Design Studio Heringer

Grafting Earth

Supervisor: Hon. Prof. Anna Heringer

Assistant: Bianca Anna Böckle 

 

Studio Heringer / Böckle aims to upcycle what is right under our feet and develop an alternative against specific patterns of industrialization, imported materials and regulations of the global market. Together we want to create a new awareness of a building-material that already is :

100 % CO2 neutral 100 % recyclable 100 % reusable


The studio wants to evoke the archaic experience of human building by introducing new methods of working and thinking. Using advanced technical Know-How, craftmanship and creativity - clay, mud and earth can be upcycled to a contemporary state, overcoming negative relations of being a poor or out-dated working material. Sophisticated traditional methods
combined with progressive thinking can be globally used to bring up new architectural concepts that could also address both social and environmental questions. Therefore we see architecture as a catalyst for future local development.

 

Together with SONNE-International - an internationally operative Austrian aid organisation Studio Heringer / Böckle asks for the design of a student´s dormitory of ethnic minorities
combined with a trainings-centre and a guesthouse for tourists in the region of Jhenaigati, Bangladesh. A participatory process will be the starting point to think and design buildings that
are intended for future realisation. We aim for an architecture that can create identity, foster local economies and support a bottom-up form of capacity development – similar to the
Didi Textile project, already developed in Rudrapur.

As our design method we want to introduce Clay Storming. Manually working on large clay-models will stimulate our perception of impulses to bring our creativity into flow.
Furthermore a workshop with clay-construction expert Martin Rauch will make us familiar with the very characteristics of the material. Working in teams and establishing a participative
process should be in the very focus of our mind and heart.