Forecast is an international platform for knowledge transfer that offers pioneers from anywhere in the world working in various disciplines the chance to work with accomplished mentors toward bringing their projects to fruition, and to present them to the public. 

 

For each edition, Forecast selects 6 mentors of various disciplines who offer interested participants their expertise in specifying and realizing their pioneering project ideas. 30 applicants will be invited to Berlin to discuss their ideas and present them to the public at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) during the Forecast Forum May 7-13th, 2018. At the end of the Forecast Forum, each of the 6 mentors will select one concept to accompany to its realization. The outcomes of these collaborations will be presented October 12-13th, 2018, at the Forecast Festival at the HKW.

 

Host of the annual Forecast Forum and Festival is the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in the Tiergarten, Berlin and STUDIO RAMOS was invited to design a proposal for the exhibition design. 

 

CONCVEX is our proposal for the next edition and it is based on vertical timber walls as the infrastructure that generates the geometry of the exhibition space and more intimate stage areas. That way we guarantee structured visitor guidance, focused presentations as well as an open platform to encourage interdisciplinary exchange. 

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The Haus der Kulturen der Welt is a building placed inside the Tiergarten. Extending on the interconnection of park, landscape, vegetation and the architectural compositions of the building with bridges, stairs, terraces, ponds and large open glass walls allowing the park to visually flow into the inside, our proposal brings the green surroundings to the building´s interior. The composition of the architectural elements of the exhibition remember the idea of a folly in a park. These mini-architectures as furniture pieces are parts of a common geometry in the Forum and the Festival events. One difficulty detected was to deal with the acoustic problem of working with an open foyer. That inspired us to work with vertical barriers, absorbent surfaces and green elements to define our proposal.

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For the Forecast Forum, the units are positioned with the concave side outward, generating a star-like composition. This geometry allows getting an overlook of all the works of the six different fields of interest. The visitors can walk around the walls or decide to go networking in the lounge created in the middle. The aim of this structure is to create a more direct approach between the work exhibited and the visitors. 

 

The star-like geometry for the Forecast Forum can be placed at the main foyer of the HKW between the columns.  This forms a central spot for all the events, which is easy to access from all the entrances. There is also the option to place some extra units temporarily in separated rooms for punctual events.

 

For the Forecast Festival, the same units are turned by 180º forming a circle-like geometry that is creates a big stage for the final presentations of the selected mentees. The convex side of each unit displays their final works. This time the visitors can walk around the outside, learn about the final works or go inside the construct to attend to the current program at the stage, which could be also placed in the middle for less hierarchic performances.

 

The circle geometry for the Forecast Festival is also suitable for placing it at the main foyer of the HKW between the columns.

 

The unit has the shape of an open trapezium. Its concave side with an inclination of 30º defines a more private area that can host an open program within the Forecast Forum: from concerts and art installations to performances and exhibitions. The idea behind is to assign each mentor and their associated mentees to each unit. The left wall has a space reserved for plants attached behind a wood mesh.

 

The convex side works as a pin-wall to show the projects of the group (5 mentees) associated to a mentor. Looking at this side the visitor can get a general impression of the different works explored for the same topic and go to the concave side to attend to the scheduled program at the stage, if interested.

 

The unit wall is a combination of 2 different elements in 3 parts. The left one is the element A, the middle and the right parts are both the same element B. Both are simple wood frame structures that can be reused for both Forum and Festival events. The stability of the unit is assured by its 3D geometry and the weight of the planters.