At the end of the nationwide WIA25 Festival at the Urania in Berlin, it once again became clear how powerful exchange and collective brainstorming can be for the future of building culture. In interdisciplinary workshops, on the open marketplace of projects and in the context of inspiring lectures, the event offered a variety of opportunities for discussion, reflection and encounters.
The morning was dedicated to workshops on various topics, in which the participants developed ideas together across specialist and federal state boundaries and discussed new approaches to promoting an integrative, future-oriented building culture. In the afternoon, the WIA SUMMIT opened up to a wider audience. The contributions and results of the festival were presented as a temporary exhibition of change on the marketplace in the foyer of the Urania. We were also represented with our »Open Lab« and invited visitors to use participation cards to share their thoughts and wishes for a fairer building world.
We particularly liked the exhibition by the LOOM student initiative, which critically reflected on standard works and prominent voices with regard to their role in architectural education.
Two inspiring keynotes by Prof Dr Anupama Kundoo and Dr Friederike Landau-Donnelly led on to a roundtable with representatives from politics, administration, the Federal Chamber of Architects and urban development. Key questions on inclusive and participatory urban planning were discussed under the title »How do we plan a city for everyone?«.
The day concluded with a summer party, which continued the interdisciplinary dialogue in a relaxed atmosphere and showed how much energy and potential there is in collective processes. It was great to be there and to experience first-hand how participation creates movement.
