711LAB IS OSCILLATING
Working in different places, research and practice, small scale design to large scale planning are the oscillations that characterise the approach and methods of 711LAB.
711lab is an european-based laboraty for collaborative research and practice in the fields of design, architecture, urbanism and landscape.
After applying this approach to several projects 711lab was founded in 2000 by Stefan Werrer following his award-winning and widely published graduation project 711andScape. Since then 711lab has produced a wide range of projects dealing with experimental housing, public buildings, infrastructure, urbanism and cultural studies.
From 2000 to 2003 Stefan Werrer has been guest critic at Delft University and Universitąt Stuttgart where he is currently teaching at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism.
711LAB LOVES CONTEXT
Classifications and concepts in urban culture are blurring. Hence dealing with context in a broader sense is becoming increasingly important. Context is multilayered. Its complexity is not only to be analysed but can also inspire new interpretations.
Based on analysis and intuition tailor-made design concepts and flexible strategies for urban transformation processes can be shaped and rendered legible. This undogmatic and optimistic approach tries to balance freedom and regulation. It aims to reveal opportunities that exceed the very reality of the existing.
711LAB PRACTISES OPPORTIMISM
Urban Planning is said to be about (re)searching and solving problems. Trying to solve problems incorporates the idea an the ideal. So far urban planning is concerned about problems. but every situation has its own qualities. Talking about problems and thereby referring to past situations puts you in a position where you are falling behind the present. It's impossible to catch up because reality is changing faster than ideals can be realized.
The present of urban space is defined by urban facts in a specific constellation. The ideal is the present and justifies itself through actual opportunities. Opportunities are hidden in situations generally called problems. Instead of analysing problems we should focus on opportunities. This approach is benign and opportunistic, because it interpretes the present as the ideal.
At the same time this approach is optimistic, because it talks about opportunities and not about problems. This mixture of opportunism and optimism is most appropriately called opportimism, therefore people who have this attitude are opportimists.