Nikolas Kichler

Bio

"Currently I'm working at the Vienna University of Technology researching and developing forms of Open Architecture. We try to transform existing technical DIY solutions to reach height (up to of 6 floors) on the basis of renewable and affordable materials in a modular way. Our results will be summed up in the form of a toolkit (CC-BY-SA), that should be ready by April. Also at the moment, I’m providing texts to the Shareable’s book project on Commons and Sharing Cities, where I'm focusing on exisiting Water and Housing model policies.

My relation to the Commons emerged in 2011 during my master thesis when dealing with "participatory design processes" in the context of urban planning. In 2013, I attended the Commons Summer School in Germany. Resulting further meetings eventually led to the foundation of the "Commons Institut e.V.", where I'm a part of.

From that point I’ve been drafting, particularly with David Steinwender, an imaginative Commons-society under the name of “City of Workshops”. In the context of the Commons Institute, especially with Christian Siefkes, we currently try to find ways how various initiatives can form something like a "Commons association", so people involved can fulfill their needs in a broader spectrum through commoning while avoiding potential excessive demands." (Commonswatch mailing list, October 2016)