Bachelor Thesis, Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design, Prof. Mark Blaschitz, AM Claudia Nitsche
The initiative Adapter appropriates the site by reusing the existing building fabric to create a spatial and social bridge between the two cities. The suspended roof of the former checkpoint is selectively dismantled and reconfigured, allowing the site to shed its identity as a border crossing and instead provide an adaptable infrastructure for public use.
The barrel modules are complemented by simple timber connectors, allowing them to be appropriated as seating, spatial partitions, or temporary architectural components. Their repeated use throughout the site establishes a coherent architectural identity while encouraging flexible and participatory forms of occupation.
Minor interventions within the vacant ground-floor offices of the adjacent buildings provide a permanent base for the Adapter collective and its collaborators. Workshops, storage facilities, offices, changing rooms, sanitary spaces, a communal kitchen, and a multifunctional event space support a wide range of activities. Together, these interventions transform a former space of division into an adaptable public realm that continuously evolves through collective use and fosters collaboration across the border.