Welcome:
Ulrich Müller (Architektur Galerie Berlin)
Documentary (25 minutes):
Pool Potentials (Studio Genua + Felix Pauschinger)
Discussion:
Dr. Sabine Kroner (Berlin Mondiale)
Prof. Eike Roswag-Klinge (NBL/TU Berlin, ZRS Architekten Ingenieure)
Marina Sylla, Manuel Heck, Benjamin Meurer (Studio Genua)
Moderation:
Rebecca Wall (Projektbüro Urbane Praxis)
Open-air pools are unique places in the city, where people of different backgrounds and realities of life meet: they are sites of togetherness, confrontation and exchange, all at the same time. Open-air pools allow for the social and cultural diversity of the city to happen, establishing connections between the heavily segregated and segmented bubbles of everyday urban life and its inhabitants.
Why is it that an open-air pool only has this role during the summer? Why are these singular spaces of encounter forgotten and unused for the major part of the year?
Intrigued by these questions, Marina Sylla, Manuel Heck and Benjamin Meurer (Studio Genua) started the project Pool Potentials, inquiring about potential alternating uses of Berlin’s open-air pools. In cooperation with various actors from politics and urban planning, the neighbourhood and social initiatives, the Berliner Bäderbetriebe and visitors of the open-air pools, they explored visions and implications of open-air pools as an urban resource that is used all year round: What kind of activities might make these spaces an all-year meeting point? Which urban publics might need these spaces in the autumn, winter and spring months? How could these spaces be used to respond to the general lack of space in the city of Berlin?
To spread their idea, Studio Genua produced a documentary together with Felix Pauschinger, featuring these different perspectives and projections. After the screening, there will be Q&A and discussion with Studio Genua, guests and the interested audience about the project and the general potentials of seasonal voids.
Studio Genua is a group of eight young architects and designers based in Berlin (est. 2015). The group works on a wide range of projects in architecture and urban design – from furniture design to design-build workshops and city walking tours, stage design and exhibitions, as well as industrial and residential architecture. Their project Pool Potentials was widely covered in the media during summer 2021.
Felix Pauschinger is an independent filmmaker in Berlin. He studied at the Babelsberg Film University „Konrad Wolf“. Besides his occupation as a video journalist at Deutsche Welle, Felix works as a video editor and cameraman, focussing on documentaries and video art. Most recently he realized an interactive documentary on artificial intelligence.
