Polylemma

(english edition)
"No Trust, No City!" was the longtime credo on their website; "Some
Ideas for Better Cities" was their first joint lecture series; and Acting in Public
was their first book. For over twenty years, the architecture
collective raumlaborberlin has been searching for new spaces of
encounter and for ways of achieving cooperative urban development.
Together with experts from various disciplines, they experiment with new
forms of urban practice, participation, and the joint production of
space. Polylemma explores the work of the collective from
diverse perspectives. Its nine members visit the sites of their work,
come together with long-standing colleagues and critics, dissect the
mechanisms behind their actions, and reflect on the tools and methods of
their research-based practice.

Examining numerous projects, they
discuss strategies for learning together, experimental building,
radical recycling, and cooperative urban development. The book is a call
to action: space becomes an actor that fundamentally questions design
itself and the role of architects. It offers an extensive collection of
photos and drawings, analyses and ideas, tutorials and building
instructions, that continually test and explore the parameters for
action in urban space.
Polylemma asks: How do we want to live
together in the future? It is a request to think space openly; a plea
for the city as a sphere of action.

Based in Berlin, the raumlabor collective operates at the intersection of architecture, city planning, art, and intervention in the city fabric. Their work addresses space, the city, and urban planning as both a cultural project and a process.