With the international competition of ideas ‘Landgut 2050 networked - mobile - digital’, the foundation was looking for visions and strategies for the future of rural life and dwelling in decentralized areas. Thuringia was understood as an example, that could represent numerous territories, communities and cities throughout Europe and beyond.

Three locations in Thuringia were selected: Stützerbach, Lauscha and Urleben. Each one being situated in different geographical locations of the state, inside different socio-cultural and economic contexts, they were an opportunity for investigating the underlying forces, which shape the reality around us today at various intensities and compositions.

In order to induce and enable the formulation of speculative prototypical answers, the question posed by the ideas competition was kept as open as possible. The requirements for each participant was to propose an architectural project, that was typologically related to the function of dwelling, as well as to invent an accompanying productive strategy aimed at revealing hidden productive potentials on site.

The task required a new interpretation of the traditional definition of architecture and a receptiveness for an interdisciplinary approach. The competition therefore was deliberately aimed at experienced professionals, graduates and students in several specialist disciplines, from architecture and landscaping, engineering and planning, to sciences, art sociology and philosophy. The response was correspondingly colourful.

A total of 19 teams delved into the current situation of the three locations Lauscha (Sonneberg district), Stützerbach (Ilmenau city) and Urleben (Unstrut-Hainich district). Beautifully embedded in the Thuringian Slate Mountains, in the Thuringian Forest Biosphere Reserve in the south and in the Thuringian Basin north to the A4, all three share certain traits, but are defined by completely different contexts. Lauscha by the presence of a long history of glass manufacturing, Urleben by being part of one of Thuringia’s most fertile agricultural lands and Stützerbach among other factors by its pure air, high quality of water and long history as a health resort. Each site has its very own building structure and an eventful history. Nonetheless all three are increasingly depopulated in recent years. The different projects made by the participants took a promising look at how these places might look and how we could be living in them in the year 2050.