While a traditional mock-up is understood as a full-scale prototype used for instructional or experimental purposes, a performative mock-up goes beyond mere representation – it becomes a shared experience that reveals the interplay between behavior and spatial configuration. By creating spatial situations that foster diverse interactions among participants, these reversible installations encourage spontaneous and unexpected encounters, transforming them into moments of collective learning.

Description

Unlike the student's typical approach of first planning and then creating models for review and visualization, the performative mock-up embraces uncertainty and finding comfort in not knowing. It is a 1:1 prototype of an installation used at the beginning of the design process in order to learn from its performance and the reactions towards its form, function, placement, idea etc. When used as a research medium, reactions to such an installation can often reveal people's needs and interests more effectively than direct questioning, as participants may not have been fully aware of them beforehand. Experiencing spatial change firsthand can be provocative, uncovering unconscious behavioral patterns and making them more tangible. The performative mock-up thus becomes the focal point of discussion, where diverse spatial experiences take shape and crystallize. Experiencing the transformations in situ, with their whole bodies and senses, allows participants to recognize the added value of these interventions—an impact that extends beyond spatial improvements to include social, structural, and psychological benefits.

How to Use

The performative mock-up played a central methodological role in the two “Informal Learning Spaces” studios, during the fieldtrip in “Studio Plovdid” and the free master Thesis “Lavadouros”. Rather than relying on verbal explanations, the projects were demonstrated through embodied experiences of transformation. Instead of merely listening to the description of the design proposals, participants engaged with them physically, either by performing them or allowing them to perform. These choreographed review situations became collective sensory experiences, encouraging a diversity of stakeholders to feel the potential of change rather than just discussing it. The idea of the performative mock-up was additionally exhibited during the 

 at Swiss Architecture Museum (SAM) in Basel.

Context

[Studio Informal Learning Spaces Team] Grégoire Farquet, Charlotte Schaeben, Seppe De Blust, Beatrix Emo, Freek Persyn, Momoyo Kaijima,

[Studio Plovdid Team] Michiel van Iersel, Ellena Ehrl, Ina Valkanova, Freek Persyn

[Master Thesis Lavadouros] Students Chiara De Libero and Maria Margherita Innocenti, supervised by Lukas Fink

Credits

Formats

The Performative Mock-up

The “Room of Entanglement” is a scenography which shows a variety of analytical and propositional work in relation. It is constructed as an immersive spatial setup which acts as a playground for discussion. The exact form of the “Room of Entanglement” can vary, as long as the room is the central element (of a design studio) where all individual contributions come together.

The “Room of Entanglement” serves different purposes on various levels. In relationship to practice it is a setting to inspire and to stimulate various actors – students, practitioners and stakeholders involved in urban transformation – to transgress current ways of thinking. By showing different contributions in parallel, the room encourages to think in relationships, to think beyond the plot, and to think in different time spans.

On a pedagogical level the room becomes a collective output and the “boundary object” of the studio. This means the main focus is not the individual “project” as such, but rather the setting where these proposed interventions – as well as the assumptions, emotions and world-views they are based on – are communicated and discussed. Here, the role of the design proposal is rather to activate the setting, to become an object and tool for dialogue and to help others to engage. Arguments, design details, maps, metaphors or renders are no longer there to convince but to invite to add, change, execute, test, cherish or play around with. The fact that students do not present their project in isolation can help them to learn from and with others. It helps to enhance the ability to think about the relations between different projects and to relate an individual contribution to a larger narrative.

Besides, working on the “Room of Entanglement” means that each student or participant takes up different roles: Next to the work an individual contribution one becomes scenographer, production assistant, host and much more.

The concept of the Room of Entanglement as a collective output and structure of the semester was the central element of our spring 2022 design studio on Zurich Altstetten. During this studio we tested four different alterations of the Room of Entanglements. The guests we invited to these sessions rather became active contributors than visiting “critics” or experts.

