studioprojects | courses

studioprojects ss 2013
STUDIOPROJECTS | COURSES
SUMMERTERM 2013
Institute for Art and Architecture | Institut für Kunst und Architektur
SUMMERTERM 2013 - WELCOME BACK !
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
NEW FACULTY MEMBERS:
CRISTINA DÍAZ MORENO & EFRÉN GARCÍA GRINDA VISITING PROFESSORS
Cristina Díaz Moreno & Efrén García Grinda are appointed Visiting Professors for one year. They will teach a
Master Studio in the Platform Analogue Digital Production and a MArch Design Seminar.
MILENA STAVRIC - DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY I
Milena Stavric is also teaching at TU-Graz and FH-Joanneum Graz and will be teaching the introduction course
in Descriptive Geometry at our Institute.
studioprojects ss 2013
X Ray Photography of an Orchid (via Brendan Fitzpatrick Photography)
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STUDIO PROJECTS
PLATFORM ANALOGUE | DIGITAL PRODUCTION | Barch 2
Wolfgang Tschapeller, Werner Skvara
FLOWERS
Flowers are beautiful. They are colorful. They change shape and size; some contract at night and open wide
during the day. They grow, wither, change from green to brown, from taut to wilted, from blossom to boll;
they disappear and reappear. Fascinating things. To be beautiful seems to be their primary purpose. However,
reading up on the basics of botany will disabuse you of that notion. Flower “is an ecologically and functionally
defined term”. From the perspective of botany, a flower is a strictly functional entity defined by its function in
pollination. It is described as a “technical and functional entity”, more specifically as the “the biological entity
of flowering plants serving pollination, the purpose of which is to attract pollinators” and to provide everything
needed for pollination.
A flower is an intermediate entity, then, something between signaling machine, communication device, apparatus, construction and space, its substance formed from an extraordinarily vast range of colors, structures, offshoots, transparencies, patterns, changes in form, contractions, diversifications, micro-space formations, granules and liquids. Flowers are intermediate entities that, like architectures, can be read as precisely calibrated,
technical and functional entities, as signaling machines or as aesthetic organizations.
The challenge for the coming semester is to explore the context of aesthetic organization, morphology, and
technical and functional entity. This will be done by digitally and physically recreating selected flowers.
studioprojects ss 2013
PLATFORM ECOLOGY | SUSTAINABILITY | CONSERVATION | BArch 4
Peter Leeb, Christian Fröhlich
Landscape at Plagwitz, Max Klinger 1874
PALIMPSEST 6 - PARK FOR VIENNA VI.
AN IMAGE
The drawing Landscape at Plagwitz by Max Klinger conveys an impression of peaceful serenity: artificially
produced components, parts in a state of decay, and natural elements of the depicted landscape do not only
exist quietly next to one another, but, as if tied magically together, they seem to emerge from each other. No
antinomy, no conflict, nothing at all disturbs the calm bliss in the universally open space.
THE GARDENS, A HISTORY
The gardens that have been laid out in cities recall the possibility of a mutually fruitful relationship between the
built and the natural. The location of the garden either in the midst of buildings or within a protective enclosure constituted the fundamental basis for the prosperousness of the site. Whereas the educated elite of the
Middle Ages took a liking to decipher the symbols inscribed into their castle and cloister gardens, the first truly
urban gardens found their expression in essentially more down-to-earth circumstances. The material profit of
the garden consisting of herbs, fruit, vegetables, and small animals had priority, and it was only later that the
recreating effects generated by cultivated nature on the human condition were discovered. The garden became
a place of relaxed sociability for family and friends.
Gardening as a profession emerged along with the growing demand for gardens and the desire for their realization in refined taste. J. B. Jackson pointed out that the gardener’s guilt emblem was a hatchet, a tool used for
the fabrication of then popular arbors and trellises. Therefore, from the beginning, the erection of smaller and
bigger buildings was an essential part of the construction of a garden. Apart from this, fake caves and grottos,
artificially heaped-up mounds, labyrinths, and statues of mythological figures started to populate the gardens.
The sensibly designed topography with its definite program of buildings and figures maintained a time-wise
relationship, which supported the memory of ancestral beliefs.
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These prevalent herb gardens required the protection of walls or hedges against an environment of uncontrolled growth and its harmful impacts. At first there was hardly any conscious spatial relationship with the
nearby buildings and residences. Many times the gardens were divided into separate rectangular compartments, each of them expressing a particular plant program in adequate arrangement. The result for the visitor
was a surprising succession of various groups of plants and herbs and rather incoherent symbolic configurations. This introverted type of garden did not establish any relationship with its neighboring grounds nor with
its further environment.
Subsequently the classical garden should establish the relationship with the surrounding space in a spectacular
manner: thus an ideal image of a garden as a conception of the world was created with the support of all possible technical, architectural, botanical, agronomical and artistic methods. The unconditional demand for rational order inspired by humanism was realized in order to be experienced visually as well as spatially. Thus the
garden space became a stage in front of the greater backdrop of the landscape. The stage provided never before
seen means of expression for the social play of aristocracy’s existence.
