Nord Stream 3 by Opposite Office – All images: ©Opposite Office. Benedikt Hartl. Munich. 2022.
Ukraine war – The United States has already blocked Russian gas import while Europe is still discussing whether it can afford to shut it off entirely. Activist studio Opposite Office goes one step further. It has already started to reconstruct and remodel the recently completed Nord Stream 2, a set of offshore natural gas pipelines that run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, making Europe more dependent on Russia and relying on fossil fuels in times of climate change.
The studio was commissioned to design an alternative concept for the Baltic Sea pipeline. The site of the German landing station in Lubmin near Greifswald is being repurposed and transformed into a center for international understanding. “Because only international cooperation and relationships will secure peace on a long-term.” Opposite Office told Archipanic.
The pipes that have already been laid will be taken out of the sea and used as a building material for the Nord Stream 3 peace program promoted by the German Federal Government. Indeed, the pipes will be converted into a 194-sleeping capsule hotel. These 194 bunks are randomly raffled off to people worldwide every month so that every country can occupy one bunk. This month-long residency, which is free to all, will bring people together from all over the world.
“The project aims to trigger intercultural exchange, enabling personal friendships and breaking down prejudices.” On the now unused site of the German landing station, the existing buildings are being converted into a large assembly hall for discussion groups, a foreign language school, workshops, galleries and cultural meeting places.
Siteplan of Nord Stream 3.
The project is designed to create space for an exchange of interests and mutual input. In the discussion of climate, social, health and economic policy issues, the participants bring their ideas, values and maxims for action, negotiate them at equals and thus bring new implications, inspiration and impulses to their countries of origin. “Like a UN for ordinary people.”
All images: ©Opposite Office. Benedikt Hartl. Munich. 2022.
Exploded taxonometry of the capsule hotel.
