Workshop 1: WITHOUT WORDS
by Jürgen Mayer H. (Jürgen Mayer H. Architects, Berlin, Germany) and Nader Tehrani (Office dA, Boston, USA)

What happens to the brand when the sign, logo and names are taken out  of the equation?

Tested in the old town center of Maastricht - the cross border shopping destination - we look at streets and stores in regards of signage, interior design and it´s effect on street presence. Can the outdoor be read as an interior? Is the interior an extension of street life? How can we rethink brands by taking away logos, signs and names and emphasizing the presence of brands with other architectural qualities, or even question the uniqueness of brands in the light of streamlined customer demands? A test in one day!

Bring along: digital camera + laptop with 3D software + Photoshop.

Workshop 2: BRAND TRANSLATION - TWO WAY STREET
by Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu (Neri & Hu, Shanghai, China )

Issue:  Brand translation occurs when a foreign brand enters a new country, when a brand identity and its surrounding display mechanisms modify themselves to fit into a new cultural context and emerging market.  How should a brand be “translated”?  is it necessary?  What mechanisms of display do we engage in?  Should they change as the cultural landscape changes?  How can architecture support in brand communication?

Students can select one of the following direction:

Exploration “to”:  design an installation/exhibition space for an “international” furniture brand to be launched in Shanghai, China. 

Exploration “from”:  design an installation/exhibition space for a local Shanghainese brand to be launched in the “international” market.

(Note: 2 designs will be selected to be installed at Design Republic flagship store in Shanghai.  The designers will be offered to go to Shanghai to oversee the installation and participate in an internship program.  Travel expenses and a stipend will be paid for.)

Bring along: laptop and materials for designing.

Workshop 3:
demi time. a workference & a con shop by item idem.

- recon/text an item
Every participant should provide an item of his/her choice taken from its own personal environment, encapsulating and resonating its educational influences, whether they might be of  the highest or lowest reflected cultural ideologies.
Along with this item, every participant should provide to the organizing committee 2 pictures in digital format:
- One picture of chosen item in its original environment.
- One picture of the original environment without the chosen item.
Finally each participant is invited to provide a short, hand-written text explaining the motivations for his/her choice.

All materials should be provided by Friday, November 16th, 2007.

- death/try an item
Poetically relocating Chris Burden's  "747" performance.
Participants are recommended not to wear valuable clothes.

Please bring along only Polaroid imagery devices.
All images, concepts used & issued during this entire project  are legally owned & copyrighted by item idem in 7002.

Workshop 4: Where does an Interior Start? And End?
by Richard Hutten (Richard Hutten Studio, Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

The function of an interior is given by the objects placed in the space. The function of a bedroom is given by the placement of a bed; not by the space itself. The same counts for a car showroom. The cars give  room a function. During this workshop we're going to explore the boundaries of interior design. Can you make an interior with only objects? For example; is it enough to only put cars in a space to make a car showroom? Or desks and shelfs to make an office? Do we need architecture to make an interior? Or can a square and/or any other outdoor space become an interior through objects?

The aim of this workshop is to search for the minimum requirements needed to define, and still call a space an interior.

Bring along: paper, pencils and/or laptop to visualize research.