Field of tension
University of the Arts Berlin, 2019
In Collaboration with Helene Peters and Mariano Manago

Libraries are translations of infinite information into restricted physical bodies. The readers are strangers. Diverse in their perspectives, they move in a space of convergence and exchange.

The space is a force field of definition and emptiness. Various bodies interact in the surrounding urban fabric. Eight architectural archetypes - a memory, a silo, a factory, a lighthouse, a baldachin, a barn, a theatre and a cuppula - are arranged around the existing Amerika Gedenkbibliothek. Each position follows a historical axis of the city. All elements are connected by a light roof.

The storages are fully accessible at all times - infinite information is arrayed.

In between, singular rows of shelves hold the particularly curated information. Every year, a curator reorganizes the relations of the books, not following conventional caterogies. Afterwards, the books move with the readers, who can put them back anywhere they like. An everchanging flow of relations emerges. One can either search something specific or be inspired on the way.