ARCHITECTURAL PROPOSALS

Abstract & Description"The room with 8 sqm, let's keep it that way. It's a children's room, that's enough for us," says the property developer during the final discussion on the design. The detailed planning is to be initiated immediately afterward, with the submission in between. Everything has to happen very quickly. And suddenly, you find yourself in reality. Did I just negotiate not to present 8 sqm as a children's room? We're haggling over square meters. He's doing it for the price and to offer one more room, and I'm doing it for humanitarian reasons; as a philanthropist, I don't know myself. I still need to go shopping on my way home; if the meetings are already exhausting, at least there should be something nice on the plate. Classic coping mechanism, I think to myself, as my gaze falls on the label of the bell pepper. Spain. I'd like to be there now too. The principle of sustainability pricks my conscience, and I look for something else. Or at least I want to. Nothing here is from Austria, except for the potatoes. I like potatoes. But not exclusively. Maybe I'll treat myself to some meat sometime? The refrigerated section has all sorts of things, except fairness, respect, and a minimum of decency. Moreover, there's a rabbit, freshly skinned. A hare. I also had one at my grandparents' farm at home, and every Easter there was a new one. They were all named Benno. As quickly as reality sometimes hits you in the face, you can also withdraw from it just as fast, and I indulge in the fondest memories of country life. It's quite simple to do. After all, I've been a city dweller for over 15 years. City and countryside have always been a field of tension. Both long for the other. Something is always missing. When one goes to the countryside for relaxation, the other goes to the city for the pleasure of consumption. You're never really in the right place. Both places are idealized, both places are constantly compared and contrasted. The significant differences are often mentioned, which, however, blur in everyday life with many small incidents and are no longer so distinct. City dwellers laugh at farmers because they're constantly in cow urine and manure. The rural population chuckles at city dwellers who have to clean up after their dog. In general, both sides often find themselves in unpleasant excrements of all kinds. Are city and countryside similar? Are these two living spaces really so different? Can you really only have one or the other? What could be adopted and learned from each other in terms of usage, space requirements, and infrastructure? What if the countryside made its way into the city? And the city into the countryside? Cities are undergoing transformation, and so is the countryside. What happens when they are mixed, when the qualities of the city complement those of the countryside and vice versa? When facades turn green, when you see vegetables grow while sipping coffee at a café, and herds of sheep wander from rooftop garden to rooftop garden. What if the farmer sends the cows for wellness and the butcher comes via Uber? When rural elements occupy urban spaces. And urban elements occupy the countryside. Spruced up, technified, kempt and groomed, cleaned, made beautiful for the opera. Can the countryside handle that? Does the city want that? How will the space of a future city be used, as well as that in the countryside? New professions emerge, new transportation mechanisms, new supply, new demand. What disappears, what remains? Will agriculture reshape the cities? Better prepare for climate change? Relieve the souls of many stressed individuals? Enhance the sense of connection? Will the value of space change the countryside? Sharpen the awareness of building and living, digitally and sustainably shorten distances? Now, it's already being spread around the world that we have true "forest cities" here in "good old Austria," so why not also have Village Opera? Cow well-being. Technology barn. Sheep monorail. Bee taxis. Asphalt biotope. Lettuce leaf roofs. Where would we end up? This is what I want to explore in my work.