Author(s): raumlaborberlin (Ed.)

ARCHITECTURE MONOGRAPHS | JOVIS VERLAG

For over twenty years, the architecture collective raumlaborberlin has been searching for new spaces of encounter and for ways of achieving cooperative urban development. Polylemma explores the work of the collective from diverse perspectives, offering an extensive collection of photos and drawings, analyses and ideas, tutorials and building instructions, that continually test and explore the parameters for action in urban space.Together with experts from various disciplines, the collective experiment with new forms of urban practice, participation, and the joint production of space. The book follows the nine members as they visit the sites of their work, come together with long-standing colleagues and critics, dissect the mechanisms behind their actions, and reflect on the tools and methods of their research-based practice. Examining numerous projects, they discuss strategies for learning together, experimental building, radical recycling, and co-operative urban development. The book is a call to action: space becomes an actor that fundamentally questions design itself and the role of architects. Polylemma asks: How do we want to live together in the future? It is a request to think space openly; a plea for the city as a sphere of action."No Trust, No City!" was the long-time credo on their website; "Some Ideas for Better Cities" was their first joint lecture series; and Acting in Public was their first book.