BOARD

RESTRICTIONS AS AN OPPORTUNITY: LISE MEITNER SQUARE PUBLISHED IN G+L AND CENTRAS

The Lise Meitner Square has been featured in the German landscape architecture and urban design magazine Garten + Landschaft (G+L) and the Lithuanian architecture magazine Centras.

G+L writes:

In Ivry-sur-Seine, the Lise Meitner Square has become a public space that was never intended to exist. Two geothermal wells, each 1,500 metres deep, had turned the site into a fenced-off asphalt area. BOARD and STAR strategies + architecture nevertheless transformed it into a functional public square, despite strict requirements regarding structural loads, sealed surfaces and maintenance access.

An orange-coloured asphalt surface defines the safety zone around the wells, complemented by flexible activity areas and new pedestrian connections. Low grasses frame the square, creating a space that successfully combines a pleasant place to stay with ecological value using only minimal means.

The square demonstrates how meaningful urban public spaces can emerge even under extreme constraints.

BOARD’S DESIGN FOR THE LUISENBLOCK IS EXHIBITED IN BERLIN

BOARD’s entry for the international urban design competition for Luisenblock Ost II, including the extension of the German Parliament, is currently on display at the Ernst-Reuter-Haus in Berlin. The exhibition opened on 13 July and runs until 24 July 2026 in the foyer of the Ernst-Reuter-Haus, Straße des 17. Juni 112, 10623 Berlin.

For this strategically important site within Berlin’s parliamentary and government district, BOARD divided the site into three distinct areas with three complementary uses. A staggered composition of five buildings responds to noise and daylight, creating courtyards and sunlit terraces. At its heart, a central green lung forms a climate corridor, linking open spaces, pedestrian routes and the waterfront promenade with seating steps while establishing visual connections to the historic industrial building on the site and Berlin’s city centre.

Images:

1. Central green lung as a connecting climate corridor with an expanded forecourt at the parliament building
2. Continuous riverside frontage along the River Spree with the parliament building at its centre
3. Three uses, five buildings
4. View from the central green lung with the circular citizens’ forum in the foreground

CABANON MODEL EXHIBITED AT ABC ARCHITECTURE MUSEUM

From June 14, 2026, until January 31, 2027, a 1:10 model of the Cabanon is on display at the ABC Architecture Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands. The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday, 12:00–17:00, and Sunday, 13:00–17:00.

The exhibition is called ‘Klein, Kleiner, Kleinst’ (Small, Smaller, Smallest) and aims to show how compact forms of living are becoming increasingly important in addressing the housing shortage. From tiny houses and micro-apartments to flexible housing and split homes, the exhibition explores the growing diversity of small dwellings and their impact on residents, architecture, and the city.

A program of lectures, expert meetings, and excursions accompanies the exhibition.

Images ©STAR strategies + architecture

BERND UPMEYER GUEST EDITOR AT UTOPIAN HOURS

Bernd Upmeyer will be a Guest Editor at Utopian Hours Rotterdam 2026, an international festival dedicated to city-making and urban futures. The festival will take place from May 28 to 29 at the Groot Handelsgebouw in Rotterdam.

On Thursday, May 28, at 14:50, on the main stage on the rooftop level of the Groot Handelsgebouw, he will introduce Victor Moreno’s presentation about his documentary film The Hidden City: Documenting Urban Subterranean Landscapes.

BOARD’s magazine MONU will also be present at the festival during both days, from 14:00 to 19:00, with a booth on the ground floor of the Groot Handelsgebouw as part of the so-called Urbanites’ Fair, which brings together some of the best independent organisations involved in urban culture and dissemination from the Netherlands and beyond.

Images:

1. Still from the film The Hidden City
2. Line-up of the speakers at Utopian Hours Rotterdam 2026
3. MONU at the Urbanites’ Fair; background image: El Ultimo Beso from the series Journey to the Center, 2021. Cristina De Middel / Magnum Photos

WINNER DETAIL CONSTRUCTION AWARD

The Cabanon has won the Readers’ Award at the DETAIL Construction Award 2025 in the “Interiors” category.

The DETAIL Construction Award 2025 features five categories, with over 330 projects submitted and more than 15,000 votes cast by readers. The Readers’ Prizes were awarded to projects across the USA, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands.

In celebration of its 65th anniversary, DETAIL Magazine launched the DETAIL Construction Award to honour exceptional building projects in the fields of facades, roofs, renovation, structural engineering, and interiors.

The Cabanon was built by Rotterdam-based Arjen and Mirjam from Midwinter Timmerwerk & Decoratie, with an exceptional level of craftsmanship and attention to detail. In the extremely compact space of the 6.89m² Cabanon, detailing becomes the architecture itself. Every centimetre had to be carefully designed and executed, turning the entire space into one continuous detail. Nothing was prefabricated; every element was hand-made. Some details were not predesigned but developed directly on-site with Arjen and Mirjam, as their need became evident during construction. This real-time design and deeply collaborative process led to simple—yet demanding—solutions: handles carved directly into wooden and tiled surfaces to prevent them from occupying the precious available space, seamlessly integrated cabinetry and doors, such as the discreetly fold-out kitchen table or the bathroom door. In a space this compact, any imperfection or misalignment would be highly noticeable. The flawless ex*****on of details by the carpenters was essential. The detailing was praised by the jury of Architectenweb, who chose the Cabanon as Interior of the Year 2024.

The Cabanon is a collaboration with STAR strategies + architecture.

All images are ©STAR-BOARD.

