Playful Architectures

The exhibition addresses the relationship between architecture and computer games from different perspectives. »Manifold Garden« shows what a world could look like in which the rules of gravity do not apply. The developers of »The Witness« collaborated with architects to create spaces that give players better orientation. The work »Operation Jane Walk« by Robin Klengel and Leonhard Müllner invites the audience to an architectural tour through the post-apocalyptic New York of the game »Tom Clancy's: The Division«. And the film »Another Day of Depression in Kowloon« by Ip Yuk-Yiu uses the example of a digital representation of Hong Kong in the shooter game »Call of Duty« to examine how the Western-influenced view of the mass media affects cultural representations in and the design of games.

Computer games are now also used to plan buildings and cities and to put the designs up for discussion: The »Videogame Urbanism« project at London's Bartlett School of Architecture shows how computer games can be used as collaborative or participatory design tools that allow different perspectives to be included in problem solving. In the game »Block'hood« real environments and situations are simulated to make spatial and social impacts and economic and political power structures visible. Computer games thus become interactive learning environments and tools for raising awareness.