Below is the abstract and film preview from my masters thesis. I will try to put a few dozen interviews online soon with links to films that I am developing that analyze variations in Berlin's collective housing: between privately owned (Baugruppen), demands for resocialization (Kotti & Co), and commons models of cooperative duel ownership (Mietshäuser Syndikat).
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Title:
CRITIQUE
OF ARCHITECTURE – ARCHITECTURE AS CRITIQUE
Towards a
conceptualization of critical urban
praxis (theory/proposition/physical activity) as a strategy of
architectural commoning analyzed through the Baugruppe and Mietshäuser Syndikat
in Berlin
Abstract
This project develops
a critique of architecture and suggests that local architectural strategies can
forge alliances with social movements to produce material critique of society.
First, the critique of architecture can reveal contradictions in how we
conceptualize architecture in order to suggest a balance between critical
proximity and critical distance – the actor-network assemblage and the forces
of planetary urbanization. Second, I ask specific questions regarding new
collective housing strategies in Berlin, whether material form or economic
contracts adequately accommodate various visions of a collective society.
Third, I will extrapolate upon a critical urban praxis, which identifies
three parts: (1) theory/research, (2) propositions/models, and (3) physical
activity/embodied action, each of which must retain the three fundamentals
of critical theory (1) reflexivity, (2) critique of instrumental reason, (3)
illuminate pathways from the actual to the possible. Fourth, the project is
then localized in Berlin by analyzing the cycles of history, divided city,
restructuring of the post-1989 economy and scales of neoliberal urbanization.
The state has rolled back state programs, such as social housing, while rolling
out new incentives for private housing (such as giving tax refunds for
Baugruppen projects). Fifth, the comparison between Baugruppe and Mietshäuser
Syndikat illustrates similarities in material form, and differences in
ownership: the Baugruppe have private individual and the Mietshäuser Syndikat
have dual ownership. The positive narrative inaccurately deceives the
professional architecture community and the broader public of the community
value of new social architectural models, while tenant resistance continues and
housing is needed for those without capital.
