Architecture Theory I / Prof. Dr. Jörg Gleiter
Theory and History of Architecture VL Architecture Theory 3/6 ETCS

Architecture theory is a profoundly modern concern. Architecture's need for critical-theoretical reflection on its cultural foundations results directly from the particular developmental dynamics of modernity. With the emergence of new materials (steel, concrete, glass), new technologies (machine, photo, film, computer, smartphone) and new social orders, architecture can no longer unquestioningly borrow its orienting standards from the models of past eras in order to cope with its cultural tasks. Since everything is constantly in motion and changing, it must constantly redefine its goals, means and methods. This is particularly evident in the transition from manual to machine production in the 19th century, as well as today at the turn from the analogue to the digital age. Therefore: architectural theory is the medium of reflection on the being-made as well as the being-made of architecture and on its cultural function in the respective, changing cultural field of forces.

The lecture is intended as an introduction to architectural theory as the instance of critical reflection that inquires into the foundations of architecture as a sensual-aesthetic experience, as a constructive reality and social system of reference in the respective cultural field of forces. It is intended as an introduction to the philosophical, aesthetic, psychological, social, perceptual, etc. foundations of architecture. Fundamentals of architecture. With the necessary historical deepening, an overview of the most important theoretical positions, their deficits and failures since the end of the 18th century until today will be given. 

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Jörg Gleiter

Time: Wed. 16:00 - 18:00 hrs
Location: A 151 / online
First date: 26.10.2022, 16:00 hrs

ECO-HOUSES/ Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Gleiter / Klaus Platzgummer
Typologie Design Studio

Originally coined by the German thinker Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) ecology describes „the whole science of the relations of the organism to the environment including, in a broad sense, all „conditions of existence“. According to this definition ecology describes a state of co-existence where diverse conditions of existence are assembled under the notion of „oikos“, under the principle of the household and the co-management between diverse organisms.
The Master studio ECO HOUSE draws on the vision of architect and engineer Frei Otto, who developed with his „Ökohäuser“ an architectural model representing a holistic approach on ecology based on incremental design practice. Frei Ottos’s „Ökohäuser“ serve as a reference for experimental design studies exploring future narratives for ecological livelihoods.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Gleite, Klaus Platzgummer

Time: tba
Location: tba
First session: tba

Architectures of Co-Existence / Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Gleiter / Klaus Platzgummer
Typology Design Studio

If we look at the conflictual and exclusionary conditions of contemporary urban production the concept of co-existence requires a reconsideration. Within contested urban territories togetherness of parallel and incompatible realities relies on spaces for negotiation, adaption and transformation in order to enable diverse systems and languages to interact. The M-ARCH T introductory studio investigates models of co-existence in its various manifestations and develops site-specific typological interventions along locations of the former Berlin Wall. By questioning how spaces of diverse natures can co-exist the studio is also addressing relationships between human, natural and technological environments.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Gleiter / Klaus Platzgummer
Time: tba
Location: tba
First session: tba

Type and Modell II / Prof. Dr. Jörg Gleiter
Semiotic Analysis of Architecture - 3/6 ETCS

Beyond their functional, design, and material aspects, types constitute the basic elements of a language of architecture. Like the tropes and figures of speech in rhetoric, types are semiotic devices of the language of architecture. At the very least types have a narrative function as they tell us something about the time, purposes, customs, expediency and culture in general. With types, architecture leaves the realm of the elite codification of its sign system (style, history etc.). How does architecture speak through typology? How is meaning created through types? And in the first place, what does it mean if we talk of the language of architecture? How can architecture be meaningful at all? What is meant if we refer to architecture as language? The seminar is a basic introduction into architectural semiotics. Focusing on aspects of semiotics, rhetoric and language the seminar seeks to free typology from the hardened image of cataloged, formulaic knowledge and functionalist compartmentalization with the aim of casting a critical eye on the clichés and stereotypes that have been hardened in the debates surrounding postmodernism and the digital.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Jörg Gleiter

Time: Mo., 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: online
First session: 18.10.2021, 6:00 pm

Enrollment: ISIS und Qisope

Archives: Fevering, Filing, Caring. / Klaus Platzgummer
Lehrforschungsprojekt in Kollaboration mit M.T.I./ Technion

“On the one hand, the archive is made possible by the death, aggression, and destruction drive, that is to say also by originary finitude and expropriation. But beyond finitude as limit, there is [...] this properly in-finite movement of radical destruction without which no archive desire or fever would happen.” 

Delicate actions and decisions are involved in transferring architectural artifacts to - supposedly neutral - archives. Which material is collected? Which not? Who collects what? What are the intentions of archivist? Who has access to archival materials? Who does not? In short, archiving is political through and through. The teaching research project will focus on the politics of taking care of architectural artifacts.