The reaction to this method of garden art, that felt often too artificial and exerting total control over nature,
materialized in the form of the picturesque landscape garden, whose alleged closeness to nature enjoys great
popularity up to the present day. The passion to recreate so to speak a portion of the bigger nature, even if in
a miniaturized form, this passion seems to be driven by the desire of the self to be a component of this very
nature. Because nature per se is perceived as positive, nothing negative can be seen in the wanting of naturalness and the following of this nature. The philosopher Vilém Flusser hints at the garden’s illusionary character
respectively its ideology and thus brings us back down to earth: according to that the garden is a deception in
two different ways. On the one hand it is a fakery of nature for instance as its miniaturization, on the other
hand the garden pretends the possibility of the private, one’s own rootedness in the soil, as if it was possible
to leave the common and the political and return to the separate and the private without dropping out of
culture.
THE GARDEN, A POSSIBILITY
The memory of the medieval gardens that preferred readability and the possibility to recognize meaning behind
appearances over the pleasure of the visual expression could be productive for the present discussion on
ecological relations. A garden language that was capable to bring forth these relations could provide a positive contribution and further on lead to a broadened understanding of the ecological set of problems. In this
sense nature would not only be accepted because of its apparent visual qualities but would also be understood
on a deeper level. In this context questions especially regarding a set of relations arise: the relation between
the existing and the fabricated, between the natural and the human, the found and the added in the end
between nature and culture.
As mentioned before, it seems that without the buildings to manage and to supply the garden, without the
entire infrastructure that facilitates our life in the first place, plain and simple, without artificiality and construction, the existence of the garden is impossible. Viewed in this light the constructed and built components of a
garden take on a constituting character for this very garden. There is no place within a city that is more apt to
express the relations between nature and culture than the park.
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PARC BUTTES-CHAUMONT, PARIS
A landscape apparently located within the city: a park. Visitors gather, obviously they are curious to see something. The visitors are dressed in a conscious way: they are outgoing, they meet in public. There is enough
space, so they enjoy equal rights in a public space.
Other visitors are standing on a bridge very well enjoying the raised point of view. Elevated as if floating they
populate space in its third dimension. Without the bridge this standpoint would not be possible.
CITY AND PARK
In the context of the city the park is mostly looked at as something opposed to the city in spite of being part of
the city. The park is meant to be something that leaves unpleasant city experiences behind, makes one forget,
and thus the park can live up to its actual purpose: the park is supposed to provide refuge for urbanites, who,
surrounded by apparent natural planting seem to remember their own biological origin in spite of the park’s
artificiality.
The park so felt as a manifest of otherness, that is expressed not the least by the presence of so called nature,
this park presents itself as the antithesis to the urban. It is only in this space that is mistaken as free of civilization, where recreation within the immediate city is possible, only there the cultural package can be left behind.
The tradition of the picturesque landscape garden is possibly co-responsible for this biased attitude: the park as
service point for recreation, a protected space, submissive to our wishful projections.
Can the park become the new and essential public space within the city as Irénée Scalbert suggests in his essay
Parklife?
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THE PARK
The constructions in, at and around the park are understood as constituting elements for the park, i.e. without
them there is no park. Therefore they do not populate the park, on the contrary their quality as constructions
altogether defines the park as an urban park.
In this way the park turns into the manifestation of our changed relationship with nature: each component
inside the park defines a precise correlation within the nature-culture-field-of-meaning.
The elementary relations of all possible constructions are being analyzed precisely and they are interpreted for
the design in a productive way. There is a clarifying procedure of all relationships: relationship with the ground,
relationship with the air, relationship with light, relationship with water, relationship with the built environment, relationship with residents, users, and visitors, relationship with time.
The park buildings are numerous. In their totality they bring about the program of the park and in their diverse
implementation they turn the park into a device for the production of difference.
For the park becoming a true urban park of our time the character of the park has to rest on a multifaceted
basis and this character has to realize itself in multiple forms.
A park using controversy as guiding method, as tool to facilitate the reflection of and the commentary on the
surrounding city.
A park reinterpreting our desire for the natural raw and instead offers the urban raw: maybe uncultivated, certainly wild and rampant, perhaps self-extensive.
A park as a set-up of shared experience: the traditional institution of the Speaker’s Corner in London’s Hyde
Park as well as the events around the occupation of the Zucotti Park in New York by the Occupy-Wall-Street
movement show us that a park can very well be a place for political action.
A park of common making:
Building the park means to get involved with the conditions, may they be natural or cultural, it means to take
a position regarding each step of the cycle [concept-design-implementation/realization-use-maintanancealteration/modification-dismantling-disappearance] and to express that position into a valid form.
A park that becomes an instrument for historical insight, revealing old layers, adding new ones and thus perpetuates itself, in short a park as palimpsest.
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studioprojects ss 2013
PLATFORM GEOGRAPHY | LANDSCAPES | CITIES | BArch 6
Bernd Vlay (Roland Rainer Chair), Daniela Herold
HOMEROUTEFARMING
A high-rise for living in the Universe DS
By its very efficiency, the high-rise took over the task of maintaining the social structure that supported them
all. For the first time it removed the need to repress every kind of anti-social behaviour, and left them free to
explore any deviant or wayward impulses.
