Radical and normal

Radical and normal

Laufen Space Vienna opened its doors for a special event as part of Vienna Design Week. Under the title "Radical. Normal. Period." Architects and designers discussed the need for radical attitudes in architecture and design. Around 200 guests from architecture, design, art and business took part.

Architecture, design and art

Christian Schäfer, Managing Director of Laufen, emphasized the importance of the partnership with the festival: “As a long-standing partner of Vienna Design Week, it is important to us to continue to promote creative dialogue,” he says. "The festival offers a unique platform for creative professionals from architecture, design and art, where new ideas are created and innovations are initiated. We want to continue to shape this path together in the future."

The highlight of the evening was keynotes and a subsequent talk with Oliver Gerner (Gerner Gerner Plus Architekten), Lotte Kristoferitsch (Eoos Design) and Heribert Wolfmayr (Heri & Salli Architektur). The discussion was led by Verena Konrad, director of the VAI Vorarlberg Architecture Institute, who focused on the topic “The need for a radical attitude in design and architecture”. The speakers emphasized that radicalism as an attitude should long ago be the norm, as a basis for innovation and as a response to ecological and social challenges.

Konrad opened the discussion with an appeal to take a stand and take responsibility. Oliver Gerner contrasted radicality and normality and emphasized that there was a need for an arc of tension between creative radicalism and legal norms. Kristoferitsch focused on the role of design: design must enable people to accept new technologies and products must be designed to be durable or repairable. Wolfmayr finally made it clear with an experimental impulse that radicality lies in the origin of the material, in the resource that is available to us. Architecture must therefore create space for pioneering work and experiments, because doing everything the same way doesn't get you anywhere. Since people, demands and general conditions are constantly changing, it is the task of architecture to detect these developments at an early stage and to be one step ahead.

The evening led from theory to practice: with the “Stadtregal” in Vienna, a project was presented that combines radical ideas and everyday living reality. With 122 apartments, studios and business premises, it not only offers affordable living space, but also serves as a real-world laboratory for sustainable building technology. In addition to green facades, roof gardens, geothermal energy and photovoltaics, the “Save” urine separation toilet developed by Eoos Design, Laufen and the Eawag water research institute at ETH Zurich is being used extensively for the first time. This makes the city shelf an important pilot project for an urban circular economy that innovatively combines ecological and social cycles.

Save separates urine from the remaining wastewater using a special ceramic geometry using the “teapot effect”. Everything stays as usual for the users, but there is an advantage for the environment: valuable nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen can be collected directly and later used as fertilizer. This is the first time that a practical solution for sustainable wastewater management has been implemented in residential construction.

Marc Viardot, Director of Corporate Marketing and Design Roca Laufen, emphasized: "Laufen sees itself not only as a manufacturer, but as a strong source of inspiration for sustainable innovations in the international design and architecture discourse. The Stadtregal in Vienna and our long-standing collaboration with the Vienna Design Week illustrate how creative approaches can open up new perspectives and help shape social changes. Design contributes to this a significant contribution to the design of sustainable living spaces, locally and globally.”