Luisa Kappen
Luisa, please introduce yourself:
I am Luisa Kappen and I graduated in Interior Design of the Detmold School of Design, TH OWL. My focus lies on socio-spatial work, with one foot in interfaces to human sciences and the other in politics.
Photo © Marvin Wesner
#1 Can you tell us a bit about your pamphlet? What was your intention behind it?
My original intention was to create a basis for a genuine social housing design. During the process, I moved more and more from an analytical work towards a demanding pamphlet. Rather than seeing it as a reduction of the contents seriousness, I feel that a subjective voice is valuable to bring spatial practice back into political social debates. Since spaces are filled with human relationships, the built environment needs the legal space to govern social dynamics.
#2 In your pamphlet “Dissozialer Wohnungsbau”, you mention Vienna several times as a model for social housing. How realistic is it for german cities to adapt to the Viennese system?
62 percent of Viennas households live in subsidised housing. A social building policy and the right to housing enshrined in the constitution also provides support for building groups in their diversity. This is a concept that I would like to adapt as a vision. However, the path will have to be different in Germany. Because the basis in Vienna is its past, as the world's first city with more than a million inhabitants governed by social democrats. Vienna was a place for Marxist ideas in planning and the democratic social order that was anchored early on still characterizes its housing construction today. This social building policy and a right to housing enshrined in the constitution gives building groups considerably more legal freedom than it is the case in Germany. Nevertheless, concepts can be transferred to the German legal context. For example, by promoting innovative diversity and the focus on the common good within housing and building group projects, a social orientation could emerge that covers its own needs with a high level of independence.
I see the aforementioned right to housing, which is not enshrined at federal level in Germany and is not individually enforceable, as fundamental. In the dynamic of housing increasingly being used as an asset, a fundamental human need is suffering. This is because, in addition to physical protection, housing also means retreat, regeneration and self-determination. Social participation and access to the labor market are linked to a registered address, and so to me the right to housing should be included as a basic social right.
Installation DDW "In need of home", Photo © Luisa Kappen
#3 You are obviously very keen to actively change something in German housing construction through writings such as “Dissozialer Wohnungsbau” or an open letter to Klara Geywitz, Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Construction, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal President. This is undoubtedly motivating for aspiring architects. But what would you like to see from architects, interior designers and landscape architects who have already completed their education?
With this open letter to Klara Geywitz and Frank-Walter Steinmeier I would like to create architectural spaces for social justice. The aim is to initiate a discourse in order to find a new aesthetic of social space through new building policy values and conditions. The “call to action” letter calls for a joint political and architectural approach to current social challenges and advocates concrete building policy measures.
We have the tools to work together to create and present a strategic vision of the future that you can really believe in: To be the freest fantasists and strategists at the same time. This enables us to create visions for urgent social points of tension. So let's dare to tackle the pressing issue of housing instead of individual prestigious representative buildings. Let us remember our own power to act and, in response, our responsibility in the political discourse. I truly believe accepting this and helping to shape it will be an emancipating process for architects.
Performance Bellevue "In need of action" Photo © Marvin Wesner
#4 Your association nexture+ shows how important collective rethinking is in order to make a difference in politics (”If we wait for governments, it will be too late. If we act as individuals, it will be too little. But if we act as communities, it might just be enough, and it might just be in time.“ - by Rob Hopkins). While nexture+ is strongly involved in educating, there is still a need for associations that focus on the active real estate market - keyword: house associations - how do you assess their role?
Nexture+ forms the interface between young talents, the profession, teaching and the chamber. The interdisciplinary combination among us, students and young professionals, creates a great deal of collective knowledge and the resulting strength.
This collective strength is also inherent in house associations. Simultaneously with the planning and construction process, skills are acquired, knowledge is built up, collective organizational structures are developed and articulation skills are improved through ongoing discussion and argumentation. In the best case, this growth does not remain isolated, but the distinguishing features spread beyond this. A high degree of participation and self-organization, a focus on utility value rather than profit logic and an awareness of social, economic and ecological social problems are valuable skills for a social democratic society in particular. For example, socially oriented housing projects generally manage to save on expenditures and share resources, which leads to a reduction in cost of living and addressing of social, ecological and economic problems.
