Research - LABA - EPFL

Current
Sea of opportunities
In the 2011/12 academic
year, laba`s investigation
on ocean territories led to
the Barents Sea, north of
Norway, in collaboration
with the Oslo School of
Architecture and Design.
Student groups developed
five Territorial Constitutions
for the Barents Sea and
went on to develop thirteen
architectural projects
exercising the articles of the
constitutions within the topic
“Exploring Infrastructure-
Living and Working in the
Barents Sea”. A 10-day
workshop to the Barents
region took place between
the two project phases.
CH2048
We will be studying a
hypothetical Switzerland
in 2048. Should growth
continue as in the past
3-5 years, the population
of a current 8 million will
increase to around 14
million, putting enormous
pressure on the existing
urban, suburban and rural
areas.
We believe that simply
continuing today’s planning
policies and practices for
the next 40 years is not an
appropriate response. It
seems to us, that a more
radical reevaluation and
proposal is needed.
CH2048 will thus be raising
fundamental questions
about how our territory is
planned and how it develops.
laba manifest - august 2012
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