Membran

Winner of the iF Student Award 2024 and Erste Bank Social Design Award 2023. Exhibited at the Klimabiennale Wien, Vienna Design Week and featured in publications like Dezeen and die Presse

The construction industry is responsible for almost a third of world's waste. ‘membran’ is a grassroots movement that repurposes what is otherwise thrown away. It transforms damaged tarpaulins into nets. Nets that are reimagining dead corners and convert them into spaces of interaction, encounter and play.

To create the nets, damaged tarpaulins collected from construction sites and landfills in Vienna are cleaned, cut and twisted into ropes following the traditional craft of rope making. The tools needed for this process were built by using left over material and scrap wood.

The ropes are then knotted into nets on location, to transform otherwise unused public space into communal, interactive areas. Spectators are encouraged to get involved in the rope and netmaking process to reshape their city.

Reshaping the Urban

The process of devaluing and revaluing material, from waste into the nets, echoes the building and re-building of contemporary urban spaces. ‘membran’ thereby challenges dominant assumptions on how to design and claim public space and invites everyone to climb, relax and play with it.