High-Rise, J. G. Ballard, 1975
HomeRouteFarming explores a possible architecture of living, taking the projective empirics of the winter term’s
studio „Universum Donaustadt/Universe DS“ as a starting point for the development of a concrete building.
The location and situation of this building have undergone a manipulation in space and time: the high-rise
„lives“ in present times, but „Universum Donaustadt“ reflects these present times from the position of a fictional future, 50 years from now.
Through this space-time-shift the building’s deceptive simplicity of being just a high-rise for housing – an
apartment block – turns out to be an exciting „geographical“ operation.
As the title suggests, „living“ appears to be a comprehensive programme of inhabiting time and space, intertwining three discrete realms in a hybrid figure:
the Home (the myth of living)
the Route (the system of mobility)
the Farming (the world of agriculture)
Rather than providing just homes for private life, the high-rise provokes an exacerbated coexistence of different
things, revealing itself as a topological manifesto. In re-writing the programme of living, HomeRouteFarming
re-writes what people still called a city in the first decades of the third millenium.
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PLATFORM ANALOGUE | DIGITAL PRODUCTION | MArch
Cristina Díaz Moreno & Efrén García Grinda
NOCTURNALIA
More than four centuries ago, the irruption of lighting technology in the streets completely transformed the urban
public space. The physical and conceptual universe of the hours of rest, on the one hand associated with fragmented
sleep, the intimate and the spiritual world, and on the other with the danger, illegal and clandestine activities, gave
way to the conquest of darkness, opening the way to new social, political and symbolic uses of the night. Since then,
the night is associated with the opposition to ordinary life, in which new ways of leisure and pleasure can be tested,
where abnormal forms of work -precarious, associated with creativity, or the urgent work-, social experiments, or
simply activities outside the norm, or even out of law, take place.
Beyond the dialectical rhetoric between day and night, it is in this place with a tight temporal sense in which the
sense of distance and the identification of objects are disrupted, distorting the way in which we perceive and make
use of space, in which we will work this semester, as explorers of a territory of the everyday and mundane, as fascinating as unknown for our discipline. Each student will take the night and the different social formations that
populate it as the immediate context, working with the artificial modification of our material environment, what we
usually call buildings, as inductors of partial eclipses that modify daylight conditions, or artificial auras that conquer
and modulate the darkness.
For this purpose each student will define his own notion of context, beginning with a social group or subculture,
studying its codes, customs, and material world, relationship with technology, iconography and associated rituals.
This cultural immediate context to which all decisions - language, spatial qualities and organization, technology or
materiality- should refer to, will also determine the location and the way that it accommodates and resolves, the
duality between day and night. The relationship between the project and the vastness of the cultural universe to
which is connected will be therefore the main objective the work, in a constant back and forth between the personal
interests of the student and the richness of the defined context. Through the research of what nocturnal public space is
nowadays, the students will try to expand the idea of what is commonly known as a building, examining its degree of
autonomy and interiorization, its spatial conditions and finitude as a built physical object, in search of alternative, lush
and unknown forms of beauty, critically anchored in their cultural milieu.
Firework display held by the Duke of Richmond at Richmond House near the Thames in Whitehall, London 1749
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Stacked Stairs Michelle Howard
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PLATFORM CONSTRUCTION | MATERIAL | TECHNOLOGY | MArch
Michelle Howard
CEMENT, AGGREGATE, WATER AND A CONTAINER
INTRODUCTION:
Recently in a discussion on the BBC about the unsung heroes of science, a group of scientists made their votes according to a series of parameters, most importantly that of global impact. The discussion became heated when one scientist
adamantly insisted on concrete. His suggestion was rejected because it is “not a person”. It is not a person, but it has
character and its global impact is immense. So immense is its impact and so ubiquitous is it as a building material, it
has the seemingly paradoxical role of standard element and the most exciting building material existing.
This excitement derives from the fact that when water, aggregate and cement are mixed together, they form a liquid
mass which, for a short time will be supremely malleable and, can be poured into any container, harden and assume
the form of that container from the volume right down to the finest details of its surface. Furthermore the possibilities
for reinforcement to lend strength in tension are now more exciting that they have ever been with advances in glass
fibre and textile technology. Last but not least, concrete can engulf and surround materials and elements which can
lend it properties which can be both beautiful and hard-working from transparency to energy efficient cooling and
heating. It is these aspects that we will explore in Studio this semester by the means of a design project and 1/1 poured
experimental prototypes.
THE DESIGN PROJECT:
We will cooperate with W&P Zement GmbH in Wietersdorf near Klagenfurt an historic cement manufacturer who will
act as our project client and provide both technical and material support for the foreseen material experiments and
prototypes. The directors of the company wish to build a landscaped area and an office with communication centre in
the vicinity of the founding building. This new construction which is both building and landscaping should demonstrate contemporary advances in concrete construction while respecting its historic industrial surroundings. The motto
of the company: “Building with Competence in Concrete” should be the motor for the design.
SPATIAL REQUIREMENTS
The building itself should contain office spaces for 20 - 25 persons and a central multifunctional communication zone
where the boundaries between possible activities such as the technical, commercial, administrative, research and new
products are blurred. Adequate sanitary and snack facilities should also be provided. It is your decision as to how
these spaces interact with each other and perhaps even interchange. Just as the spaces within the pavilion interact, so
should they with the exterior landscaped spaces which are an integral part of the project.
