exercise.
16–20 May // A picture from one of the discussion sessions with Iva Čukić and Jovana Timotijević.
16–20 May // A picture from the visit to the exhibition of the Belgrade Waterfront at the headquarters of the company developing it.
Scenario 1 // “Digital Dystopia,” by: Lina Helmstädter, Joanna von Essen, Vincent Binkau, Leila Rondic, Lilian Volpert.
Scenario 2 // “Democratic City,” by: Melanie Hartmann, Günes Knauer, Marie-Theres Lück, Adina Priedemann, Fanny Toutoute-Fauconnier.
Scenario 3 // “Sharing Commons,” by: Rabeea Abbasi, Saleh Ahmed Qazi, Yuqiu Liu, Yilong Wu.
Short video that presents the "Digital Dystopia" scenario by: Lina Helmstädter, Joanna von Essen, Vincent Binkau, Leila Rondic, Lilian Volpert.