DESIGN STUDIO, SS 2017
Prof. Dr. Philipp Misselwitz, Aine Ryan, Dr. Vittoria Capresi

LPG Revisited 
Transforming Village Landscapes in Brandenburg

Rural villages in Brandenburg have experienced repeated radical physical and socioeconomic transformations since the early 1900s. One of the most profound changes was instigated by the 1950s East German forced collectivisation policies. As a consequence, vast standardised structures were inserted into the village fabric to house the new Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaften (LPGs), together with more ‘urban’ housing typologies for the LPG workers, and new roads demarcating expansive parcels of farming land were built. This new collectivised way of life was supported by social interventions spanning from public transportation to kindergartens.

The studio takes the legacy of abandoned LPG structures as a starting point for an inquiry into possible futures for Brandenburg villages. The studio connects with MODSCAPES - an ongoing EU-funded research project at the Habitat Unit on the intangible and tangible legacy of LPGs on the rural landscape of Brandenburg. Following initial fieldwork, a first analysis phase will trace the impact of LPG interventions on the settlement morphology and daily life of a case study village. A second analysis phase will visualise the interdependencies between villages and the surrounding landscapes from the perspective of local inhabitants.

Building on these analytical foundations, the final stage will focus on developing design proposals for abandoned LPG buildings as catalysts for the rural future.