BACK:LAB – a laboratory for the city of tomorrow

Students from Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences and the University of Bonn explore Bonn's Marthashof

Since the beginning of September 2025, a place for encounters, exchange, and experimental urban design has been taking shape in the heart of Bonn’s city center: at BACK:LAB – a laboratory for artistic urban research, students from the Department of Architecture at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter and from the Department of Geography at the University of Bonn are working together with local residents, business owners, and all interested parties to explore the Marthashof – a hidden yet contested inner courtyard in the heart of the city between Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz, Kölnstraße, Langstraße, and Sandkaule.

BACK:LAB understands urban development as an open process of negotiation in which artistic research approaches open up new perspectives on dealing with urban in-between spaces. “We see the Marthashof as a space for experimentation in collaborative urban design. Here, together with the neighborhood, we want to test how design in the city can be rethought,” says Junior Professor Miriam Hamel of Alanus University. “Artistic urban research makes it possible to question familiar perspectives and create new relationships between people and places,” emphasizes Prof. Dr. Eva Nöthen from the Department of Geography at the University of Bonn. “This creates momentum for a more interconnected and solidaristic urban life.” The aim of the project is to find ways in which climate-just and socially inclusive urban development can emerge.

BACK:LAB will be set up from September to December 2025 in a rented space at Marthashof. The space serves as a place for research, design, and exchange – a meeting point for students, local residents, business owners, and all interested parties who would like to play an active role in shaping Marthashof.

In the long term, it would be desirable to establish the project permanently as an urban laboratory in order to support the development over time. Supporters and co-creators are being sought for this purpose!

The project is a cooperation between Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences (Department of Architecture) and the University of Bonn (Department of Geography), funded by the discretionary fund of the City of Bonn’s city center management with resources from the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building, the urban development funding program of the federal government, the states and municipalities, and the Ministry of Homeland, Municipal Affairs, Building and Digitalization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Invitation to all interested parties to two open formats in autumn/winter 2025:

TEA | TIME
November – December 2025, every Monday, 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: BACK:LAB, Am Marthashof / Sandkaule 13b, Bonn
A weekly format for everyone who is curious, wants to join the conversation, and help shape ideas. Over a cup of tea, students invite the neighborhood and all interested parties to exchange views on urban development, participation, and visions for the future.

WORK | SHOW
Monday, 15 December 2025, from 4:00 p.m.
Location: BACK:LAB, Am Marthashof / Sandkaule 13b, Bonn
At the end of the winter semester, BACK:LAB opens its doors to an interested public: artistic research interventions, project results, and visions for Marthashof will be presented.

COOPERATION
Junior Professor Miriam Hamel, Neja Häbler, Lien Do
Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Architecture, Process Architecture
Prof. Dr. Eva Nöthen, Johanna Reitz
University of Bonn, Department of Geography, Geography Education

Photo: Neja Häbler

Contact for press inquiries:
+49 (0)2222 9321-1944
presse@alanus.edu

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