Room No. 1: For the first room we invited developers, citizens, gardeners and activists engaged in Altstetten. They are all closely related to a specific ongoing transformation project in Altstetten. The goal of the room was to enrich our reading of Altstetten. In an immersive setting of drawings hanging from the ceiling, guests could choose what relates to their stake, focus or interest and new material and layers were added.

Room No. 2: For the next room we invited planners, architects and colleagues from ETH to refine and test the elements, developed by students, and to introduce a map as a common layer. During the session we co-created a first draft of the collective map.

Room No. 3 & 4: Room number three served as a rehearsal for the fourth and final room. For these rooms the map was further developed by students and all the studio’s elements were brought together in a collective performance, including a kind of “live power point” presentation. For this session we invited the city administration of Zürich to test the Room of Entanglements as a setting to discuss the densification plans of the city.

Afterlife: A later and more detailed version of the Room of Entanglements and the map was made within the context of an exhibition at ZAZ (center for architecture Zurich). This alteration of the room and the map became the starting point for another series of discussions on urban transformation with a variety of stakeholders.

[Studio Team Altstetten] Seppe De Blust, Lukas Fink, Chloé Nachtergael, Freek Persyn

Urban Practice

The Room of Entanglement

In 2021, Freek Persyn wrote this letter to announce his inaugural lecture, reflecting on the formation of NEWROPE since its launch in 2019 and outlining the objectives guiding the years of its engagement to come

The moment is, finally, about to arrive. On October 20th 2021, almost three years after I started my professorship, I will deliver my inaugural lecture. Over these last three years, much has happened. The ‘I’ of my first letter has become a definite ‘We’: a team bringing together architects, urbanists, historians, sociologists and cultural entrepreneurs; a team of different ages and experiences, coming from and working in different parts of Europe.

As we are used to diving into different cultures and places, we have run design studios in cities as diverse as Brussels, Piraeus, Tirana, Offenbach and Zürich. We have set up special projects for students coming out of these studios, to have them explore the way in which they would like to practise; we have launched research projects on collective learning, on silent transformation, on working cities, in collaboration with city administrations, practitioners and academics inside and outside the architecture department; we have ventured into the cultural field, by publishing a book on Design in Dialogue, exhibiting in Basel, Brussels and Montreal.

With so many things up and running, the time is right to clarify our goals. We want to structure our activities along three trajectories, each with their own specific purpose, scope, methods and partners. We would like to share them with you, for you to know and – perhaps – engage with them alongside us.

In terms of architecture, we want to investigate Open Public Structures: places where togetherness is made possible, through architecture and modes of social organisation. With so many buildings and spaces being underused, we want to find new programmes through practice. As a flagship project, we want to transform the building we are in – ONA – and have it as a proof of concept, four years from now. The Design in Dialogue Lab has been a strong first step. But we consider this only the beginning.

In relation to planning, we will focus on Adaptive Infrastructure, and how large investments can start to shape the environment in more ways than one. I have witnessed the importance of this integrative approach in projects like the transformation of the Skanderbeg Square in Tirana. To achieve quality in those processes, design is key, and especially designers who can navigate complexity and different disciplinary fields. Our goal with Adaptive Infrastructure is to develop an adapted design language for environment-making: a practice that is urgently needed.

Finally, we have an ambition that engages us all. Through our Changing A Culture track, we will contribute to a design culture that can think and act towards an environment that is resilient and inclusive, sensitive to what and who is there, and radically open to what could be possible. We are convinced that a changing climate needs an adapted culture of design, based on genuine curiosity and cooperation. On October 20th, we will inaugurate these trajectories. Alongside Silke Langenberg, who is also conducting her inaugural lecture, we welcome you to join us from 17:15, in person or online at https://video.ethz.ch/live/events/live-1.html.

Looking forward to sharing our ambitions with you,
Freek Persyn”

Inaugural Lecture

Resource