Is Green A Good Color For A House?Typological Transfer And The LOG ID Experiment

Architecture is a prospective discipline. In other words, the practice of architecture traditionally explores design methods in which a particular solution is speculated upon, in order to answer a particular set of questions. These solutions tend to be organized around types and thus predestined to a specific use while sharing certain formal communalities. But in times of uncertainty, how can architecture reformulate spatial narratives and renew the idea of type? How can the practice of architecture — and by 'practice' we mean the 'practice' of spaces — constructively subvert the predetermination of a building? In 1976, defying ruling norms and usages, a German multidisciplinary collective — LOG ID — rented and occupied a horticultural greenhouse on the outskirts of Tübingen. The group decided to test, explore and document the conditions of this “green” spatial condition. The greenhouse in Tübingen became home, office and laboratory, a living space(s) and an experimental field, a shared micro-universe for flora and fauna. LOG ID studied the potential of the greenhouse as a space of communion between plants and humans motivated by the idea of regenerating an ecology of cohabitation. This paper proposes to delve into LOG ID's groundbreaking experience in Tübingen, and through it, it proposes to question the (hi)story of an architectural type, its trans-formative nature and the ability to manage resources in relationships of hyper-dependence. Looking at Tübingen offers a dual perspective: it decolonizes an object from its original colonial origins and dismantles dominant notions of dwelling. Finally, far from an anthropocentric perspective, it advocates for the need to adapt the system to living beings - not the other way around. This proposal suggests considering and rethinking concepts such as the domestic environment, typological transfers and the semiotic nature of type in architecture. In questioning Giulio Carlos Argan’s definition of type, it proposes to consider architecture as a set of climatic conditions rather than just a spatial condition which substantially marks a narrative shift within the discipline.