After successful completion of the course, students are able to work on a design task from the field of interior design and planning, in which the concept of space and the understanding of spatial correlations form the starting point of the problems of design. They learn to deal critically with the fundamental questions of museum space, in particular with the question of how an architectural object as an exhibit in a museum appears primarily through forms of representation, and they analyse the meanings and possibilities that these forms of representation imply for architecture exhibitions. They are in a position to derive appropriate design principles from scientifically-methodologically based research into curatorial approaches and historical and contemporary exhibition displays and to appropriate them for their own design work. They can present their project concepts comprehensively in the form of draft and detailed plans.
Architecture Exhibit
A novel collection display for the Architekturzentrum Wien
Collecting and exhibiting architecture raises questions that affect the self-image of our discipline as well as that of museums and archives. Historically, university teaching collections of architectural drawings, models and photographs have served as role models for architecture students. Since the second half of the 20th century, architectural collections have had a different orientation and are now housed in museums and archives: on the one hand, they are aimed at the general public and, on the other, at specialist historians and researchers. With modernism, the architectural exhibition also becomes a demonstration space and propaganda tool for contemporary architects and artists: the exhibition itself becomes an exhibit.
With the Architekturzentrum Wien (Az W), the focus is on an important contemporary collection of modern architecture. The question of which collection and exhibition strategies the Az W has developed and will develop in the future in the context of other architectural collections and international architectural discourse is at the beginning of a curatorial examination. In a discussion with the curators of the Az W and in the examination of the Az W collection, the students will first develop analyses and then, building on these, develop curatorial concepts for the Az W collection display. In the next step, they will develop theses for spatial models of the exhibition and the architectural design of exhibition displays. A novel collection display for the Az W is the result of the grand design.
The relationship between collection, research and teaching will be examined theoretically on various levels and will serve as a starting point for the exhibition’s curatorial and architectural models. Specific narratives such as Viennese Modernism against the background of Austria’s political history will be addressed in relation to current issues. Through the targeted combination of the heterogeneous levels of collection, research and teaching, in curatorial-architectural terms the exhibition becomes a discipline of interspace: the task of exhibiting is to link different perspectives, receptions and knowledge with one another and thereby to counter the social fragmentation of knowledge with forms of exchange and the relationship between opposing actors and fields.
The design course is conceived as a research-based design project in which approaches from research-led teaching are tested and put into practice: how research can be carried out within the framework of teaching and what leeway for acquisition and interpretation arises from research activities, which can then be used for the development of comprehensive, precise and context-related design projects. Through closer examination, selected examples will be researched with regard to their material and non-material properties and an understanding of creative and technical design principles will be developed and put into practice for one’s own design work.
Dates:
Introduction: Tue. 8.10.19 – 11:30
Az W depot workshop: Tue. 23.10.19
Concept critique: Wed. 6.11.19
Interim critique I: Tue. 10.12.19
Interim critique II: Wed..15.01.20
Final critique: Wed. 11.03.20
The planning meetings take place weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 9:00 and 16:00. The planning meetings are subject to compulsory participation!
Dates subject to change!
