„Water is the driving force of all nature”
“Wasser ist die treibende Kraft der Natur.” 
Leonardo da Vinci

The starting point for the first design of Integrative Design – Extremes is dedicated to the topic of water and thus focuses on a central building block of life. The design studio “Shapes of Water” is to explore water systems, global and local water cycles and their ecological parameters and place them in an architectural context of a self-developed design programme. The aim is to engage with water as a resource, to be inspired by the different circular systems, physical forms of H2O and cultural narratives. Three quarters of our planet’s surface is covered by salt or fresh water, the atmosphere is permeated by clouds, and there are large areas of ice at the poles and at high altitudes. Water on Earth is thus interconnected and inseparable in all its forms. Due to this ubiquity of this material, its importance must be assessed as correspondingly valuable. Water scarcity and pollution, floods and other extreme situations caused by water, weather or ice movement cycles being thrown off course and becoming a problem for people and animals worldwide are to be understood as a call to action. A built environment must actively contribute to problem solving and this is also the responsibility of architects and designers.