Modules WS 2016/2017

This module provides an overview and a comparative analysis of unique building cultures. It defines parameters forming a building culture, provides a historical overview and identifies definitions of building cultures and their role in contributing to the formation of identities. Building cultures are not only assessed according to their architectural output, but also analysed and understood within their social, economic and environmental context. Special attention is being paid to resources, materiality and construction as well as the vernacular.
What substantive consistency should characterize an architecture of an historical period and a physical context? What formal continuities and discrepancies are to be found between a building, a novel or a work of art of a peculiar society? How is architecture produced? What are its roots? What should it do?
Analogies and contradictions between theories, ideologies and knowledge, as well as points of contact and contrast with other disciplines will be discussed and deepened in order to bring them simultaneously in conjunction with multiple levels of knowledge. Architecture languages are thus experienced as part of a general cultural discourse. The course will encourage students to actively investigate the specificities of different cultures, positions and tools as necessary components for a conscious architectural attitude.
This Course will explore the complex and fruitful aspects of these questions.

The course will illustrate to what extend climate change is man-made and how far we are able to measure/define it. We will discuss its causes, progressions and outlook, its systemic relationships and mutual effects with other natural processes and cycles, as well as its consequences for the planet’s and human health.

The course will then investigate the main sources of GHG and other culprits from the built environment, locating the building functions, materials, items, technologies & processes that are mostly related to climate change. Current stage of research (quantitative & qualitative) will be explored as well as current BMPs (Best Management Practices) and solutions. Case studies and lectures will introduce state-of-the-art and emerging approaches in academia and practice. Global agreements, government policies and design & construction sustainability standards will be assessed in regard to their suitability, adaptability and effectiveness.

One key aspect will be the exploration of lessons from nature (biomimicry). We will investigate the application of natural life-strategies (evolved over millennia and proven sustainable) to the conception of artefacts, processes and systems in the built environment.

The later focus of the course will shift to rendering the students’ current studio project climate neutral. Appropriate traditional and new approaches, methodologies and technologies will be studied, developed and integrated into design, in order to reduce negative project impacts (mitigate) and boost positive impacts (regenerate) on the environment. Effort shall be made to create a place-specific, locally sustainable project. At the same time, students shall devise practices through which their project will be able to tolerate changes of climate, resist disasters and adapt to future changes.

The focus of this module is on the investigation of social, economic and cultural factors driving community development in the Global North and South. Particular attention is paid to the relationship of social structures and spatial design within this process. Interdisciplinary approaches are used to investigate cases of neighbourhood and community design at various scales and socio-political contexts that highlight the potential and risks when designing for / within a community.

Some areas explored in the framework of communities and urban development include: Neighborhoods and social interaction in public space; heterotopias and spatial segregation; cultural identity, creativity and place; incentives for sharing common resources, collective action, cooperation and participation.

During an intensive weekly workshop it enables students to further deepen their knowledge of an issue addressed in the project studios and/ or conduct excursions to places and sites addressed in their design project.

During an intensive weekly workshop it enables students to further deepen their knowledge of an issue addressed in the project studios and/ or conduct excursions to places and sites addressed in their design project.

During an intensive weekly workshop it enables students to further deepen their knowledge of an issue addressed in the project studios and/ or conduct excursions to places and sites addressed in their design project.

The design studio engages students with architecture as a responsible practice on a variety of scales applying a multitude of design- and research methods, preparing them for the demands of the broad field of architecture and planning. Architectural and urban design is practiced in the context of projects of varying complexity, ranging from constructive building details and structures, to devising groups of structures and entire settlements and habitats. Design projects are represented in drawings, models, images, and by using all other available media. Teamwork is conducted with particular attention to the internal organization and workings of the teams.

The design studio engages students with architecture as a responsible practice on a variety of scales applying a multitude of design- and research methods, preparing them for the demands of the broad field of architecture and planning. Architectural and urban design is practiced in the context of projects of varying complexity, ranging from constructive building details and structures, to devising groups of structures and entire settlements and habitats. Design projects are represented in drawings, models, images, and by using all other available media. Teamwork is conducted with particular attention to the internal organization and workings of the teams.

The design studio engages students with architecture as a responsible practice on a variety of scales applying a multitude of design- and research methods, preparing them for the demands of the broad field of architecture and planning. Architectural and urban design is practiced in the context of projects of varying complexity, ranging from constructive building details and structures, to devising groups of structures and entire settlements and habitats. Design projects are represented in drawings, models, images, and by using all other available media. Teamwork is conducted with particular attention to the internal organization and workings of the teams.

