The Room of Entanglement

The “Room of Entanglement” is a scenography which shows a variety of analytical and propositional work in relation, in order to invite and inspire different actors – students, practitioners and stakeholders involved in urban transformation – to transgress current ways of thinking. The room is an immersive spatial setup that encourages to think beyond the plot, to think in relations, to think in long(er) time spans, and to reconnect with the actual lives of people living and working in a neighbourhood. The room is a playground to develop, test and discuss scenarios and can serve as an additional qualitative planning tool to discuss urban transformation.

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. This means the main focus of this studio was 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 – were communicated and discussed. In this case 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.

During studio Altsetten 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.