TECHNOLOGICAL REQUIREMENTS
The project should be energy efficient and have a high use of prefabricated elements which emphasises the importance the company places on ecological and economical cement production. Concrete should be used for heating and
cooling using technology such as concrete activation.
THE CONTAINER
In this project a high emphasis is placed on the container or formwork. You are asked to explore how the shaping of
a material can both enhance its appearance and its structural and acoustical efficiency. This shaping or deformation
can occur at many scales from curving to increase span to the lightest of indentations to reflect light or define spatial
differences.
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Daniel Niens, Ömer Pekin Studio HTC 2012/13
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PLATFORM HISTORY | THEORY | CRITICISM | MArch
Angelika Schnell, Eva Sommeregger
BUILDING THE THEORY
Regarding to Walter Benjamin’s „Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers“ the studio will „translate“ the results of the last HTC
studio „Building the Design“ into theory and from theory into a real documentation. 4 up to 6 students who should
speak German and English fluently are working together like a professional editorial board designing and producing
an e-book on a highly advanced topic.
The topic is design-based research which still lacks a contemporary theoretical debate in architecture. Hence the main
goal of the studio is the practice of theory. Reading and writing are as much part of the studio as designing and publishing of the book. Professional graphic designers and editors will give workshops and lectures.
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Blending Environment 2012 by Junya Ishigami
Map of Rome 1748 by Gianbattista NOLLI
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PLATFORM GEOGRAPHY | LANDSCAPES | CITIES | MArch
Stefan Gruber
COLLABORATIVE CITIES: PROTOTYPES FOR THE SHARING ECONOMY
“Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can…” John Lennon (1971)
Property relationships permeate and define human interactions in small and big ways, and yet ownership is an elusive
concept–a mere social convention prone to constant change. Today, in a historic convergence of events, three main
forces are challenging the very idea of ownership giving way to temporary access and redefining prevailing notions of
the private and public sphere: (1) As Capitalism sheds its material origins we are entering an Age of Access where all
of life becomes a paid-for experience (Rifkin, 2001). Meanwhile the apparent flaws of capitalism and governments’
austerity regimes have sparked bitter protest, but also many initiatives of civic empowerment seeking alternate forms
of collaboration. (2) Pressing global environmental issues and dwindling natural resources underline how beyond the
dichotomy of private and public, Market and State, the key question becomes how individual interests can be articulated in such a way as to constitute common interests. Thus the Global Commons fuel the discourse on cooperation
and alternative economies with urgency. (3) Here more than ever social change and technological innovation seem
intertwined: The Web 2.0 and location-aware communication enable individuals to self-organize, forming trans-local
networks that posses the swarming intelligence, real-time flexibility and clout to challenge multi-national corporations and governments alike. Thus online Peer-to-Peer platforms have given rise to radically new forms of production
based on reciprocity. Beyond the virtual realm the so-called Sharing Economy is starting to fundamentally redefining
the way we live in cities and may conceive of urban resources.
Each form of capitalism has brought about distinct architectural typologies and ultimately, new types of cities: be it the
Parisian shopping arcade in relation to 19th century rising bourgeoisie, or its post-war pendant, the mall in relation to
the suburban middle class. In this studio we will speculate on the implications of late Capitalism: based on selected
current economic models ranging from hyper- to anti-capitalism, from Product-to-service to P2P-platforms, students
will develop and design an architectural prototype for the Sharing Economy. With the design of Sharing Hub Projects
we will explore how Architecture can catalyse alternate urban futures and new spaces of commoning.
The accompanying Project Seminar will provide an economic, political and cultural introduction to related theories
by authors such as Harvey, Mouffe, Castells, Felber, Botsman and Rogers amongst others. Based on the texts we will
produce a glossary for the Sharing Economy. More importantly these readings should help articulate a design agency.
We will further research the history of sharing and create five time-lines that will help define the program for the
respective projects. Finally we will study selected precedents of spaces of commoning with a focus on part-to-whole
relations and devise diagramming techniques that become generative for the design.
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Christoph Leibl Studio ADP 2012/13 F: A.Lehn
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COURSES SUMMERTERM 2013
Analogue | Digital Production
ADP Courses BArch
darstellende geometrie I | descriptive geometry I |
Ergänzungsprüfung für BArch
Milena Stavric, Thursday, 16:00-19:45h, R203a, Block
In order to use complex geometrical forms in the design process in the age of advanced digital technology and
parametric design, the mastery of geometry and presentation methods is required. In order to solve 3D engineering problems the fundamental concept of geometry will be explored using analogue and digital tools and
2D techniques. The problems related to the translation of 3D objects into 2D graphical description will be elaborated through assignments with solving practical problems in design, engineering and manufacturing.
3D MODELLING AND ANIMATION I | 3D MODELLIEREN UND ANIMATION I | BArch 2
Werner Skvara, Thursday, 9:30-11:00h, R203a
Three dimensional digital models are mainly “staples” of logic nodes that create a figure by their constellation.
