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Courses

Within the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Innsbruck, the Department of Architectural Theory teaches cultural theory, concentrating primarily on those aspects that affect the design of our environment, but also scientific research, curating and publishing materials on architectural, urban and landscape issues. In doing so, aspiring architects and architects gain conceptual and communication skills. Additionally, the chair prepares on specialized occupations, which reflect on the cultural aspects of architecture reflecting: architectural theorist, architectural historian, architecture journalist, curator, editor, occupations in museums, cultural funds, in PR and marketing, etc.
In lectures, seminars and projects, students are introduced to and study important architectural theoretical treatises and positions. Studio projects deal subsequently with concrete projects for books, exhibitions, websites, etc., using all potential skills for their realization. Courses dealing with theory as theory are alternated with ones that deal with an encountered built reality. Of course, essential social, philosophical and cultural positions are reflected upon in the process.

Important learning objectives for all courses beyond the central theme of the course are also:

• “Learning to Learn”: learning from books, from lecturers, from other students and from reality.
• Acquisition of learning strategies and content in the context of the research of architectural theory and history.
• Learning an effective use of the library(s) and archives. Learning important research techniques, also for archival research.
• Writing texts, using pictures, making books, curating exhibitions, editing videos and designing websites on the basis of the investigated material.
• Use of several presentation techniques in varied contexts and with different media: essay, short presentation with PowerPoint or Keynote, book, exhibition, website, video.
• Teamwork: we usually work in teams of two students. The topics and presentations are structured in such a way that all teams can benefit from each other and the individual presentations are part of a larger whole or product.

VO Architekturtheorie Zwei / Bettina Schlorhaufer

The course provides students with an insight into the political, ideological and philosophical interrelationships of architecture, urban development and landscape of the first half of the 20th century. The students develop skills on how to derive critical analyses, theoretical strands or approaches from the presented positions. In the winter semester 2018/2019, Architecturaltheory_2 will be presented […]

Excursion B EX–MOS / Madina Cherchesova & Leonid Slonimskiy

Moscow is the biggest city on the European continent. In the course of time, it has gathered the most radical and unique examples of architecture, from the time of the zars, over Constructivism and Stalinism to contemporary architecture. We will see pompous palaces and avantgarde gems, brutalist social housing and classicist skyscrapers, postmodern ‘weirdos’ and […]

Studio Bangkok / Bart Lootsma & Kanokwan Trakulyingcharoen

The future of architecture is in Asia, not in Europe. Asian cities are growing at a speed unknown to Europe. Because of this, new urban planning methods, or the lack of them, develop. The growth gives opportunity to innovative architects to manifest themselves. Over the last five years, young Asian architects are among the winners […]

Do You Avant-Garde? / Alexa Baumgartner & Davide Tommaso Ferrando

For the summer semester, the Master’s Studio at Architectural Theory will investigate the phenomenon of architectural avant-garde(s). Coming from the military field, in the 1820s the word “avant-garde” was applied for the first time to fine arts by Henri de Saint-Simon, who believed that artists had the responsibility (and the privilege) of introducing new ideas […]

Studio E4 New Social Housing / Davide Tommaso Ferrando & Bart Lootsma

New Social Housing Against the Background of Individualisation, Globalisation and the Rise of Social Media   On occasion of the IBA (International Building Exhibition) Vienna 2022, the studio research of architecturaltheory.eu this year is dedicated to new forms of social housing. In this context, we aim at interpreting anew what is meant with “social”, as […]

SE M Design Theory / Kanokwan Trakulyingcharoen

Fluidity and Eddy in the act of design The concepts of “fluidity” has been recurring frequently in design theory and contemporary art– with particular intensity in the 1990s. The seminar will focus on the debates regarding a dynamic relationship between “fluidity” and “eddy,” or in another word– an observation on a flow of design and […]

Do You Avant-Garde? / Alexa Baumgartner & Davide Tommaso Ferrando

For the summer semester, the Master’s Studio at Architectural Theory will investigate the phenomenon of architectural avant-garde(s). Coming from the military field, in the 1820s the word “avant-garde” was applied for the first time to fine arts by Henri de Saint-Simon, who believed that artists had the responsibility (and the privilege) of introducing new ideas […]

Architectural Theory M / Bart Lootsma

Over the last twenty years new technologies have changed our lives. Also the urban landscape changed immensely. New media and a drastically increased individual mobility have altered the way we perceive, use and inhabit it. This has begun to change its structure from within. Digital technologies revolutionize architecture as a profession. They change the design […]

Studio M1 archiFIcture / Madina Cherchesova & Giacomo Pala

archiFIcture   “the future is already here, it’s just not very evenly distributed” William Gibson   Architecture is really very much a form of storytelling. The studio will stress out the possibility of using it as a fictional discipline in order to speculate on and imagine new forms of futures. Indeed, we will first study […]

E4 & M2 New Social Housing / Bart Lootsma, Davide Tommaso Ferrando & Bettina Schlorhaufer

New Social Housing Against the Background of Individualisation, Globalisation and the Rise of Social Media   On occasion of the IBA (International Building Exhibition) Vienna 2022, the studio research of architecturaltheory.eu this year is dedicated to new forms of social housing. In this context, we aim at interpreting anew what is meant with “social”, as […]

Studio Bangkok / Bart Lootsma & Kanokwan Trakulyingcharoen

The future of architecture is in Asia, not in Europe. Asian cities are growing at a speed unknown to Europe. Because of this, new urban planning methods, or the lack of them, develop. The growth gives opportunity to innovative architects to manifest themselves. Over the last five years, young Asian architects are among the winners […]

E4 MIDTERM 2016: Studio Bangkok

Programm 13.12.2016 Bart Lootsma, Kanokwan Trakulyingcharoen and Alexander Gogl 10:00 – 14:00   midterm Presentation Architekturtheorie, HSB 11 Architekturgebäude EG Technikerstrasse 21c 6020 IBK   The future of architecture is in Asia, not in Europe. Asian cities are growing at a speed unknown to Europe. Because of this, new urban planning methods, or the lack […]