An expansion of private construction projects in Germany is dependent on a new political orientation towards the common good instead of individual profit. This is because self-organized housing and construction projects are dependent on solidary financing concepts and the exclusion of land speculation.
#5 Regarding Nexture +, where you have been Head of Interior Design since mid 2023. What is a “Werkstadt” and how does a university apply for such an event?
The “Werkstädte der klimagerechten Lehre” are a format of the „Zukunftsfähige Lehre“ (sustainable teaching). A working group, of which I am not a member, but greatly appreciate. Through discourse events that travel through connected German universities, we seek collective input for a guideline for climate-friendly teaching. Driven by the goal of climate-neutral construction by 2045 and the lack of preparation for this in higher education, we set out measures and demands and stimulate discourse.
#6 What are your next steps?
Shortly before my Master's degree, I am longing to take a deep breath. However, I already have one foot in the application process. To be honest, I know what I want to do professionally, namely socio-spatial design theory and practice and humanistic work. But I am still keeping it’s mode open for a while, whether it will be research, teaching, politics or self-employment.
In addition, the campaign for the open letter is not yet over. For me, the topic does not belong in a drawer with the university degree and so I will continue to contribute to the housing policy discourse with the content of my elaboration.
#7 How do you see the role of an architect in today's society?
Our responsibility is greater than probably ever before. The construction industry's share of global greenhouse gas emissions is at a record level of 38 percent and falls well short of the Paris Climate Agreement. The entire planning industry needs to fundamentally transform if it is to do its job ethically in the future.
In addition, the discipline urgently needs to become aware of its impact on individuals and society. The spatial environment manifests social conditions. This influence should, without exception, be exercised in a democratic sense and so design processes must also be based on democratic structures. The job description of the individual, mostly male star architect is outdated and needs to be transformed urgently. Power structures should always be shared pluralistically. In my opinion, the one sharply defined role of the architect has long since ceased to exist and enduring this blurring oneself can be very liberating.
© Installation DDW "In need of home" Photos © Luisa Kappen
#8 How does your environment influence your work?
Depending on the project phase, I need a completely different work environment. During discovery and concept phases, I really enjoyed the community at university and undoubtedly felt how much faster exchange can get me out of a slump than if I try to deal with something alone. In moments like these, I can work well in a changeable and noisy environment and I very much hope to find such an environment again and again after my studies.
At some point in the project, a focus will (hopefully) be set and I'll need big noise-canceling headphones, focus techno playlists, and my fixed workstation.
#9 Three things that inspire you at the moment?
All the wonderful Master's students around me who immerse themselves deeply in their individual topics with all their heart and nerves and find their own expression. The exhibition by Matri-Archi(tecture), a network of interdisciplinary spatial practitioners dedicated to the development of African spatial education, at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. Their installation “Homeplace” focuses on the construction of belonging far from home and the question of identity.
Killing Architects, who used spatial tools in investigative work to visualize the networks of Chinese detention camps and show where we can help and what we can achieve with our spatial skills.
#10 What do you currently read, watch, listen to?
I am currently reading, once again, Arch+ „Feminist Spatial Practice“, a very well curated issue on intersectional justice. Next on my reading list is the book „Demokratie und Revolution“ by Richter and Ulrich. It outlines a path through the tension between the inevitable ecological time pressure and the slowness of democratic processes. The podcast “MACHTlaut” by my dear friend Marie-Joelle Scholten-Reintjes I listen to addresses the power structures of everyday spaces.
Links
Pamphlet : Dissozialer Wohnungsbau
Instagram : @ luisa.kappen.ia
Photo Credits: © Luisa Kappen, © Marvin Wesner , Interview Helena Tietmeyer