A change of order, a new interpolation - instruction or the activation of these nodes allow for new shapes or
functions to be created. The implementation of a timeline allows for recording of these changes. This course will
test how dynamic a physical model can be through the observation of, and working from, digital “staples of
nodes” to a material and physical state. Teaching contents: Additive and Subtractive modelling, Soft modelling
workflow (“tweaking”), History dependency, 2d-Data output (generation of sections and plans out of 3d data),
numeric data output (Areas and Volumes). Software used: Maya.
INTERACTIVE DESIGN, FILM EDITING AND SOUND, SCRIPTING |
INTERAKTIVES DESIGN, FILM BEARBEITUNG, TON UND SCRIPTING | BArch 2
Werner Skvara, Thursday, 11:15-12:45h, R203a
The creation and manipulation of complex geometries demands knowledge of modelling strategies, object
classes and manipulation workflows. We will learn to structure a digital model as a data based network that
is able to react to changes in the primary input data and therefore provides the user with interactive feedback
of the changed geometries. Recording of changes of the input stream combined with interpolation instructions
allow to examine our models with the media of film and animation. Batch processing and function based
inputs will form the introduction for the field of scripting. Teaching contents: Dependencies of objects (wiring,
driven keys), Rigging, Inverse kinematics, Forward Kinematics, Keying, batch processing, MEL basics.
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Rena Giesecke Studio ADP 2012/13 F: A.Lehn
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INTERACTIVE DESIGN, FILM EDITING AND SOUND, SCRIPTING |
INTERAKTIVES DESIGN, FILM BEARBEITUNG, TON UND SCRIPTING | BArch 2
Titusz Tarnai, Tuesday, 12:15-13:45h, R203a
The course teaches key concepts in communication design and information visualization. The medium circumscribed in the title of the course is understood as information, stimuli, unfolding in time and embedded
in space. Spatial and temporal arrangements in transmitting a “coded” message to an audience form the core
agenda of the course. Students are introduced to the crafting of audio-visual documents, geared to support and
convey a stated argument coupled with dramaturgy. Analysis of works of contemporary composite AV, such as
the clips of Chris Cunningham, but also cinematic techniques such as the immobile frame, the extended shot
etc., will provide the theoretical framework for the course. In the end the students will have acquired a workflow in the compilation of animated digital media, have learned the most commonly used production environment of adobe suite including flash action script 2, will have discussed and tested techniques of editing, and
will have experimented with communication through - and perception of - digital media.
3D MODELLING AND ANIMATION III | 3D MODELLIEREN UND ANIMATION III | BArch 6
Titusz Tarnai, Tuesday 10:30-12:00h, R203a
The seminar will expand the modeling skills of the students introducing advanced current topics in digital
modeling, to include techniques of associative modeling and design data management. With an eye on the
production of plans, information visualization and quantitative evaluation, the aim of the course is to introduce
the students to a practice of model based design, which involves a high paced interaction with the model in
terms of design analysis, design optimization and workflow automation.
ADP Courses MArch
PARAMETRIC MODELLING AND DIGITAL FABRICATION |
PARAMETRISCHES MODELLIEREN UND DIGITALE FABRIKATION | MArch 2
Titusz Tarnai, Monday 11:00-12:30h, R203a
As a periodic research seminar on MArch level, the course is dedicated to the survey and exploration of emerging means of production. The seminar is conducted as a research laboratory, where an experimental practice in
the contemporary design and fabrication environment is exercised. Students are expected to conduct research
around the current seminar topic and develop a full cycle from design to fabrication. Work involves the mastering of numeric controlled instruments, prototyping, testing, versioning and iterative design. The seminar sets
an emphasis in furthering the repertoire of analogue-digital conversions, operating on the volatile and productive boundary of these two realms. In the end of the course, students should be able to overview the difficulties and potentials of contemporary production practice and have furthered their intuition, having gained an
understanding of the consequences of design decisions, and have geared their designing practice towards an
effective and experimental use of material processing and construction.
DESIGN SEMINAR | PROJEKTSEMINAR | MArch
Cristina Díaz Moreno & Efrén García Grinda, time will be announced
The seminar is open for students of the MArch ADP-Studio.
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Eva Herunter, Fabian Puttinger Studio CMT 2012/13 F: C.Fröhlich
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Construction | Material | Technology
CMT Courses BArch
BUILDING STRUCTURES II | TRAGWERKSKONSTRUKTION II | BArch 2
Peter Bauer, Thursday 14:00-15:30h, R211a
We use linear elements, such as beams and cables, that we have discussed in Building Structures I to develop a
knowledge for plane load-bearing structures. We study structural concepts which cover large scale surfaces, i.e.
shells and membranes. Furthermore, we learn design strategies for the optimization of building structures, we
analyse air-support structures and we discuss the “pneu-concept” and some “bionic-concepts”.
Teaching Content:
- Analysis of existing structures; “Where is the structure?”
- Actions on structures, “What are structures for?”
- Advanced structures- plates, shells, membranes and pneus; “How do structures work?”
- Optimization of structures; “How to make a structure better?”
- Fundamental terms of structural engineering; “Learning the vocabulary”.
BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES I | BAUKONSTRUKTION I | BArch 2
Helmut Hempel, Wednesday 10:45-12:15h, R209
This course is an introduction to building construction to provide basic knowledge in the field. To further deepen awareness in the innovative fields, we will look at relevant projects. Lectures will describe the construction details of exemplary buildings. Subjects are the selection of a site, sitework, foundations, load-bearing
structure and space-building elements, different construction systems, external walls and wall systems, arches
and window openings, construction of floors and roofs, roof coverings and roof gardens, light transmitting constructions, fireplace openings and staircases. Students should be capable to develop construction-details and
drawings of their presentation for using in planning and building processes.
BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES III | BAUKONSTRUKTION III | BArch 4
Michelle Howard, Tuesday 9:00-10:30h, R210
In this course we will concentrate on the use of concrete in Architecture. The course will consist of a lecture
every other week using some of the iconic works of modern architecture to look closer at its detailing and how
it is put together.
In the weeks between we will visit building sites or built projects in Vienna and the near suburbs where concrete is used in an extensive way in order to experience the material at first hand.
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Jakob Rockenschaub, Julian Raffetseder, Nikolas Ettel Studio CMT 2012/13 F: C.Fröhlich
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CMT Courses MArch
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE I | BERUFSPRAXIS I | MArch 2
Helmut Hempel, Wednesday 9:00-10:30h, R209
The is a lecture course to introduce the professional and legal issues necessary to practice architecture.
The subjects are given on the basis of examples. Lectures will describe the complex processes of project management and explain the role of an architect in it. Topics are for example: building processes, planning phases,
maps and plans, building standards, building laws, building contracts, building calculations.
DESIGN SEMINAR | PROJEKTSEMINAR | MArch
Michelle Howard, Tuesday 11:30-13:00h, R210
In this seminar we will dicover the history of concrete through the detailed study of key architectural and engineering projects from roman concrete and the Pantheon through the first use of reinforced concrete with works
by Auguste Perret until the current work with thin concrete shells by Toyo Ito.
Ecology | Sustainability | Conservation
ESC Courses BArch
ECOLOGIES II | ÖKOLOGIE II | BArch 4
Sabine Bartscherer, Wednesday 12:30-15:30h, bi-weekly, R211a
“The most important contribution to ecological thinking is the changed awareness: The understanding of the
historicity of action. What we do has consequences that are partly not reversible.” Wasmut
The main issue in this course is to look at five categories concerning the design of a building: The site, the skin,
the material, the technical equipment and the comfort. In Ecology II the use of a differentiated program to calculate a buildingpass and the eco-datas like OI3-Index will be taught, an excursion will be organized. A short
report on a specific topic by each student will deepen the knowledge.
SUSTAINABILITY I | NACHHALTIGKEIT I | BArch 4
Jochen Käferhaus, Friday 09:00-10:30h, R209
The basic idea of sustainability consists in 3 main pillars: economy, ecology and social network.
Sustainability in architecture means consider the whole lifetime of a building including planning as well as
demolishing. The introductory course is based on selected examples of buildings, which are considered sustainable in the current field.
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Studio ESC 2012/13 F: A. Lehn
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SUSTAINABILITY II | NACHHALTIGKEIT II | BArch 6
Jochen Käferhaus, Friday 10:30-12:00h, R209
Discussing existing good examples of built sustainability, the students should learn about this very important feature
of architecture, to get the sensibility and knowledge, in order to be able to coop with this vast field of this subject for
their future projects.
It is also planned to teach theoretical knowledge of sustainability, to give the students basic education in this field.
CONSERVATION II | KULTURELLES ERBE II | BArch 6
Golmar-Mina Kempinger-Khatibi, Thursday 12:30-14:00h, R211a
The course provides an overview on conservation from antiquity to the present.
We observe that the challenges we face today are not so much different from what generations of builders and artists
have had to face and solve.
We learn from that pool of intelligence that has existed before us, and we use it to look into the future.
The necessity to reprogram a building or an entire area for other use is an everyday challenge. At the same time we
architects have to cope with damages on the built environment. We must be able to judge what we confront and
recognize the authentic and the valuable to decide whether to replace, conserve, or restore, and most important how
to do all that. The course will teach the students to acknowledge and recognize those values and to be able to analyze
and study each case and its historical, technical and cultural aspects. It will also provide the knowledge about state of
the art methods of conservation as well as the traditional ones.
ESC Courses MArch
WELLTEMPERED ENVIRONMENTS | WOHLTEMPERIERTE MILIEUS | MArch 2
Peter Leeb, Thursday 14:00-15:30h, R209
The by now sharpened awareness of the finiteness of resources as well as the relationship between the availability of
cheap fossil fuels and the perspectives for comfort and mobility raise questions concerning their ramifications for architecture. These questions, relating to the history, the methods, the extent, and the means for providing comfort within
buildings, become increasingly the focus of attention.
In the course of the seminar the mutual dependencies between human expectations for comfort, technology, and
environment are presented as one essential foundation for architecture, examples are being discussed, and prospects
into future developments are being considered.
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David Rasner, Avin Fathulla Studio HTC 2012/13 F: A.Lehn
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History | Theory | Criticism
HTC Courses BArch
ARCHITECTURE HISTORY II - MODERNISM AND CONTEMPORARY TOPICS |
ARCHITEKTUR GESCHICHTE II - MODERNE UND ZEITGENÖSSISCHE THEMEN | BArch 2
August Sarnitz, Wednesday 14:00-15:30h, R209
This course traces various practical and theoretical changes in architecture within the past one hundred years.
