SUMMER SCHOOL CLIMATE UTOPIA

We have all seen the graphs and statistics and understand the larger picture they draw of our future on this planet. We understand, but now is the time for action. Now is the time for all architects to demonstrate a new approach to living in extreme conditions, an approach that accepts earth and ecology as the fundamentals of architecture.

The aim of the Summer School was to get a broad understanding of climate change in the US and Europe. To get a sense of how this radically changes the living conditions – the habitat- on the planet and in particular in landscapes affected by fire, floods, erosion, earthquakes and heat, 9 global test sites were confronted with extreme conditions, proposing new coexistence between landscape and architecture. After three weeks of research in the Fisher Centre NY, students from Syracuse School of Architecture came to Rotterdam from 24 June until 5 July 2019, to design and develop new proposals for habitats, and housing in particular, that can handle these extreme conditions.

The outcome of the Summer School was presented trough an exhibition in down-town New York City, presenting  a global perspective on research and design that challenges the possibilities of our human living condition. An immersive installation that depicts a new world map with adapted geographies, hybrid typologies and Anthropocene ecologies that together represent the “Village of Global Warming.”

The Summer School Climate Utopia was a collaboration between the Independent School for the City, Syracuse Architecture, and ZUS. The course was curated and supervised by Elma van Boxel en Kristian Koreman and Negar Sanaan Bensi, with contributions by Wouter Vanstiphout, Michelle Provoost, Henk Ovink, Dirk Sijmons, Sandra Piesik, Joep Storms and Micheal Speaks.