Merkurist.analog
BA Graduation Project, HS Mainz, 2017
Gutenberg Stipendium 2018
Motivated by the controversy around the redevelopment of the Ludwigsstrasse in Mainz, this project encourages the citizens to participate in urban development by providing a platform for shared political and social engagement.
Merkurist.analog becomes a participatory offline version of the local online journalism platform Merkurist, which focuses on community-based reporting, that puts the citizen at the heart of the journalistic process.
The concept store is based on the three pillars of the digital output: information, interaction and dialog and is orientated on the digital elements of the online platform Merkurist.
In the News Section, the Mainzer citizen can inform himself about current local events and can contribute one‘s own topics and interests via the Snips-wall. To express one´s opinion on current issues adhesive dots can be attached to the façade that visually creates individual Meinungsbilder to stimulate discourse with fellow citizens. An enclosing Dialogue seating area provides space for exchange, discussion rounds and workshops. The effects of participation are directly visible in the adjoining Team area, where six journalists edit the most highly ranked topics in well-founded articles.
An important design element of the brand architecture is the glass façade, which acts as a projection surface for citizens' concerns. It embodies transparency and reflection in both an aesthetic and social sense. During the day, the thoughts of the citizens are projected onto the floor of the pavilion by incident daylight, while at night the façade image is reflected into the urban space by spotlights to stimulate passers-by to reflect. Thus, the written, participatory word determines the space.
1 information
2 participation
3 communication
4 editing
