24 2 1 # 2 0 Design for Ephemerality By Lara Weller & Jan-Micha Gamer We live in a world of permanent change. Nothing in this world remains the same — even though an inner human need strives to create permanence and immortality. This vehement striving and the resulting careless actions now present humanity with huge challenges to overcome: products are produced regardless of their end of life and generate huge mountains of „waste“; architectures are built in a con ict of material and environment, so that they have to be demolished after a few decades; resources are exploited on such a scale, that the devastating environ-mental consequences are already noticeable; and much more. We are convinced that human intervention and creation is much more mindful, cautious and resource-saving if we are aware of our own mortality, the laws of the natural cycle as well as the complexity of the planetary system. In this workshop, we would like to focus on this aspect of ephemerality together: How does our relationship to our environment changewhen we become aware of our mortality? Howwould we shape our environment if we assume that all material thingsmust also be returned to their original state at the end of our lives? How do we draw creative power and ingenuity from our ephemerality in order to shape this world differently? With these and other questions, wewant to find awaywithin different contexts to get out of the thinking of infinity, limitless power and immortality that we demonstrate to each other on every day basis. We therefore start on a very personal level. In the following, the students are to develop Critical Design concepts in an interdisciplinaryway, according to their strengths and backgrounds. These concepts will make a new statement in this world beyond utopian future scenarios. The knowledge the students have gai-ned in their disciplineswill be used todevelopeach design concept in various group settings with critical questioning and learning how todeal with unresolvable conflicts.
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