The teaching research project is part of an international research project between the Department of Architectural Theory, the History Theory + Criticism Program of M.I.T. (Cambridge, USA) and the Material Topology Lab of the Technion (Haifa, Israel). In addition to seminars discussing the theories and histories of archival practices, students from the three participating institutions will build an archive around the complex urban history of Berlin's Tiergarten. The research conducted will be shared with experts through workshops and a conference.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Gleiter, Klaus Platzgummer

Time: Mo., 14:00-16:00 h, Fr., 10:00-14:00 h (tbc)
Location: Presence/Online: isis.tu-berlin.de/enrol/index.php
First session: 25.10.2021, 14:00

Fragments of Modernity/ Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Gleiter
Architecture Theory/Theory I

'In artistic, philosophical and literary discourses, the fragment is negotiated as an aesthetic concept that signals the dawn of a modern aesthetic.' At the heart of this innovation is Friedrich Schlegel's theory of the fragment, which Schlegel (1772-1889) not only expounds in the 'Athenaeum Fragments' but also implements in the text itself. The examination of the fragment theory helps us to uncover tendencies and concepts in the history of architecture that break away from the idea of completion and perfection in order to discover and practise the fragility of fragmentary spatial order instead. The manifestations of the fragmentary in architecture do not get stuck with the image of the fragmentary, imperfect or destroyed; instead, they embody the idea of an open, ambiguous and dynamic spatial order.

We will examine and discuss architectural, artistic and literary strategies of the fragmentary in the form of a reading seminar. A further component of the seminar will be drawing analyses of selected buildings. Our aim is to practise together the tools of critique that theory provides us with, along a concept that can also set in motion valuable processes of cognition in architecture.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Gleiter, Adria Daraban

Time: Tuesday, 14:00-16:00 hrs
Location: Online (ISIS)
First session: 19.10.2021

Architectural Field Research / Dr. Lidia Gasperoni
Architecture Theory/Philosophy I

Architecture is a site-bound design discipline.
Its environmental impact forms a web of material conditions that interconnects, among others, territories, inhabitants, different species and resources at both local and global levels.
This demonstrates the urgency of integrative design methods based on an experimental analysis of place as an archi- tectonic field, capable not only of adapting place to building, but also of bringing the interconnected reality of place to manifestation.

We will reflect from a philosophical point of view on contemporary foundations of an experimental site ana- lysis, which we will apply in the practical part to specific sites in Berlin.

Lecturer: Dr. Lidia Gasperoni

Time: Tuesday, 10:00-12:00 hrs
Location: Online Zoom: tu-berlin.zoom.us/j/62112272384 J3dUpCVHVqcHNoZi85b3B2dz09

First session: 19.10.2021

Excursion Japan/ Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Jörg H. Gleiter, Prof. Dr. Rainer Hehl 
Architecture Theory/Theory I

Japan has always been hit by natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and tsunamis. Over the centuries, innovative, resilient solutions have emerged in architecture and urban planning. The excursion "Blue infrastructures in Tokyo Bay - prototypes of coexistence" builds on this.
With rising sea levels, new challenges arise in the transition from water to land. Urban and architectural questions are closely linked to social questions, questions of generational justice, participation and politics. How can the situation also be used as an opportunity to improve the infrastructure in coastal areas that is in need of existence? What architectures are needed to positively promote social change?

Students from the TU Berlin, ABK Stuttgart and Waseda University will develop joint design approaches in a two-week workshop on site that will reassess both natural geographic and social boundaries. The project thus understands infrastructures not only reactively in the sense of a resilience policy, but also as active instances for social change in the affected areas on a large scale as well as in the neighbourhoods on a small scale. Questions arise about the infrastructures of coexistence between the actors of society and the actors of the environment.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Jörg H. Gleiter, Prof. Dr. Rainer Hehl, Klaus Platzgummer

Time: 13-24 March 2022
Location: Tokyo, Japan
First date: Info event, tba via ISIS

MY-CO Build + Affect / Dipl.-Psych. Gudrun Rauwolf, M.A.
Research project with young researchers X-Student Research Groups

Scenarios for mushroom-based building materials. Accompanying research in architectural psychology
In the coming years, it will be necessary to primarily use renewable raw materials and to develop alternative materials that can be returned to the natural cycle. Mushroom-based composites represent a promising alternative to conventional building materials in this respect. The MY-CO BUILD project (V. Meyer & S. Pfeiffer) places fungi and fungal materials at the centre of a debate about future ways of building as well as ways of living for humans. The MY-CO BUILD+AFFECT teaching research project expands this to include the perspective of architectural psychology. The multisensory dimensions and effects on experience and user behaviour, as well as acceptance research, are the focus of the investigations in order to further clarify open questions about the future viability of these materials. The teaching research project offers the opportunity to experiment with production and transformation processes in this area and to make them visible, as well as to involve future users as actors in participation workshops. MY-CO BUILD+AFFECT is to be conceived as an interdisciplinary project, an experiential experimental arrangement and a workshop for students - as an innovation space for user integration and for data collection for an architectural-psychological exploration study and insights.
An interdisciplinary research project within the framework of the Berlin University Alliance, aimed at students of architecture (at the Institute for Architecture of the TU Berlin and at the UDK), biotechnology (at the Institute for Biotechnology, TU Berlin), psychology (HU, FU) and human factors (at the Institute for Psychology and Work Science, TU Berlin) in their Master's degree. (Photos © MY-CO BUILD, V. Meyer & S. Pfeiffer)

Lecturer: Dipl.-Psych. Gudrun Rauwolf, M.A.

Time: Wednesday, 14:00-16:00 hrs
Location: Hybrid format: online, face-to-face workshops & excursions 
First date: 20.10.21 via ZOOM (meeting ID: 679 8950 2321, identification code: 382040)