cropped cities | Berlin, Germany

Cropped Cities (competition finalist, 2005) in collaboration with Sophie Ungerer and Oliver Klimpel. For the International architecture competition dealing with the problem of Shrinking Cities, our proposal was to cut disused buildings in the inner city areas to one meter above the ground. Cropped Cities would then be infuse with the different programs for community use. For smaller dwellings this could include a range of different uses such as allotments, and for larger areas even an ice rink and/or nightclubs. This way traces of no longer needed buildings would be preserved, but at the same time, the whole ares injected with new activities and opportunities. Cities would be literally be ‘cropped’ in order to grow better.