The Knowledge of the old Town

Interim presentation of the IBA Heidelberg

Will the old town soon only be habitable for the rich? Where are the informal places of learning located? And can educational tourism replace selfie tourism?

These and other questions were at the heart of the International Building Exhibition (IBA) in Heidelberg, whose interim presentation was on show from April to July 2018. For this purpose, La Loma translated facts about urban development, and the collaborative field research of the project managers Ernst Hubeli, Ulf Matthiesen and Silke Steets, into information graphics. Visitors to the exhibition were able to interactively mark places on a map of the old town where they had personally learned something – be it academically, culinary or in everyday life – and describe their experience on a piece of paper. The information gathered during the exhibition was incorporated into the research of the project team.

Publication: Perspectives for the old Town of Heidelberg
On the co-evolution of knowledge, housing, urbanity and urban planning

The study by Ernst Hubeli, Ulf Matthiesen and Silke Steets focuses on a surprising missing link in the Heidelberg International Building Exhibition “Wissen schafft Stadt” [Knowledge creates the City], which is scheduled to run from 2012 to 2022: the significance of the old town for urban and university development.

The study collects preliminary research results on the “nucleus” of the city and its existing forms of competence and knowledge. In doing so, the authors provide a view of so far unused opportunities for the IBA and the urban policy and highlight two questions: “How can a sustainable city be further developed in the old building stock of Heidelberg and its milieus?” and “What are the development potentials of the old European cities today?”.

La Loma solved the task of presenting academic research results vividly by breaking up longer passages of text with generous stretches of images. In addition, the large amount of information was made more accessible with simplified information graphics and colour design.

• organisation and design of the exhibition wall
• design of the information graphics
• concept and design of the interactive map
• preparation of the data for production
• development of a design system for the study

Silke Steets
Ernst Hubeli
Ulf Matthiesen