Germany

MOVE is an experimental short film that explores the influence of architecture to human psyche. The experimental short film emphasizes the physical exploration of the “Plattenbau” - an architecture of prefabricated concrete block flats that was typical of East Germany. It questions the relationship between body and space.

India

Azerbaijan

Baku is an industrial oil city and the country's primary export - oil and gas is sucked off from the Caspian Sea which has a significant contribution to the city's identity, infrastructure, design, and culture as well as its economy. The oil industry has been expanding and shaping the destiny of Baku for almost more than 5 decades now and without it, neither the city could be the way it is now, nor the country. The industry brings major challenges to the city during resource-demanding oil production by emitting alarming levels of greenhouse gases, polluting air and water bodies, degrading land, and mismanaging toxic oil waste. As a result of it, the Caspian Sea is highly polluted, and most coastal areas of the sea even have a hazardous level of toxicity for swimming. On top of everything, most citizens are very irresponsible with their trash around the coast and it adds up to the catastrophic pollution of the Caspian. The city’s major identity comes from the Caspian Sea, however, it is heartbreaking to see the trash and oil leakage pounding the shores of the 16 KM long Baku Boulevard when you walk along it. Due to the mismanagement of waste and lack of public awareness the shores are getting dirtier every other day and it is becoming impossible to find a clean spot to swim in the summer to survive the heat waves. Also, the privatization of the beaches is another challenge, and access to clean shores is becoming more and more commercialized and expensive to enter. Thus, access to swimming is becoming very exclusive for the working class and many had to bear the smell, inconvenience, and ugliness of public beaches.

Georgia

Vernacular extensions of modernist buildings have been created since the 1990s as an organic response to the new, “lawless” times after the fall of the Soviet Union. They increase the living space and are usually used as terraces, extra rooms, open refrigerators,It is said that a Russian journalist named them “kamikaze,” drawing a parallel between the romantic and suicidal character of such an endeavour and the typical ending of most Georgian family names “-adze.” This architecture also refers back to the local palimpsestic building technique, which since the Middle Ages has allowed new houses to be built on top of existing ones on the steep slopes of the Caucasus Mountains, thus not monumentalisation of the past but expanding on it for the future. Three residence from different flat which have extensions tell their stories, why they decide to build it and how they use this part of house. The facades of all these types of buildings look chaotic, but from the inside they are all ordered.

Azerbaijan

“Baku is a charming, progressive and clean city with all the high glass buildings, and the unique architectural hybrid from Zaha Hadid Design to social-modernist architecture” - is the thought of most privileged people who have not seen beyond the city center. City design and built environment in Baku is chaotic and unorganized, and mass instruction is always going on. There is a big contrast in design where one could see astonishing beauty on the outside, but when you look on the inside, you see all the suffering, ugliness, and disorder that has been going on since the 1990s. Baku is the biggest center of economy, trade, arts&culture, and education and is the home of the largest job market in the country. Beginning from the late 20th century, the city’s population began skyrocketing with an influx of refugees and forced migrants (due to the war), then later with the oil boom that expanded many job sectors in the region and drove many to the capital in search of work. The rapidly growing population and the economy of Baku pressured the government to advance the “image” and the city's international recognition, which led to a fast growth of infrastructure, architecture, and design. The city hosted major international events throughout the 2010s up until now. Steady growth created a pretty image on the outside but left many behind living in the surrounding neighborhoods of Baku. Most of the streets in suburban areas are in bad condition which challenges many people with disabilities. The design of the streets is relatively inclusive around the center, however, most of the ramps are almost a "décor" more than a useful tool. Other design elements in the city that are supposedly inclusive are also very ill-measured and play the role of "décor" rather than a useful tool for people with disabilities.

Denmark

Women are, indisputably, affected by feeling unsafe in public spaces after dark. They change the way they act, move and live. Concrete-heavy, badly illuminated spaces, like bridges or tunnels create a nightmare scenery and exclude women, as well queer, trans and non-binary people from safely walking through them. The film LIGHTS immerse us into women's discriminatory reality, their vulnerabilities and desperate reactions in the dark. And investigates what can architects or urban planners do to help inclusive transformation of public spaces? How can designers ease omnipresent fear of experiencing sexual violence?