IT IS NOT JUST ABOUT TOILETS

Bernd Upmeyer interviewed urban planning scholar Clara Greed, emerita professor of Inclusive Urban Planning at the University of the West of England in Bristol. The conversation was published in the October 2025 issue of MONU and explored the broader question of how cities can become more socially inclusive.

Although Greed has become well known—sometimes “infamous,” as she herself jokes—for her research on public toilet provision, the interview makes clear that the topic is only one part of a much larger agenda. For decades, Greed has worked on the social dimensions of planning, focusing on issues such as gender equality, accessibility, disability, and the everyday experiences of people navigating cities.

In the interview, Greed discusses how planning and architecture have historically reflected the perspectives of a narrow group of professionals, often overlooking the diverse needs of the wider population. She argues that inclusive urban planning requires a stronger focus on how different groups actually use cities—particularly women, elderly people, people with disabilities, and caregivers whose daily travel patterns differ significantly from traditional planning assumptions.

A recurring theme in the conversation is the gap between environmental sustainability agendas and social inclusion. Greed suggests that many contemporary planning initiatives—from cycling policies to “15-minute city” concepts—often fail to account for the complexity of everyday urban life if they are implemented without sufficient public participation.

Ultimately, Greed argues that creating truly inclusive cities requires more than good design ideas. It depends on political will, regulatory frameworks, public participation, and greater awareness among planners, architects, and policymakers of the social realities of urban life.

The full interview, titled “It Is Not Just About Toilets,” was originally published in MONU #38 on Inclusive Urbanism in October 2025.

Images:

1. A heritage of civic pride and a high level of toilet provision, but not for women. Photo by Clara Greed
2. In 2024, residents of an area just to the east of the city centre of Bristol staged a protest in the street against the city’s first Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN). Photo: Bristol Post
3. Bristol closed all its public toilets in 2018. Photo by Clara Greed

8 STRIPES, 1 RECTANGLE AND 1 CIRCLE WINS LANDSCAPE AND ROOFTOP DESIGN AWARD

Our roof garden project “8 Stripes, 1 Rectangle and 1 Circle” that has been designed in collaboration with STAR – strategies + architecture has been honored as a winner in the LOOP Design Award 2025 in the Landscape and Rooftop Design category.

The 400 m² rooftop garden is structured into eight stripes of possibilities, one rectangle and one circle, forming a layered “plant cascade” of varying heights. Designed as a flexible framework in which planting can continuously change over time, the garden embraces a permanent state of transformation and “unfinishedness.” A diagonal grass passage cuts across the parallel stripes, while the rectangular and circular benches create intimate pockets for pause and immersion within the evolving landscape.

Images:

1. Night view of the rooftop from the opposite tower. ©STAR-BOARD
2. View across the garden from the circular bench. Image ©STAR – strategies + architecture
3. Top view and plan of the rooftop garden. ©STAR-BOARD

MONU AWARDED AS WINNER IN THE CATEGORY GRAPHIC AND EDITORIAL DESIGN 2025

MONU Magazine is the winner in the Graphic Design/Editorial category at the DNA Paris Design Awards 2025. The DNA Paris Design Awards is a global design prize based in Paris, open to professionals across architecture, interior, landscape, product, and graphic design. MONU was judged outstanding for its visual, editorial, and graphic design among a broad field of international creative work. The awards ceremony took place on October 24, 2025, at the Espace Niemeyer in Paris.

LISE MEITNER SQUARE WINS LOOP DESIGN AWARD 2025

Lise Meitner Square, designed by BOARD in collaboration with STAR – strategies + architecture, has been named Winner of the LOOP Design Awards 2025 in the “Landscape and Public Space” category. The jury recognised the project for transforming a highly constrained geothermal site into a generous 2,600 m² public space — an inventive integration of infrastructure and civic life.

LOOP highlighted the square’s design ingenuity: the orange asphalt ring marking the geothermal perimeter, bold ground graphics, and a resilient material palette tailored to strict maintenance requirements. Selected from hundreds of international entries, the 2025 LOOP awards received submissions from 49 countries, underscoring the global competitiveness of this recognition. The award celebrates Lise Meitner Square’s ability to turn technical constraint into social value — a public space that is both robust and unexpectedly poetic.

In addition to the LOOP Design Award, the project has received multiple international distinctions: it’s also a Platinum Winner at the ADC Awards 2025 in “Public & Urban Spaces – Landscape,” and won two Platinum Awards in the Houzee Awards 2025 for “Urban Landscape Design” and “Courtyard & Patio Design”. On top of that, it was Runner-Up in the RTF Global Architecture & Design Awards 2025, Shortlisted for the Architecture Hunter Awards 2025 (Public & Urban Design), and Longlisted in the Archello Awards 2025 for “Public Space of the Year”.

Images:

1. The quote by Françoise Héritier, a French anthropologist and feminist, from her book Le Sel de la Vie runs parallel to the orange oval on the Lise Meitner Square. Image ©STAR – strategies + architecture
2. The design of the square highlights the geothermal energy system at its centre. The choice of materials responds to the strict maintenance constraints associated with the geothermal infrastructure, while the colour palette aligns with the overall identity of the surrounding START-Ivry project by STAR – strategies + architecture. Image ©STAR-BOARD
3. Though shaped by constraints, Lise Meitner Square is ultimately a gift to the neighbourhood, a fully open, inclusive public space. Image ©STAR-BOARD
4. The security zone around each geothermal wellhead, materialised by an orange asphalt oval, shapes the arrangement of buildings in the square. Image ©STAR – strategies + architecture
5. Three circular areas are designated as flexible-use zones, for sports, fitness, café terraces, and more, each materialised with a different surface treatment. Image ©STAR-BOARD