2026W

This course will look into historical entanglements and contested spaces in cities and urban environments. How did we get to where we are today, and where do we go from here? What role have strategies of segregation and displacement played historically, and which strategies have people come up with to counter hegemonic thinking and planning? We will look into urban and political structures and power relations, as well as the role of civic space and housing as political tools.
This course will look into historical entanglements and contested spaces in cities and urban environments. How did we get to where we are today, and where do we go from here? What role have strategies of segregation and displacement played historically, and which strategies have people come up with to counter hegemonic thinking and planning? We will look into urban and political structures and power relations, as well as the role of civic space and housing as political tools.

Welche zentralen Strömungen, Themen, Methoden und Streitfragen bestimmen das zeitgenössische architektonische Denken? In diesem Theorieseminar werden wir mittels der Lektüre, Analyse und Diskussion einer Reihe von Texten in Verbindung mit architektonischen Projekten unterschiedliche Stimmen im Diskursfeld der zeitgenössischen Architekturtheorie verorten. Durch die analytische und kritische Auseinandersetzung mit verschiedenen Methoden und Inhalten lernen die Studierenden, sich im zeitgenössischen Diskursfeld der Architekturtheorie zu orientieren und ihre eigene Position, ihre eigene Haltung innerhalb dieses Feldes zu definieren. Das Seminar zeigt einerseits die zentralen historischen Entwicklungslinien architektonischen Denkens von 1968 bis heute auf. Andererseits werden wesentliche zeitgenössische Ansätze aus den Bereichen Poststrukturalismus, Nachhaltigkeitsforschung, Kulturtechnikforschung, Medienphilosophie, spekulativer Realismus, Feminismus, Postkoloniale Studien, Science and Technology Studies, Animal Studies usw. beleuchtet. Das Seminar soll die Studierenden zur aktiven Mitgestaltung des Seminars ermächtigen. Ziel ist, dass sie Architektur nicht nur als Ausdruck oder Produkt von technischen, gesellschaftlichen oder wirtschaftlichen Bedingungen begreifen. Die kritische Beschäftigung mit architektonischen Diskursen – dazu gehören Texte und Bauten – soll sie in die Lage versetzen, mittels Architektur diese Bedingungen mitzugestalten.
What are the key currents, themes, methods, and points of contention shaping contemporary architectural thought? In this theory seminar, we will identify different voices within the discourse of contemporary architectural theory by reading, analyzing, and discussing a series of texts in connection with architectural projects. Through analytical and critical engagement with various methods and content, students will learn to navigate the contemporary discourse of architectural theory and to define their own position and stance within this field. On the one hand, the seminar traces the central historical lines of development in architectural thought from 1968 to the present. On the other hand, it examines key contemporary approaches from the fields of poststructuralism, sustainability research, cultural technology studies, media philosophy, speculative realism, feminism, postcolonial studies, science and technology studies, animal studies, and so on. The seminar is designed to empower students to actively shape the course. The goal is for them to understand architecture not merely as an expression or product of technical, social, or economic conditions. A critical engagement with architectural discourses—including texts and buildings—should enable them to help shape these conditions through architecture.

Bei dieser Vorlesung sollen die Grundbegriffe der Bauphysik, wie sie für jeden Architekten „überlebenswichtig“ sind, vermittelt, insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit der Konsequenz möglicher Bauschäden bei Nichtbeachtung der wesentlichen, bauphysikalischen Zusammenhänge wie Kondensatschäden, Wärmebrücken, u-Werte, Strahlung, Licht, Wärme, Baustoffe, Glasqualitäten, Kaltdach, Warmdach, Flachdach, feuchte Mauern, etc. Dabei wird vor allem auf das Thema „Behaglichkeit“, „Energiesparen“ und „Nachhaltigkeit“ ebenso eingegangen, wie auf historische Gebäude.
Sustainability? Energy efficiency? Zero-Energy-Architecture? Condensation Risk? Thermal Comfort? These and other terminologies and concepts have become constant companions in the life of an architect, no matter if one is an artistic designer of the built environment, or the generalist responsible for timely and inexpensive building delivery. To gain the relevant skills and fundamentals to not only survive in a jungle of tightening requirements and increasing complexity but rather to also shape the direction in which sustainable architecture is steering, one is inevitably required to basically understand physical principles coming from nature, such as heat and mass transfer mechanisms, as well as aspects of human ecology and physiology, such as “thermal comfort”. Needless to say, phenomena such as changing climates on the planet, as well as urban heat island effects in city agglomerations, emphasize the meaning of these fundamental skills, when we start to talk about “passive cooling strategies”, “predictive sustainable building operation”, or “small environmental footprints of structures”. In this course, the aim is to equip students with the required fundamental knowledges of building physics (also as an approach to energy design) in the domains of energy/heat&mass transfer/acoustics/light/fire and environmental impact of the built environment. Thereby, the idea is not only to learn about terminologies, but also to basically understand what is happening in simple and advanced calculation / simulation tools to orderly deploy these as design support and understand Optimally, students take away this knowledge not as an added burden in their academic and work life, but rather understand that as an inspiring support for their designs.