A series of input lectures, the discussion of critical readings, as well as student presentations of case studies will help to understand alternative architectural practices, provide students with tools to question and transform the contemporary political space and formulate their own positions in a final written exercise.

This course is based on the premise that space and thus architecture can never be neutral because spatial constructs are always inherently shaped by political claims and subject to constant negotiation and transformation. This implies that the position of the architect cannot be impartial. In this role of the architect, design is a strategy that can contextualize itself within various social situations and simultaneously prepare new contexts for participants.

1 Presentation on case studies, in groups of 2

2 Short writing exercises: One exposé and one essay, further analysing the case study and reflecting about the individual approach;

0. Einführung: Was ist kritische Architekturpraxis?

-       Martin, Reinhold. “Critical of What.” Harvard Design Magazine, 22, 2005.

-       What is Critical Spatial Practice, Sternberg Press, 2012.

-       Hays, K. Michael. “Critical Architecture: Between Culture and Form,” in Perspecta, Vol. 21.,1984: 14-29.

-       Chantal Mouffe, „Every Form of Art Has a Political Dimension“: Interview by Rosalyn Deutsche, Branden W. Joseph and Thomas Keenan,“ Grey Room 02, Winter 2001: 98-125.

1. Gezeichnete Absicht

-       A description of the rhizome by Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari in their A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, 1987.

-       Kurgan, "Monochrome Landscapes," in ELSE/WHERE: MAPPING, ed. Janet Abrams and Peter Hall, University of Minnesota Design Institute, 2004: 310-311. http://l00k.org/?c=maps

-       Lize Mogel and Alexis Bhagat, eds., An Atlas of Radical Cartography, Journal of Aesthetics and Protest Press, 2008.

2. Konfliktreiche Intervention

-       Yates McKee and Meg McLagen, "Forensic Architecture: An Interview with Eyal Weizman," in Sensible Politics, 429-451.

-       "Architecture of the Borderlands," Architectural Design 7/8, special issue ed. Teddy Cruz and Anne Boddington (Academy Editions, 1999).

-       Marc Angelil, Indizien: Zur politischen Ökonomie urbaner Territorien, Niggli, 2006.

-       Mario Ballesteros, et.al, VERB. Cities in Crisis – Actar, 2008.

3. Materialisierte Utopie

-       „Mediations on Razor Wire. Hyper-Architecture versus Infra-Architecture,“ Lieven de Cauter and Michiel Dehaene in Visionary Power: Producing the Contemporary City, nai Publishers, 2007.

-       J Ritter, "World Parliament: The League of Nations Competition, 1926," Architectural Review 136, July 1964: 17-23.

-       George Dudley, A Workshop for Peace: Designing the United Nations Headquarters, MIT Press, 1994.

-       Squatter Settlement: An Architecture that Works, John F.C. Turner, in: Architecture of Democracy, Architectural Design, August 1967.

4. Subversive Strategie + 5. Kritische Partizipation

-       Lucius Burkchardt „Building – A Process with No Obligations to Heritage Preservation,“ in Lucius Burckhardt Writings. Rethinking Man-made Environments, Springer, 2012.

-       Easterling, Keller. “The Action is the Form: Victor Hugo's TED Talk.” Download unter http://www.strelka.com/en/press/books/the-action-is-the-form-victor-hugos-ted-talk

-       „Design mit Verantwortung: Fünf Mythen und sechs Richtungen,“ Victor Papanek, Design für die reale Welt : Anleitungen für eine humane Ökologie und sozialen Wandel (Springer 2009), 215-247.

-       "Architecture Against the Grain: Interview with An Architektur," Openhagen, 2009, http://openhagen.net/blog/article/architecture-against-the.

-       „Contested Cities: Social Process and Spatial Form,“ David Harvey in Transforming Cities, The City Reader, 1997.