Spatial design is a fundamental practice in humans’ material shaping of the world. As a cultural technique, it is a key activity in the design-based disciplines, in the arts, and in engineering. The digital revolution has enabled not only new representations of spatial design (of products, installations, buildings, cities, landscapes), but also new strategies that employ computational support throughout the design process and introduce radically different modalities of interaction. In view of this development, the central objective of the Einstein Center SHAPING SPACE is to promote a new working paradigm in spatial design. It will combine the hybrid integration of digital and physical modes of design, allow an immediate experience of the multimodal performance of the designed space, and facilitate the participation and collaboration of all relevant stakeholders throughout the design process. By creating a fluid transition between new computational and generative tools for the design of space and traditional practices working with sketches and physical models, we will, for the first time, exploit the full potential of digital tools in the creative process.

By integrating the simulation of light, sound, structure and energy into the early stages of design, we will not only gain better control over the multimodal ‘performance’ of space including the use of natural resources, but also gain new freedoms for creating novel and visionary spaces. The generative approach will allow for a more rapid development of spatial design and, at the same time, facilitate artists, designers, engineers, scientists and citizens to cooperate at every stage of the design process, thus supporting the collective refinement and the direct materialization of concepts. We anticipate that intuition and immediacy, facilitated by new tools for creation and interaction, will lead to a convergence of design knowing and engineering skills. By opening up the process of design to forms of co-production, intervention and participation, we expect changes in the social and aesthetic landscape of spatial design and spatial experience.

The proposed Einstein Center SHAPING SPACE builds upon the unique alliance between Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK) and Technische Universität Berlin (TU) on the Campus Charlottenburg, and the establishment of combined design laboratories in anticipation of the Center. The collaboration with partners from the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (HU) and with the Hasso Plattner Institute Potsdam (HPI), and the cooperation with several of the most important architectural and design offices in and beyond Berlin will not only enable a comprehensive approach to design in the digital age, but an advanced form of academic practice. We believe that the synthesis of a critical reflective artistic practice and a scientific approach embracing artistic forms of discourse will offer avenues for addressing some of the most urgent problems of contemporary design and new methods for shaping space well into the future.