invisible grounds

Riccarda Cappeller
architect. urban designer. author. researcher. curator

COOPERATIVE ARCHITECTURE
Urban Transformation as Process,
Design as Research Method, Space as Dialogue.
publication doctoral thesis | 2025

Graphic Design: Barbara Fischer

Cooperative Architecture as a concept and practice traces how architecture can emerge through relational processes: co-creation, co-habitation and collective authorship. It reimagines the city not through imposition, but through attention. Cooperative Architecture discusses three urban situations in transformation; Granby Four Streets in Liverpool, Can Batlló in Barcelona, and ExRotaprint in Berlin. Together they show how architecture is not a fixed object, but a performative and transformative cooperative act.
The book demonstrates how artistic strategies and design-based thinking, can develop exemplary ways to conduct architectural design research. It highlights the invisible grounds of space, from social traces and relations to urban processes of transformation and shared rhythms.

Publishing date with AADR: Forseen October 2025

design research
on site exploration
case study report
interviews
critical reflection
mapping
writing

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