enough saved!

the second round of the billboard campaign „Genug Gespart!“ (enough saved!) for which PLATOON did the concept and realization in behalf of the united trade union for civil services (ver.di), is just over.
we have already posted an article about it in the past, but we actually didnt really translate the mission statement of this campaign to our english speaking audience.
so, here it is...





INITIATIVE CIVIL SERVICES
an initiative for the strengthening of civil services in Germany.

the united trade union for civil services (ver.di) and the civil servants union (DBB) launched together the „initiative for civil services: Enough Saved!"

the initiative wants to bring the benefits and performances of these services, stronger in the public awareness. it stands against the ongoing budget cuts, privatizations, and personnel cutbacks.
the initiative sticks up for a fair pay of employees working in the public sector. with their collaboration, the trade unions want to send a clear sign of determination in reaching these goals.

every citizen benefits from civil services; they are indispensable for the country. as a matter of fact the taxpayer´s money spent here keeps the country in good stead. for these reasons the state doesnt have to evade its responsibility. it has the duty to provide civil services- which have to be fairly paid, of a good quality and accessible everywhere.
savings on civil services should not be allowed to reach the point of brake.

therefore we appeal to organizations and associations- those politically responsible as well as the citizens themselves. Support us!
stand up with us for the strengthening of civil services in Germany! the „initiative for civil services“ is open to everyone who wants to step in for this purpose.


and the campaign goes on!

















*and down here are also a couple of pics dating back to the first round, when we started this campaign...in fact they are just in front of our old.PLATOON headquarters.














well, i can´t forget to mention again the extraordinary photography done by Patrick Voigt, his style is really incredible!

protect system

and everyday we keep adding some new features to our headquarters.

until now it was almost too easy to access our site...it was in fact completely open to the street.








but this morning we attached a protect system to our staircase.

Mr Gunter Weber, from Layher scaffolding sytems came to sort this out....













with the help of Stefan of course, our building master, who is always eager to do some craftwork on our site....after all it was also thanks to him and his construction expertise that we managed to move our containers so quickly.


























and today as well the job was done in less then one hour.
















thanks lads...now we are also bulletproof!

views of PLATOON

Well, we could say that our new area is slowly getting into shape...and it already feels as if we naturally belonged to this spot.










the cold winter is approaching, but in our container it´s fortunately very cosy and warm...and before starting a hard day at work we always enjoy a little chat&coffee in the morning whilst sitting on our new heavy weapon benches.

although sitting there makes you an easy target for passer-byers...in fact our headquarters have suddenly become a tourist attraction...it doesnt pass one hour without someone snapping a cheeky picture at us while we work.







so today I thought I´ll have a walk and make some pictures as well... there wasn´t much to see until recently afterall...




































































despite the lads being back in Seoul, we keep very busy over here...and thanks to modern communication we are actually constantly in touch with them via skype....

today we also had a new entry: Philipp ... but I shall leave him the pleasure of introducing himself within the coming weeks...it´s just fair enough...everyone deserves some time to digest our philosophy before getting into action.










also the upper container isnt that quite....Heidrun and Aleks are always on the move.
















this is our Bar, well we had just one party in it but soon we´ll throw another one....so for all of you PLATOON.members in Berlin, keep in touch...you don´t want to miss it out, do you?































the view from our window is brilliant....and of course we can still see ALEX, the Berlin tv-tower....we got so used to it from our last place; and you know what, there is no better view to remind you where you actually are...especially if you work in a place that can vanish in one day and appear somewhere completely different the day after.










more updates about the PLATOON.area will follow soon.

NYC Mission Report

so finally im back in the container.... it has been an incredible experience being in New York; the BLN/NYC dialogues exhibition was a great chance to meet lots of interesting people both from New York and Berlin; and of course an opportunity to explain in real person what PLATOON actually is, since many seem to be confused at times about what we actually do in here.







out of the many people i met i would like to mention few of them whom i partcularly enjoyed meeting... like Prem Krishnamurthy from projectprojects, who designed the exhibition itself and will hopefully also come to Berlin to repeat the magic...but design is just one of his many qualities...he is also a terrific dancer, his crazy moves on the dancefloor were definitely infectious...and it didnt take long until everyone followed the good vibes....also thanks to Tommy and Inga (2raumwohnung) who kept submerging us with delicious beats.






a special thanks goes to Lutz Knospe, DAZ´s project manager, who was our contact person for the preparation of the exhibition. it was really nice to meet you there. and also thank you for the way you curated our project over there. we appreciate it very much.





a big thank you also to Samuel Lahoz photographer of the event who also works for the uglyplanet mag, and was very kind to send us some pictures of the night.

i also had a very pleasant interview with Morgan Campbell, a journalist of metropolismag. (click on the images to read an excerpt of the interview).










not to mention the berlin crew, who like us traveled all the way there to represent their projects. and brought with them that particular berlin vibe which totally blended with the scene in NY.
i was in fact very pleased to meet Ana Salinas, one of the architects responsible for creating the Badeschiff, although she kept pointing out that she does many other projects which unfortunately tend to be overlooked by others because of the badeschiff hype. i had lots of fun with her and her journalist friend from Granada...whose name, im sorry, slipped off the backdoors of my mind...it was a quite demanding party after all... and not just because of the neverending flowing wine.












