Kooperative Standards

 “Cooperative standards” refer to design, programmatic, and spatial elements that emerge from experiential knowledge and shared responsibility. As responses to specific problems and needs, they deviate from generalized rules and norms and make it possible to realize unique qualities and relationships within their respective contexts. A concrete ceiling that allows the bar to remain open while construction continues above; scaffolding and sunrooms, balconies, and pergolas that expand living spaces and interweave them with the neighborhood; a maintenance yard where people can live and work in ways that are technically prohibited.
Issues 1–7 explore the theme of cooperative standards at very different levels of planning and design. The projects gathered here—by Assemble, Inken Baller, common room, Jesko Fezer, Gabu Heindl, Lacaton & Vassal, and NL Architects—demonstrate that distinctive spatial qualities, functions, and programs, as well as beauty and luxury, can be realized above all when the residents are also the active participants—whether through participatory planning or through their self-directed daily use.

The editors, Marieke Behne, Justus Griesenberg, and Christoph Heinemann, developed the “Cooperative Standards” series as part of their work in the Architecture and City research group (HafenCity University of Hamburg, 2017–2022), where they focused in particular on situational and relational dispositions in the urban sphere of action.
Collaborations.