The following position is to be discussed: Architecture is a semi-autonomous discipline, aiming to design and
enhance our built environment. The term “semiautonomous” reflects the different parameters, from which the
production of architecture is depending, such as cultural socio-economical and technological aspects. In addition there will be a historical and theoretical discourse on aspects of historiography.
WRITING ON ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPES AND CITIES |
SCHREIBEN ÜBER ARCHITEKTUR, LANDSCHAFT UND STÄDTE | BArch 4
August Sarnitz, Wednesday 15:45-17:15h, R209
The question of notation in teaching history and theory in architecture is of great relevance: In a rapidly changing environment, where the pace of modernization never lets up, historical studies are of crucial importance to
the architect. They enable a broader sense of cultural judgment with regard to one’s own time.
This seminar addresses classic themes of architecture and urbanism in the 20th century. Reading authentic texts
– different positions of early modernism, classic moderne, post-modernism and other “-isms” are discussed.
Readings among others: Camillo Sitte, Georg Simmel, Erich Mendelsohn, Lewis Mumford, Kenneth Frampton
and Peter Eisenman. Teaching language: german.
HISTORIES AND THEORIES OF CITIES | GESCHICHTE UND THEORIE VON STÄDTEN | BArch 6
Angelika Schnell, Wednesday 10:00-11:30h, R211a
Starting with ancient cultures and cities the lecture will give both an overview about the historical development
of cities and about the way this development is influencing the theories on cities until today.
In an alternating rhythm the lecture will present theories on cities, and then explain the historic/social/
built reality of them by means of selected examples. Not only the theories of urban historians like Leonardo
Benevolo, Lewis Mumford, Ernst Egli which describe the structural development of the cities will be discussed,
also theories and narratives that try to grasp the mythical, social, and political reality of cities.
Objective
Achieving basic knowledge on the historical development of cities. Understanding the way theories of cities are
at the same time theories of the society we live in and challenging the theories of architecture.
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Nadja Götze, Jasmin Schinegger Studio HTC 2012/13 F: R.Prokop
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HTC Courses MArch
CONTEMPORARY DEBATES ON ARCHITECTURAL THEORY |
ZEITGENÖSSISCHE DISKURSE DER ARCHITEKTURTHORIE | MArch 2
Elke Krasny, Time will be announced, Block
Architecture of Crisis, Architecture of Intervention
Be it the economy or the globalism of urban agglomerations, be it nature, ressources or safety, be it asylum
seekers or political upheaval, it is the state of crisis that marks the reconceptualiztion of what architecture needs
to be. Intervention is a term largely used when it comes to taking action in this almost perpetually pending
crisis which as a matter of fact has its effects on a global scale, nonetheless though marked by distinct local differences. The field of architecture has a longstanding tradition of perceiving the profession of the architect in its
capacity of universally applicaple strategies of problem-solving.
The seminar discusses current moments of crisis ranging from natural catastrophes, shortage of ressources to
wars, from migration, social exclusion to poverty, and the specific architectural strategies in the moment of crisis
questioning the mythical/heroical role of architecture and reconceptualizing architectural strategies as impacting/
lasting moments of intervention.
DESIGN SEMINAR | PROJEKTSEMINAR | MArch
August Sarnitz, Thursday 17:00-18:30h, R209
This Project-Seminar referres directly to the theme of the HTC-Studio and deepens the relevant knowledge. This
year the focus will be on the actual production of a publication: the relevant input of structure and text will be
discussed.
THESIS SEMINAR | PROSEMINAR | MArch 3
Christina Condak, Friday 10:30-12:00h, R210
Thesis Proseminar includes seminars and guided independent research leading to a complete development
of the thesis programme. The course will provide general instruction in the definition, programming, and
development of a thesis project. The thesis will be the culmination of individual research in a design project. Students will prepare the project by narrowly defining a question, developing a working knowledge of
related research in their field of interest, and producing an architectural hypothesis. The collected work of the
Proseminar will provide the necessary material for the thesis semester’s design experimentation, testing, and
critical appraisal of the hypothesis. The thesis argument will ultimately draw a relation between the specific
resolution of an architectural proposition and a larger question within architectural discourse.
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Christiane Irxenmayer Studio GLC 2012/13 F: R.Prokop
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Geography | Landscapes | Cities
GLC COURSES BArch
DOCUMENTATION AND REPRESENTATION IN GEOGRAPHY, LANDSCAPES, CITIES |
DOKUMENTATION UND REPRÄSENTATION IN GEOGRAFIE, LANDSCHAFTEN, STÄDTE | BArch 2
Lisa Schmidt-Colinet, Friday 10:00-11:30h, R211 a
The seminar focuses on observation and description of places and territories. The complexity of a site obliges
one to make decisions and select information, it requires a position towards the observed terrain. The technique of representation, the selection of material and the intentions of a site’s description are interrelated. The
seminar explores the gradual differences between common tools of representing architecture as built form and
modes of representation of intricate interdependencies of a city fragment. It opens the range from small scale
observation toward the complexity of an urban terrain, where we focus on the forces and processes that are
on the basis of urban form. Students will discover influences and effects of the site on a larger scale of the city
and experiment with the visualization of underlying processes- starting from phenomenological observations
towards an understanding of effects, describing the territory as a network, a complex set of relations.