another very interesting encounter was with cilean architect Ignacio Iratchet from nbbj, a high end award winning new york architecture agency. what actually connected us was our commmon passion for Iraqi-British deconstructivist architect zaha hadid which was featured in a parallel exhibit on the upper level. there i also saw again this shipping container project...uniqlo containers, designed by LOT-EK...and you know when containers come into play somehow it always fascinates us PLATOONIES.









however, the biggest thank of all goes to our friend and new PLATOON member Jungwon Suh, who hosted me in his splendid apartment on the 38th floor in the heart of manhattan. thank you so much Jung, i really had a great time with you...and what a view!












from his balcony one can enjoy the most fantastic postcard view of NY! and what a buzz...the rumour of PLATOON being in NY echoed across the ocean, reaching South Korea where Tom is still setting up PLATOON.seoul. apparently some friends of Jung told him they saw PLATOON in seoul again...and when he told them PLATOON was also strolling around NY...it suddenly felt like PLATOON is EVERYWHERE!.

All the Best
M.

platoon.asia

finally i have the time to report a little bit from asia. i am here in seoul since the last two weeks but had no time to blog some news from here. but now.....








after christoph and me arrived here for pushing ahead our project we decided to spend a weekend in beijing for the opening party of the new graft office in beijing. they´ve grown so fast in the last time that the old office isn´t big enough anymore. meanwhile they are 15 people in beijing and there is no prospect of an end.







for us it was a good opportunity to meet all the partners from graft to discuss our new project. we´re still working together since a couple of month on a big deal wich is slowly but surely ready to be signed. more about it later....


























thanks to baker and mckenzie berlin for their energetic support to find a right law firm here in seoul. with their support we are sure that we will fix everything within the next weeks and we can start in january 2008.














by now christoph is back in berlin to keep our current projects there but he will be back in a week.


























than we´ll travel to jeju island together with gregor from graft and our investor mrs. kim. she is building a clinical centre including a golfyard, a museum and and an art-center there and asked us if we can arrange a meeting with graft because of some design-problems she is already encountering over there. in fact i never been to jeju and the invitation really pleased me because i heard so many nice things about that island.















at the moment i am busy to set up our first crew here in seoul. i´ve been meeting so many people from the creative industries these last days. it´s simply unbelievable how many koreans from berlin are back here in seoul in the meantime. architects, culture and art scientist, media designers, moviemakers etc.......















time is running so fast here. i have to go to dinner now and meet udo lee and peter krell from berlin. peter is in town because of the gstar. a trade fair about computergames. and as you know the koreans are crazy about gaming, seoul is the perfect place for that.

FAT B

berlin with its ideas for urban vitalisation doesn´t have to hide behind new york.the exhibition clearly shows that.
but the opening at the the center for architecture nyc was a surprise and a great pleasure.









first there was a parade of vips, media and interesting people-
















































-and than the party went on. no long speaches, no stupid standing around. a dj played tech-house music and all visitors felt in the mood to party. that really was the best way to celebrate the opening of this fantastic exhibition.













between all the many people, kristien ring, leader of the german center for architecture.
















and the security, so elegant and stylish in their long black coats, kept reminding me of the matrix.
















and last but not least, actually one of the best, platoon friends 2raumwohnung who performed their dj-act and really rocked the dancefloor until the very end.






























next year the dialogues will take place in berlin.
new york, we can't wait, you are more then welcome!

Berlin/New York Dialogues: building in context

..and whilst the lads are hopping around asia, me and Heidrun will have to attend an exhibition in NYC where PLATOON is being featured within an architectural context.

Berlin/New York Dialogues explores the radical transformations in these two vibrant cities and how urban development & regeneration is affected by social, political economical and cultural processes.

Chelsea and Mitte will be taken as a case example and their similarities be compared so to visualize the topic in context.

PLATOON will be presented under the section: community activism; other topics will be: culture as a catalyst, gentrification, alternative use of open space and legislative intervention.

for the grand opening at new york´s center for architecture we´ll be also pleased to enjoy 2raumwhonung performing in a live dj-act. which always reminds us to when they played on our old-PLATOON.area back in the days.


the exhibition, on view November 8, 2007, through January 26, 2008, is organized in collaboration with the German Center for Architecture (DAZ), and is presented in partnership with Carnegie Hall as part of the Berlin in Lights festival.

so, if you happen to be in the area....come and check it out!

Center for Architecture,
536 LaGuardia Place, West Village. New York

work in progress

despite the fact we moved a month ago, the PLATOON.area is still a work in progress.











our two new containers are being converted into office space, for this reason some very good friends of PLATOON came directly from freiburg for sorting out the insulation.















Niels and his team worked constantly for days trying to cope with their hungovers in the day and going out partying every night... as it should be.

































Andreas, the blacksmith, cut the containers at one side for them to be connected in a L shape.















the space looks great already. we are just waiting for the next team to give it the final touch.















we also decided to move our PLATOON.pool on the side, it was a bit too crowded in front of the Bar.

















now everything seems to get into shape and we can´t wait to enjoy the results of such hard working days.
















in the meantime the lads, Tom&Christoph, are on a mission in asia. the upper container seems very quite, but in reality PLATOON is always prepared to face the storm.