The term “living / dwelling” is difficult to define; not all languages have separate terms for the concepts. In English-speaking countries there is no linguistic distinction between “living / dwelling” and “living / being alive”. The term can form the basis for philosophical concepts and discussions.

What is living for you? What do you need to live? The workshop “LIVING FOR ME IS...” tries to discuss these questions.

Introduction:
Question as an introduction to the topic: “What is living / dwelling?”
The supervisor writes down the answers.
Also the pupils get the task to do a picture representing the question “What is dwelling for me?”
Second question: “What do you need for living / dwelling?”
These entries are also noted down.
The supervisor makes sure that, in addition to furnishing items, statements are also made on the following topics:

• Environment (urban, green, loud, quiet, many pubs and shops, neighbourhood, sports facilities outdoors ...)
• Environmental relationships (view, relationship to the environment, small windows, large windows, open spaces ...)
• Processes (working, sleeping, reading, cooking ...)
• Privacy, leisure time

Main part:

The pupils’ task is to graphically represent the above elements, characteristics etc. on a single sheet of A4 paper. These A4 sheets, each containing a term and an illustration thereof, are laminated onto cardboard. All “living ingredients” are then placed on a table and sorted thematically (“the buffet”).

Then the supervisor explains how living will look like in the future. Therefore she explains how living is like in current times and how it will evolve itself within the next 50 years.
To make it conceivable for the pupils, the supervisor presents 5 every day life stories from 2060 with totally different needs of living. All those stories are based at the common condition: living at 10 square meters.
Small groups are then formed. The pupils now discuss the question: “What does a really small room need in order to be habitable?”
Each group builds a room, measuring about 4 by 4 meters, just by using the ingredients required for living from the “buffet”. The “living utensils” are positioned in the room at the appropriate place.

Reflection and presentation
The room is presented according to the following criteria:

• What is living for me?
• What do I need to live? Why?
• Presentation of the room.

Goals:

• Dealing with the topic “living”.
• Development of fantasies and models of thought for the future
• Getting to know elementary basics for the future living
• Recognition of interaction between people and architecture