Muddy zoning plans, uncanny building regulations, dancing with urban development codes, training unknown muscles, opening unknown eyes

Shared by Floating University | Traced by Vilde Salhus Røed

^{Image by Thor Brødreskift}

Neighboring to BAS lies Kristiansholm, a site which soon will undergo radical changes. Dense private housing combined with public spaces will grow out on land, filled in where the sea once was.

Carrying forward the collective discoveries made on Kristiansholm during the last cross courses, we will explore the complex dynamics of urban planning, legal frameworks, and community engagement around its future development. Looking through the lens of Floating University's contested site in Berlin, we will navigate the layers of law, time and power at play here on the Bergen shoreline. We will critically examine the tensions between private interests, municipal agendas, and the supposed "common good".

What strategies do different actors (municipalities, developers, residents, planners, legal experts) employ to advance their own agendas. With conflicting laws, regulations and codes, how are community interests protected or sidelined? How can we create situations of empowerment, where architecture and planning show the actualisation of potentials?

The zoning plan for Kristiansholm, Sandvikstorget, and Rosegrenden has been submitted for public consultation and review and the second hearing round will take place at the end of January, just before our course.


Floating University is situated within a rainwater collection basin at the former Tempelhof airfield in Berlin. This basin, a human-made environment that has been reclaimed by nature, serves as a living laboratory where polluted water and diverse ecosystems coexist with academic and community activities. One of these activities is the learnscapes program, which emphasises collaborative knowledge production and fosters a space for unlearning, relearning, and co-learning.

Sarah Bovelett, architect and researcher and Licia Soldavini, an urban researcher and practitioner, met at Floating University and are currently colleagues at the Institute of Theory and History of Architecture and the City at TU Braunschweig. They both share an interest in challenging traditional educational models by engaging with contested sites’ natural and human elements, promoting an integrative approach to environmental and social justice.

Vilde Salhus Røed is a visual artist working across media like photography, text, books, video, sound and other technology. Photography plays a central role in her practice, where narratives in archives and personal stories connect to technological, cultural-historical and socio-political backdrops. Vilde holds a Master of Fine Arts (2008) and a Bachelor of Philosophy (2023) from the University of Bergen.

---

4 – 7 Feb 2025

> Sign up here