Disko (acronym for Diskurs-Kontinuum) was a publication series of 0093 a42.org, the master’s program in architecture and urban research directed by Arno Brandlhuber at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg. The aim of this series was to communicate the research and debates taking place within the study program to the outside world. Disko appeared between 2006 and 2013 in packages of three to six issues, each of which was produced in an economical DIN A5 format.
Download Disko 1: Bart Lootsma, “Koolhaas, Constant und die niederländische Kultur der 60er”
Download Disko 2: Bruno Ebersbach, “sido, die Maske und der Block”
Download Disko 3: Philipp Reinfeld, “Sanierungskonzept Potsdamer Platz”
Download Disko 4: a42 et al., “selten gesehene Architektur, unrealisierte Projekte”
Disko 1
“In Indonesia, we lived in the stables of a very large house, which was surrounded by a wall. On the other side of the wall, there was a washing place with several long, parallel basins. There were some very beautiful women there… who washed the sheets very slowly, with erotic movements… At one point a bell rang; it was time for the lunch, the women left. Some men came in, took off their clothes, pissed in the water and then they started swimming between the sheets. It was a great experience…”
Rem Koolhaas
Disko 2
In 2004 the rapper sido conquered the German charts with “Mein Block.” The song quickly became the anthem for the place he sang about, the Märkische Viertel in Berlin, sido's “Ghetto.” Taking “Mein Block” as his point of departure, Ebersbach explores the mechanisms of the affinity of space and identity within the “placeless” principles of hip hop and architectural modernism.
Disko 3
The Potsdamer Platz in Berlin is considered one of the most successful urban development projects of the recent past. The ensemble has become an integral part of the historiography of reunification and the itinerary of tourists. Contrary to the aims of its planners, however, Potsdamer Platz has not become the connecting element between the eastern and western parts of the city, but rather formulates a quasi-autonomous-autistic “non-place” that is used in an excellent way as a background for print and film advertising. This study develops concrete measures that secure the future of this unique ensemble.
Disko 4
Architecture serves the creation of a new and heretofore by definition unknown state. a42.org, the master’s program for architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, has been examining architectural concepts from the perspective of their social and methodological relevance for two years now. A search that touches the limits of definitions.