Im Gespräch mit dem Architekturmagazin Kontextur sprechen Sandra Doeller und Benjamin Pfeifer über ihre Zugänge zu Architektur und Stadtgestaltung, über die Kommerzialisierung des öffentlichem Raums, das Verhältnis von Architektur und Politik – und erklären, warum Frankfurt die ideale Stadt für ihre Initiative ist:

»Please, introduce yourself and your project…

Hi, we are Sandra Doeller and Benjamin Pfeifer, two of the founders of Frankfurt Babylon. Along with Carlos Becker and Benjamin Semmler, we are a group of critics writing and reflecting on urban planning in Frankfurt and in other cities. Our professional backgrounds are quite diverse: Sandra is a graphic designer specialising in book and exhibition design, while Benjamin Pfeifer’s background is in architecture communication. Together with the other Benjamin, a civil engineer, and Carlos, a political philosopher, we form an interdisciplinary group in which each of us has their very own angle on architecture and urban design.

Frankfurt Babylon is a forum dedicated to the critique of contemporary city planning and rebuilding. We explore urban spaces and emphasise the shortcomings in the design of newly built districts and other public areas. We are focused on the relationship between the built and the social – between urban design and social use. Some of the questions that arise in our work are very practical but rarely asked: Why do public benches no longer have backrests? Others are more theoretical: What role does a public square play today? What is urbanity? With Frankfurt Babylon, we use a variety of mediums to address these topics. We write reviews, essays, and commentaries, use photography, and plan to produce podcasts. All of this comes together in our new online journal – Frankfurt Babylon.«

zum Interview