In 2018 the site of the rainwater retention basin was opened to the public for the first time. As „visionary inner city offshore-laboratory for collective, experimental learning, knowledge transfer and the formation of trans-disciplinary networks to challenge routines and habits of urban practices“ raumlaborberlin’s Floating University Berlin started to inhabit the site.

The building process was collaborative. Planned at first within a small team at the raumlabor offices, models were built, plans drawn, tomatoes planted and a laboratory station was set up in the basin. In spring 2018 the building process started and a team of building experts part of the raumlabor network as well as students and their teachers from Berlin, Europe and elsewhere collaborated on building the campus: learning spaces, workshops, an auditorium, a laboratory tower for experimental water filtration systems, a kitchen, a bar and of course the toilets. They created a space for exchanging knowledge within experimental, educational formats. A place where transdisciplinary research teams and various positions came together to grapple the complex questions of urban practices: How can cities cope with the risks, strains and chances of global warming, the shortage of resources, superdiversity and hyper-accelerated development- nowadays? Which tools do we need to live and work well and in a resource-efficient manner in the future?

Director of the Faculty Aesthetics and Construction: Florian Stirnemann
Planning and Construction: Lorenz Kuschnig
Artist in Residence for Water Filtration and Infiltration: Kathrine Ball

Structure was constructed by:
Jan Schlake, Samuel Boche, Winnie Olbrich, Jan Theiler, Esther Bonneau, Eduardo Conceição, Lorenz Kuschnig, Benjamin Frick, Michael Meier, Naïm Benyahya, Alexandro Brazzale, Jeanne Astrup-Chauvaux, Anton Bo Maske, Sarah Bovelett

Constant Transformation and development of the architecture with students and their teachers from Berlin and Europe. Wie Studierende der Universitäten TU Berlin, Science Po Paris, UdK Berlin, Universität Witten Herdecke, Khm Köln, TU München, Universidad La Gran Colombia Bogotá, Bergen School of Architecture, HfG Karlsruhe, ENSA Nantes, Design Academy Eindhoven, Kunsthochschule Weissensee, Royal Academy the Hague, TH Nürnberg, Ecal Lausanne, HNE Eberswalde, HfbK Hamburg, Kunstuniversität Linz