#DESIGN LAB

is an interdisciplinary platform where architects, urbanists, landscape architects, designers and artists collaborate with soft- and hardware engineers in the development of projects for combined physical and digital, urban, architectural, design, and media spaces.

projects

Hybrid Space

Hybrid Space is the fusion of digital and physical space.
Hybrid Spaces are the products of the alliances between physical objects and digital information-communication networks, of architectural-urban and media space.
Hybrid Space is the ambivalent space that is at the same time analog and digital, virtual and material, biological and technical, local and global, tactile and abstract.

Concept Hybrid Space © Hybrid Space Lab, Berlin, 1988~2024

Chair Sabrina @ Allesandro Mendini & Studio Alchimia

Frans Vogelaar is responsible within the framework of the architectural and design office “Studio Alchymia” in Milan, Italy, for the design and development of the prototype and supervision of the industrial production of the chair Sabrina by Allesandro Mendini in close collaboration with the Italian renowned furniture manufacturer Driade.

Design & Prototype Development, Supervision Industrial Production Chair Sabrina by Allesandro Mendini @ Driade, Alzaia Trieste 49, Corsico, Italia, 1982

Frans Vogelaar @ Studio Alchimia

From 1981 till 1982 Frans Vogelaar was a member of the architectural and design office “Studio Alchimia” in Milan, Italy.

Design & Architecture @ Studio Alchimia, Milan, Italy, 1981-1982

news

Caring Future Lab @ FURTUROMONDO

What does an integrated approach look like that brings together the physical and digital dimensions of care, providing impetus for innovative solutions in the areas of care and prevention?
How can we combine the best of technological innovations and digital and hybrid solutions with the socio-cultural dimensions of prevention and care?
Together we are developing the healthy city – a 15-Minute City with 5-Minute Communities, committed to the One Health concept!

Keynote & Panel Caring Future Lab @ FUTUROMONDO Foresight, Future Urban Economies Forum, Stuttgart, Germany, 3 July 2025

Wonderful Green Facade @ Tagesspiegel

Museum Director Paul Spies takes stock: “The streams of tourists are bypassing the Humboldt Forum”
There were wonderful proposals for the palace, such as a green façade.

Interview Paul Spies by Birgit Rieger @ Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 29 June 2024

Conflict Space @ ISEA 2022

The lecture and workshop Conflict Space takes place at the International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA 2022 “Possibilities – Heritage and Futures” at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona.

Lecture & Workshop Conflict Space @ ISEA 2022 Symposium “Possibilities”, Heritage and Futures @ Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, 12 June 2022 &  14 June 2022

Hybrid Heritage @ Practices of Heritage

How to re-signify heritage and physical monuments with the help of creative visions and hybrid (combined physical and digital) tools? Hybrid Heritage engages with this challenge presenting a series of projects researching and designing contemporary interpretations and further development of heritage from a multicultural perspective. Including the integration of digital technology and media networks in heritage projects, Hybrid Heritage also focuses on cultural hybridity in today’s globalized world.

Publication Hybrid Heritage @ Identity and Heritage, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Stuttgart, Germany, 1 Februari 2022

reWild Autobahn @ BauNetz

Baunetz showcases ReWild Autobahn as part of the Berlin Atlas.

Publication ReWild Autobahn @ BauNetz, Berlin Atlas, Berlin, 19 November 2021

ReWild Autobahn @ BDA Berlin

ReWild Autobahn is presented at the gallery of the Association of German Architects.

Exhibition ReWild Autobahn @ BDA Gallery, Mommsenstrasse 64, Berlin, 6 October-26 November 2021

Hybrid Spaces @ Lithuanian Union of Architects

Our whole sense of reality is shaped by our hybrid existence. Hybridity is a multifaceted notion, as we are experiencing a proliferation of hybridization in all dimensions of our contemporary life. This is discussed in an article on Hybrid Space, published by the Lithuanian Union of Architects.

Publication Hybrid Spaces @ Regeneration [and its Discontents], Lithuanian Architectural Foundation, Vilnius, Lithuania, 4 June 2021

Deep Space @ Art Journal Hjärnstorm

Hjärnstorm, the Swedish independent journal of art, literature, philosophy published an article on Deep Space.

Publication Valle de los Caídos: the Digital Architecture Embraces a Painful Heritage, Cecilia Nyman @ Hjärnstorm Stockholm, 5 January 2021

Deep Space @ archithese

Hybrid Space Lab analyzed “Valley of the Fallen” near Madrid – the pompous tomb for the fascist dictator Francisco Franco. They suggest leaving it unchanged but covering it with a new critical layer. Using augmented reality, they want to make hidden layers visible and write history from the victims’ perspective.

Publication Informing instead of glorifying, Jørg Himmelreich, @ archithese, Switserland, 28 November 2020

DMZpace @ Korean Cultural Center Paris

The Paris exhibition “Negotiating Borders – Real DMZ Project” features Hybrid Space Lab’s DMZpace, a project deploying the potential of the border area as a site of both historical wounds and flourishing nature.