LANDSCAPES AND GARDENS | LANDSCHAFTEN UND GÄRTEN | BArch 4
Maria Auböck, Friday 11:00-12:30h, M13a
Public spaces, landscapes and gardens as synergetic fields of design are the content of this course. Each lecture
will confront students with selected projects to explain the process of built landscapes. The lectures are following a special rhythm and have to be understood as a consecutive collage of information. They shall inspire the
ongong dialogue with the cultural landscape. We are dealing with public and private spaces, cultural positions
in a global world and the concrete materiality of urban and rural landscape. A field trip will be offered additionally in June 2011.
INFRASTRUCTURES AND NETWORKS | INFRASTRUKTUR UND NETZWERKE | BArch 4
Bernd Vlay, Tuesday 11:30-13:30h, bi-weekly, R211a
The course provides an understanding of the physiology of cities. It explains the overlay of multiple infrastructure systems and networks making up the complexity of urban conditions. It demonstrates how communication
and transportation networks, water- and sewage systems, waste management and power supply are all intricate part of thinking and designing cities.
URBANISM II | STÄDTEBAU II | BArch 6
Christian Teckert, Wednesday 16:00-19:00h, bi-weekly, R211a
The analysis of discoursive formations within the history of Urbanism will be at the core of the lectures eries. It
will include fields like Sociology, Media Theory, Subject Theory, Postcolonialism and Critical Geography, which
have been crucial for the current debates. Alongside the central terms of urbanistic theory of the late 20th cen-
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Studio GLC 2012/13 F: R.Prokop
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tury, key discourses of contemporary urbanistic debates will be examined in relation to practical examples. Also
methodological approaches of research, analysis and design will be considered in detail.
Facing a situation, where no hegemonial method or unitary approach in urbanism can be detected, after it has
been claimed, that Urbanism as a discipline is facing irrelevance, this lecture series will focus on key terms of
the heterogenous debate on urbanistic topics, which imply concepts to understand the complex urban realities, but at the same time might lead to a new set of strategies for intervention. In the lecture series selected
key terms will be discussed in both their theoretical contexts as well as alongside specific paradigmatic projects,
which be analysed.
STRATEGIES FOR CITIES | STRATEGIEN FÜR STÄDTE | BArch 6
Markus Vogl, Wednesday 16:00-19:00h, bi-weekly, R211a
Every panel on urban development argues its importance with the fact that more than 50% of worlds population live in metropolitan areas by now. It still stays in the air as the big challenge for the 21st century. But we
should question, why societies essentially do need the “city”? What are the principles behind the concept of
the city? What strategies do planners, designers and politicians use to deal with the challenges in the urban
development? What tactics do the “urbanites” need to live their daily life in contemporary urban agglomerations? And: What happens to the periphery?
“Strategies for Cities” will open the urban debate by introducing social geography as a scientific platform for the
urban field. The lectures intend to add an introduction to urban design principles as well as the social production of space to the GLC platform of GLC, as the urban geographer Edward Soja states: “Let cities be first!”
This summer term “Strategies for Cities” will approach the urban issue by taking three cities as a reference:
Ciudad autónoma de Buenos Aires as the centre of a metropolitan area with 13 Mio. inhabitants, the city of
Vienna as the primary city in the trans border region Centrope and the city of Kirchheim unter Teck as a subcentre in Metropolregion Stuttgart.
GLC Courses MArch
TOPOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY AND SURFACES
TOPOLOGIE UND TOPOGRAFIE | MArch 2
Antje Lehn, Thursday 09:30-11:00h, R209
Topographic inquiry:
We will look at maps as representations of surface and space, and their ability to show time based relationships
and the depth of this surface. The analysis of a public urban space taking into account the interaction of location and users asks for dynamic perspectives, including phenomena like horizon and orientation, density and
periphery, natural and artificial landscape. Students will develop their own map showing layers and sections of
a dense apparatus.
The course discusses cartography and mapping in history and contemporary culture as a medium to describe
and understand patterns and forms of organization in society at large. It differentiates between intensive and
extensive cartography and provides an insight to topology. It addresses issues related to topography and city
planning.
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DESIGN SEMINAR | PROJEKTSEMINAR | MArch
Stefan Gruber, Tuesday 14:00-15:30h, Studio
See studio brief GLC Master.
THESIS DOCUMENTATIONSEMINAR | MASTERARBEIT DOKUMENTATIONSSEMINAR | MArch 3
Antje Lehn, Tuesday 14:00-15:30h, R209
As a continuation of the pre-thesis seminar, this is a required course for masters architecture students in their
last semester of study. This course through an emphasis on representation and documentation supports the
intellectual foundation of the thesis and helps to formulate and organize the structure of the project. The
research material, the process of production, and a critical view of the project are complied into a book format
which will be archived in the library as the synthesis of each thesis.
This course tutors students in synthesizing and concluding their thesis project and turning it into a coherent
written and graphic document.
Results of course is a completed bound book of the Diploma project.