Rural Vision

Change of perspective and system: Christoph Hesse Architects propose alternative strategies to improve life in the countryside and to redefine it as a source of innovation and social progress.

Christoph Hesse Architects are based in Berlin and Korbach, a small town in the northwestern part of the German federal state Hesse. This rural area in the green heart of Germany is the location of most of the projects the firm has realized since its establishment in 2010. Yet, occasionally, they do plant their rural concepts into an urban context. Christoph Hesse Architects and their friends see their designs as open places of culture. On the one hand, they are catalysts for change in thought, intended to change people's perspectives and stimulate their self-efficacy in society. On the other hand, they are actual interventions in globally prevailing structures that can be disrupted and changed locally. Thus, the firm distinguishes between projects acting as perspective changes and as system changers.

Rural Vision is the first monograph on Christoph Hesse Architects. It also constitutes a manifesto that illustrates how collaborative projects create social, ecological, and economic points of contact and dialogue. Moreover, they promote sustainable change that not only improves people's lives in rural areas but also redefines change as a source of innovation and social progress. The book offers alternative strategies based on selected projects through photos, visualizations, drawings, and plans, as well as essays and conversations.

• First monograph on German design firm Christoph Hesse Architects
• Christoph Hesse Architects see their projects as catalysts for change of thought and actual interventions in globally prevailing structures to be disrupted and changed locally
• Christoph Hesse Architects' concepts and built projects have gained wide recognition and exemplify the transformative power of building in rural areas
• The book is a manifesto illustrating how collaborative projects create social, ecological, and economic points of contact and dialogue

• With contributions by distinguished international authors

  Autorentext

  Kristin Feireiss ist Architekturkuratorin, Autorin und Herausgeberin. 1980 gründete sie gemeinsam mit Helga Retzer das Aedes Architekturforum in Berlin, zu dem seit 2009 auch die interdisziplinäre Diskursplattform ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory gehört.