Architectural excursion in Bern
Siedlung Halen © Bernhard Furrer
Professor Emmanuel Rey's studio of the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) went on an architectural excursion in the city of Bern. This extra-mural teaching activity provided the opportunity for the students to visit two neighborhoods combining housing, activities, shared spaces, and public spaces. These visits resonate with the issues addressed within the framework of the Reliefs urbains design studio.
The architectural project is to play a central role in the search for alternatives to regenerate urban territories. Through an approach at different scales, the LAST studio aims to analyze, explore, and experiment with the specific issues at stake in a perspective of transitions towards sustainability.
The excursion to the city of Bern was conceived in this spirit. The objective was to allow the students to discover different project stakes linked to urban densification and dialogue with users and architects involved in such project. The program of the day included the visit of Atelier 5's iconic Siedlung Halen housing complex and the Huebergass neighborhood with architect Eva Herren of GWJ Architektur.
The tour also allowed the students to put into perspective the questions of conceptual coherence, built morphology, spatiality, typology, and expression with broader issues linked to the processes of transformation that the urban territories undergo and their evolution toward sustainability.