The term ‘wildes denken’ (wild thinking) was coined by Claude Lévi-Strauss to describe the ways of thinking of indigenous cultures that are close to nature and based on holistic and mythical world views. This way of thinking connects all beings, things and phenomena through an all-encompassing, magical connection that is not based on abstract or rational considerations. Instead, it combines sensory perceptions and past events through imagination to create concrete images, ideas and stories, an improvisational approach known as bricolage (‘tinkering’). In the course of my architectural studies, I have increasingly explored my own positioning in the field of tension in architecture - between art and science, rationality and intuition, theory and practice. Claude Lévi-Strauss‘ considerations can be applied to the structures of architecture, and I see potential in the (re)organisation of seemingly different positions.

Based on the concept of ‘wild thinking’, I examine the transferability of similar structures and considerations to ‘wild building’ as well as the individual insights and potentials of such a methodology. Strauss contrasts the ways of thinking of cultures close to nature with the Western rational and abstract view, which can be found in various areas of life. My focus is specifically on the architectural environment and the investigation of the potential interplay between analogue/digital, tangible/abstract, complex/simplistic and generic/specific architectural resources and tools in ‘wild building’. What forms of design can emerge from this interplay and what influence does it have on the methods (plan, model and image) of architecture?

I see the processing time of my master‘s thesis as an experimental period to search for an individual methodology. I am researching the aesthetics of the processual and the effects of expanding and redefining the concepts of resources and tools. In doing so, I move in the field of tension between art and science, analogue and digital, as well as planning and action; it is the search for an aesthetic of further building, of the processual, the search for a magical, all-encompassing connection between resources, tools, places, ideas and people; the search for ‘das wilde bauen’.

Here you can find more information about the continuation of this project  in public spaces:  das wilde bauen - workshop