Experimental Zone documents four years of spatial reconfiguration inside a 350-square-metre research laboratory at Berlin's Humboldt University, interrogating how physical space shapes the conditions of interdisciplinary knowledge production.
About This Book
At the Interdisciplinary Laboratory Image Knowledge Gestaltung, forty scientists worked within a workspace that was deliberately and repeatedly reconfigured — every two months, for four years. The central question driving this design-based research: what spatial qualities does interdisciplinary collaboration actually require? Experimental Zone presents the findings through approximately 300 graphics, tracing how individual and collective research practices unfold, overlap, and merge under different spatial conditions. The book is itself formally experimental, with five chapters each reflecting distinct publishing traditions across design, architecture, and the humanities — making the methodology as visible as the findings. Essential reading for anyone working at the intersection of spatial design and research culture.
Key Features
- 176 pages of design-based spatial research findings presented through approximately 300 graphics
- Authors: Severine Marguin, Henrike Rabe, and Friedrich Schmidgall
- Case study: Interdisciplinary Laboratory Image Knowledge Gestaltung, Humboldt University, Berlin
- Published by Park Books, ISBN: 9783038601487
What You'll Discover
- How a 350-square-metre workspace was systematically reconfigured over four years to test the relationship between spatial arrangement and research output
- The specific spatial conditions under which individual and collaborative scientific work converge, diverge, or become indistinct
- Architectural characteristics that actively support — rather than merely accommodate — interdisciplinary teams
- A formally inventive book design in which each chapter's visual language reflects the publishing conventions of a different discipline, mirroring the experiment's cross-disciplinary ethos
About the Author
Severine Marguin, Henrike Rabe, and Friedrich Schmidgall are the authors of this collaborative research publication. Their work is grounded in the design-based experimental research conducted at the Interdisciplinary Laboratory Image Knowledge Gestaltung at Humboldt University, Berlin. [Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 176
- Dimensions: 278 x 210 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783038601487
- Publisher: Park Books
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and spatial designers interested in research environments, academics working in interdisciplinary settings, and design researchers exploring the intersection of space and knowledge production.