In the spring semester 2021 the research project «The culture of Water» focused on the topic «Water & Commons». The site of investigations was Lake Lucerne, where the students addressed the question of collective productivity at and with the lake. Their guiding instruments in approaching the location and the architectural interventions were the aspects of energy production, mobility, cultivation and extraction by means of water.

With a view to a hopeful future, the studio participants allowed themselves to be guided and seduced by the thought experiment of utopian design. They asked themselves: What significance will water have as a vital community resource in the future? What can we learn from traditional Swiss concepts of commons such as the «Allmend» or the ubiquitous cooperatives? What interesting concepts can we find in Japan? What can productivity with water look like if sustainable community use is prioritized over individual profit? Who may participate and how? And what sustainable contribution can architecture make to this?

Rebecca Baer presented a project called «Kulturbruch – a playground for community and culture» which is located in Brunnen, in a former quarry that was closed down in the 1980s. The idea of the project is to fill the void created by the mining with culture. «Kulturbruch» offerts a permanent infrastructure which is available all year round. Events can be built on this infrastructure and supplemented with a flexible wooden structure.

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All students participating in the research project «The Culture of Water» create suitcase models, meant to travel to Japan at the end of the project to present all the designs developed by the students in an exhibition.