Crossing Steintorplatz or Altmannbrücke, past tall buildings, across railroad tracks and countless lanes – anyone who finds themselves in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MK&G) is part of what this section of the Social Design exhibition deals with: the immediate surroundings of the building.

The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, embedded in a large park when it was built, now stands on the rugged shores of the urban rifts due to the constant changes in the city. It appears as a fortified island between railroad tracks, wide streets, bridges, embankments, bus and central stations, less as a district than as a space of in-between, a sea of transit spaces that connects and separates.

Two opposing aspirations characterize the observed space – inviting and denying. Looking at the built environment around the MKG, it is noticeable how sporadically and seemingly randomly objects offer seating, even though the parks, squares and green spaces actually are spacious enough for people to linger. Here, design takes place by omission. One type of element, on the other hand, that plays a decisive role in shaping the surroundings is the fence.

Places, objects, actors, groups and pathways in the surrounding area were mapped in order to identify various fields of action and options for creative work. During the exhibition, workshops and events such as invitations to joint picnics, film screenings and round tables brought together different neighbors, actors and students and engaged with these identified design spaces in a processual manner. The design thus entered into a concrete dialog with its surroundings. We researched, recorded, sketched, photographed and observed how changes affect the surroundings. Prototypes, concepts and images were created that demonstrate the need for a variety and diversity of design approaches.

The direct neighborhood of the MKG also includes the “Drob Inn” of the Jugendhilfe e.V. with its contact and counseling center and integrated drug consumption rooms, as well as a dreary forecourt, where up to 400 consumers are present in the course of a day. Together with the operators and clients of the Drob Inn, as well as representatives from the authorities, municipal companies and other institutions, ARGE Unmittelbare Nachbarschaft and the MKG discussed how the area in front of the Drob Inn could be made more people-friendly: What are the needs of the clients and how can they be better met with design and also take into account the concerns of the neighborhood?

The MKG collaborated with ARGE Unmittelbare Nachbarschaft to engage with its immediate neighborhood in a constructive and process-oriented way, thereby approaching shared images and design visions through an inclusive way of working. Perspectives overlapped in the exhibition and in the workshops that ran in advance and in parallel, informing a process with the aim of creating some permanent, new design elements on the public square between MKG and Drob Inn that enable a dignified stay, but above all to create a mindful attitude of all actors and neighbors connected in this space through working together. This design has taken shape and is being worked on by the authorities involved.

The contrasts in this place are striking: it requires both pragmatic, indestructible answers to existential needs and a creative, open-minded approach to a stigmatized space. The multi-layered approach attempted to address both in parallel, allowing for and highlighting the mutual contradictions. The exhibition also paid tribute to the successful work of the Drob Inn by reading it as an example of social design and emphasizing the right of the Drob Inn’s clients to a space in the city.

Dates:

5.2.2019: Idea generation workshop with Drob Inn + ARGE UNmittelbare Nachbarschaft

13/14.2.2019: Workshop Part II: ARGE Unmittelbare Nachbarschaft with employees of the Drob Inn and Workshop Part III: ARGE Unmittelbare Nachbarschaft with clients of the Drob Inn

23.04.2019: Mapping workshop with students of the HCU

14.05.2019: Immediate neighborhood; Reflection on the design space in front of the Drob Inn with stakeholders

16.5.2019: Walk, students of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW), visitors to the MKG Hamburg

13.06.2019: Workshop: What does an effective social design process need? at MK&G

21.06.2019: Installations and performative interventions by HfbK students with Prof. Valentina Karga: the four-day zeit=festival around the Tamponkiosk with curated exhibitions, film screenings and newly created temporary seating options