HOUSE 2 is a pedagogical installation that comprises 12 studio projects built in full scale. In close collaboration with the Zurich Art School (ZHdK) and the City of Zurich, they were organizing a series of events for summer 2017 at the Toni Areal in Zurich. The events took take place at HOUSE 2 – COUNTER CITY, a forum installation designed and built by 200 students who are studying in the ALICE Y1 first year architecture atelier.
ALICE is a laboratory in architectural design at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) focusing on space, and responsible for the first year design studio. The laboratory leads a series of research and research by design projects that establish links between education, social space, design thinking, architectural tools and public space. In this context ALICE, in close collaboration with the Zurich Art School (ZHdK) and the City of Zurich, are organising a series of events for summer 2017 at the Toni Areal in Zurich. The events will take place at HOUSE 2 – COUNTER CITY, a forum installation designed and built by 200 students who are studying in the ALICE Y1 first year architecture atelier. In view of growing cities around the globe and the respective opportunities and questions regarding the quality of life in our urban societies, HOUSE 2 offers an approach to spatial appropriation by many in a collaborative and dialogical process. HOUSE 2 will host a series of events jointly programmed by the City of Zurich, the ZHdK and ALICE for a period of three weeks. The questions of density and cohabitation will be addressed in a spatial construct offering a place for exchange, debate and discussion. In reference to Richard Sennett’s recent book ‘Together’, a strong emphasis is given to the notions of collaboration, dialogical discourse and the negotiation of space of social difference. The project works as a pedagogical tool and a hypothesis, as it materialises these notions in the process of its construction and in its physical and spatial parameters.
