The Design Research Lab is a laboratory for experimental design and research reflecting on the digital society. Through playful interventions, critical making and collaborative reasoning we investigate possible futures. As a platform and network, we are deeply involved with the requirements and policies needed for an inclusive and sustainable development of the digital society from a design perspective.
We are an interdisciplinary team of designers, researchers, tech-enthusiasts and critical thinkers from Berlin University of the Arts, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, as well as Einsteincenter Digital Future (ECDF).
During the Nacht und Nebel-Festival in Berlin-Neukölln the installation “Dear Sonnenallee” offered passer-bys and festival visitors to publish ideas, desires and suggestions to a broader public about this street. Additionally the individual opinions are discussable via text message. The medium to hand in the opinions is our Hybrid Letterbox. The installation’s aim is a vivid dialogue about qualities and challenges of the neighborhood. Through a blog the discussion was able to continued throughout. All insights were handed over to the neighborhood management Donaustraße-Nord, which supported the installation. Special thanks to the Graffiti Research Lab Germany and the Café Schaumschläger for providing us with the technical infrastructure.