Exhibition DMZpace @ Korean Cultural Center, Paris, 10 September-6 November 2020

 

Deep Space @ Deutschlandfunk Kultur

The Valle de los Caídos is highly controversial as a memorial of the fallen of the Spanish Civil War: for a long time, it mainly served the glorification of the dictator Franco. The “Deep Space” project wants to show visitors also the site’s dark side.

Interview, Eckhard Roelcke, journalist @ Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Germany, 8 August 2020

DMZpace @ Yeonnamjang Gallery Seoul

Featured in the “DMZ Landscape: Cheorwon” exhibition in Seoul, Hybrid Space Lab’s DMZpace project unfolds the potential of the no-man’s-land border area to overcome the tension between its historical wounds and the thriving nature. Opening up scenarios for reconciliation and dialogue through the mediation of a now lush natural biotope, the project unveils the contradictions hidden behind the visible landscape at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

Exhibition DMZpace @ Yeonnamjang Underground Gallery, Seoul, 2 May-17 May 2020

Hybrid Space @ National Gallery of Art Vilnius

The lecture describes the development of Hybrid Space Lab’s approach to urban and spatial phenomena, coining Hybrid Space as a new set of conceptual tools and a new qualitative space from the encounter of the physical and the digital.

Lecture
 Hybrid Space @ Architecture Fund, Lithuanian Council for Culture, 
National Gallery of Art 
Vilnius, Lithuania, 
5 March 2020

Humboldt Jungle @ German Parliament

One of the “questions” concerning the Humboldt Forum that the German Green Party (Fraktion BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN) put before the German Parliament, the “Deutscher Bundestag” on 2 July 2019 was:
Question 22: “What is the current state of the considerations on the part of the Federal Government for the greening of the facades, to install a so-called Humboldt Jungle?”

Publication 19/11306 Answer @ Deutscher Bundestag, German Federal Government, Germany, 2 July 2019

BioTecture @ Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum Beijing

Recent developments such as Internet of Things, Big Data, Machine Intelligence and Precision Farming will algorithmically organize life, including urban nature.
These developments in technology and media are supporting the emergence of a new hybrid architecture, a BioTecture, where Nature and Architecture fuse.

Lectures & Discussions @ CAFA Art Museum, Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum (CAFA) & Beijing Visual Art Innovation Institute, no 8. Hua Jia Di Nan Jie, Chaoyang District, Beijing, P.R. China, 25-26 November 2017

Social Design Award @ Der Spiegel

Humboldt Volcano is shortlisted as a candidate for Social Design Award by DER SPIEGEL. The Social Design Award honours special urban development projects.

Social Design Award @ DER SPIEGEL, Germany, 29 September-26 October 2017

INbetweenSTITUTE @ Urban China Magazine

798 and the Creative Cluster Conundrum is a highly ambitious and innovative project in order to plan the next step of Beijing’s renowned 798 Art District and is presented during Beijing Design Week.

Workshop & Presentation INbetweenSTITUTE @ Urban China Magazine, Beijing, 26 – 27 September 2016

Climate Adaptation @ Deutsches Architektur Zentrum DAZ

How to rebuild a city in the 21st century as global temperatures are rising?
Poly Garden City offers a sustainable green approach for the rebuilding of cities in Syria.

Discussion Strategies to Rebuild Aleppo @ Deutsches Architekturzentrum DAZ, Berlin, 22 April 2016

Smart & the City @ Hannoversche Allgemeine

On Wednesday 9 April 2014 in the evening the walls of the Opera House became a canvas for a light installation. The approximately 15 minute animation runs in a continuous loop on the facade of the opera house.

Winter Herb Summer Worm @ Stylepark

Simple elements that make planning and construction much easier – architects have been looking into the possibilities afforded by modular construction for quite some time now.
What do these modules require in order to fulfill the basic functions of a living and working space and simultaneously remain adaptable in their implementation?
The exhibition, “Architekturteilchen”, at Cologne’s MAKK museum takes a closer look at this question.

Publication by Jorg Zimmermann @ Stylepark, Germany, 1 May 2012

Hybrid Design @ Beijing Design Week

The Department of Hybrid Space / Academy of Media Arts Cologne Germany (KHM) and its founder, Prof. Frans Vogelaar, presents “Hybrid Design”, consisting of lectures, screenings and a workshop on self replicating 3D printers (Fab Lab).

Lectures, Exhibition & Workshop Hybrid Design @ Beijing Design Week, Beijing, China, 27 September-3 October 2011

NatureTecture @ Deutsches Architektenblatt 2011

The exhibition “ NatureTecture ” by the Chamber of Architects of North Rhine-Westphalia on the development of landscape architecture in Europe was on display in Istanbul until mid-December 2010.
On November 26, 2010, AKNW Vice President Dr. Christian Schramm and the President of the Istanbul Chamber of Architects, Prof. Deniz lncedayi, opened the exhibition in the European Capital of Culture 2010 in front of around 200 Turkish architects, landscape architects, interior designers and urban