The master's thesis consists of an analysis that investigates the context within which a project is set, identifying its challenges, the formulation of one or more working hypotheses and research questions which form the basis for the design proposal and the written thesis. A developed hypothesis is verified (or falsified) within the context of a given or freely chosen project, developing it into a designed architectural proposal and/ or into an in-depth theoretical or historical-theoretical investigation.

‘Philosophy of Architecture’ discusses and explains essential philosophical concepts within architecture and the various positions taken with regards to contemporary cultural phenomenas. This enables students to discover their own position within a philosophical debate and to place their work within a well-grounded understanding of philosophical concepts.
The first block starts with the comparison of fashion trends with architectural design connecting both with semiotic component analysis. The question is, whether and to what extent the analogy between architecture, fashion (popular culture) and language actually works. Possible answers arise from the examples given by Jencks, Baudrillard, Eco, Barthes, Alexander, Lynn and Barthes.
Architecture only becomes modern in its engagement with new media, and that in doing it radically displaces the traditional sense of space and subjectivity. Students should learn to understand their design in the same terms as drawings, photographs, writing, film and advertisements by developing new programs for their architectural models on the basis of philosophical texts (Koolhaas, Vidler, Foucault, Colomina) and film plots.
The third block deals with human attachment to landscape and how we find identity in landscape and place. Furthermore the lecture explores the relationship between innovation, medialisation (f.e. Bollywood in the Alps), individualisation and the new emerging ‘sportscapes’, it focuses on the impact of migration and globalisation on a territory (Latour, Deleuze, Appadurai, Hagerstrand) .
The fourth block is dedicated to the cross-fertilisation of technology, art, pop culture and architecture. The course starts with mainstream philosophy of the Sixties (Critical Theory, Mc Luhan, Marcuse) and provides students with a wider perspective concerning problems that come up in contemporary architectural debates.

This seminar investigates the relationship between territory and settlement, providing an overview of how and where humankind settles. It also demonstrates how uninhabitable environments have been made accessible and habitable through necessary infrastructure and what impact this had on the landscape. Further, the course elaborates on natural and artificial boundaries within a geographical and political context. … Beginning with the continuous rise of human impact on the planet, the tight relationships between human land use, settlement, productivity and social development will be explored throughout the course. An overview of the history of urbanization will be traced, and processes of centralisation and decentralisation investigated. Decentralisation as one of the greatest contemporary forces shaping our environment is going to be discussed using a selection of fundamental positions in academic urban design thinking. The opportunities and risks of the global process of decentralisation, transformation and possible courses of action for the future design of the territory will be debated.

“Theory of the Built Environment” introduces and discusses contemporary architectural theory and critical thinking, providing students with essential knowledge to place their own actions and designs into a historical, theoretical, cultural and social context. Through case studies of anthologies of key theoretical and critical texts on architecture, the course is set and developed in a historical, political and philosophical context. These lectures are devoted to the understanding of theories and critical interpretations as a design tool, encouraging students to be able to think across tendencies, trends and events and position themselves as conscious architects in today’s society. The different themes presented through several texts are understood as tools in the hands of architects. The architectural theories are not pure abstractions, they move between absolute positions and relative relations.

This module allows students to compose an exposé for their Master's thesis to be undertaken in the fourth semester. The exposé contains a research question that forms the basis for an in-depth investigation and analysis of a particular issue or problem identified within the given context of the design studio topic. A literature review and a schedule of production are further essential elements to be included.

This module focuses on developing a conceptual and practical framework for approaches to urban design. Critical theory on the city and their design principles form the basis for analysis, mapping and evaluation of public urban spaces. It seeks to foster an informed personal approach for addressing contemporary discourse, urban conditions and design potentials for intervention.
Some areas explored in the framework of analysis and evaluation of urban spaces include: modernist and postmodernist urbanism theory; urban form and public space- streets, plazas, monuments; mapping and use analysis; hybrid programming and the urban landscape.

The focus of this module is on the basic elements of visual communication and the creation of a strong brand for the practice of architecture. Particular attention is paid to the relationship of how architecture communicates to the outside world and how it wants to be seen. Interdisciplinary approaches are analyzed and critically questioned to understand what is the right message to what sort of work.

Students will take part in workshops and lectures to develop skills for visual communication in a practical way. Topics like typography, text, wording, imaging, photography, communication strategies will be absorbed, analyzed and discussed. Students will be able to develop topic-relevant techniques to translate original architectural ambitions and ideas into different forms of communication.