Spielraum

as a paradigm of experimental work

Architectural installation in the KG17 power plant,
Mühlau, Innsbruck24.5 - 06.09.2024

Project lead

Karolin Schmidbaur, Gilbert Sommer

Assistants

Valentin Fick
Jonas Klett

Students

Fabian Braun, Lukas Exner, Jonathan Fleger, Pauline Heil, Moritz Heger, Benjamin Hering, Anna Malina Heß, Marie Keppler, Julia Mehner, Pia Nagl, Susanne Oberhollenzer, Yunus Oezen, Tamara Pappalardo, Robin Pohl, Mario Pramstaller, Johannes Prsa, Yannick Reuter, Linda Schnirzer, Hanna Strassenberger.

Supporters

Dr. Manfred Joseph, Vulkanfiber Ernst Krüger GmbH & Co KG, Geldern
Georg Kofler, Vermessung Büro Kofler, Innsbruck
Christoph Opperer, Institut für experimentelle Architektur, Hochbau, Universität Innsbruck.

In recent years we have experienced increasing interest in the ability of entities other than (just) humans to act. These entities can be animals or plants, but also materials or simply “matter”. How does our world change when we allow or even invite this ability to act? How do we have to change to give it space? What does this mean for artistic work or architectural design when it is no longer solely the product of our human creative will? What does it mean for energy, form, space, material, production?

This is the subject of an exhibition by architecture students from the University of Innsbruck in the historic turbine hall of the former KG17 power plant in Mühlau. In an architectural spatial installation, the boundaries between the planned and the accidental, the controlled and the uncontrolled are explored. An “imprint” made of vulcanized fiber of the turbines that were formerly used to generate electricity from hydropower acts as a loose reflection in the volume of the turbine hall. When making this impression, reference is made to the process f deep drawing, one of the technical processing options for this malleable material.

In experimental, hands-on investigations, teams of students work together on the object over a period of three months to develop different ways to interact with this lively, “idiosyncratic” material. Design here does not lie in the implementation of a concrete idea of the designer, but in their individual, direct communication and interaction with the material’s own life. Form intention and material reaction are brought into harmony in a dialogue; The planned, unforeseen and coincidental are negotiated in an open process and integrated and developed in further work steps. The contribution of each actor is included in the overall product.

The built installation requires rethinking both the production of the molded parts and their assembly. Expected and unexpected form variations require tolerances in production, connection and in the architectural details to be developed for them. The individuality of the material exerts a significant influence on the resulting overall structure (form and spatial structure) and holds potential for new new and re- interpretations. Instead of a closed system based on cause and effect, there is an open game between the controlled and the uncontrolled. The “Spielraum” (“margin of tolerance”, “room to play”) takes on importance as a design component.

Vulcanized fiber has been known since the second half of the 19th century and is one of the earliest malleable materials. It is considered a forerunner of modern plastics. A product of natural raw materials - cotton and cellulose in different proportions - it has properties like plastics, such as plasticity, elasticity and resistance to heat, thermal changes and chemicals. In the mid 20th century, vulcanized fiber was largely displaced from the market by synthetic plastics but continues to serve select technical markets worldwide. Nowadays, the material is made from a mixture of cellulose and cotton from textile industry waste, which highlights its ecological properties.

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