German architectural collective Raumlaborberlin unveiled a futuristic prefab “space station” constructed entirely from recycled discarded doors for this year’s Transmediale Festival in Berlin. Titled Futures Exchange, the exhibit envisions a future based on the wastes and failures of 20th century ideologies while bringing new awareness to a possible future with less available natural resources.
Raumlaborberlin’s “space station” modules hosted a series of workshops and social gatherings that brought together artists and visitors throughout the Transmediale Festival. Decades ago, space stations were often thought of as futuristic utopian cities composed of efficient habitable structures. Now that this future is actually the present it becomes clear that the past notions of cities in outer space will remain unfulfilled for quite some time.
To create the structures Raumlaborberlin re-used salvaged discarded doors from panel flats in the East German town Halle-Neustadt. During the early 1960’s Halle-Neustadt was perceived as a positive example of post-war modernity, but now the town has succumbed to shrinkage and destruction. This exhibition architecture brings new consciousness to our current and future battles while symbolizing the waste and failure of our past’s future ideals and predictions.
