Karl Heinz Ohler

Preface

Thanks to the increasing spread and acceptance of the media, a paradigm shift is emerging in many fields of our culture, including the discipline of architecture. In the course of history the very foundations of natural sciences, philosophy and arts have been critically questioned time and again. Chaos and disaster theories shed new light on the hitherto unshakeable theories of physics and mathematics. Only the discipline of architecture was hardly revolutionised by heretic theses. And now the time has apparently come when the traditional truths of architecture are starting to topple.

Architecture and its relation to the media - a theoretical approach

The focus is on the question what impact the lasting influence of the electronic media will have on our culture, our life, and hence on our architecture. The transmission of impacts regardless of physical presence, the rise of the mass media like television, radio and the press, increasing world-wide mass communication through electronic networks and the preoccupation with virtual space demand that we question traditional ideas of space, time, mass and reality critically.

At all times architecture had something to do with creating spaces. At every point we should ask ourselves how, and with what means, space will be created and which factors play an essential role in this context, and we should try to find answers to these questions.

Design project

The project comprises the design of a culture and conference centre on the outskirts of central Reutlingen. The aim is to create a service centre for the city and its region and a meeting place for the citizens. This culture and conference centre will represent a top-rank economic factor and will give the creative forces in the city the space they have needed for decades, in particular a suitable venue for events in the field of symphonic music. Moreover, the plans should include the construction of a hotel directly adjacent to the culture and conference centre.

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