After successful completion of the course, students are able to understand the complex processes of a design task from the field of architecture and, by developing independent solutions, to apply these processes in their own design, structured in clearly arranged stages.
For many decades, Vienna was characterised by handicrafts in the production of goods for general use. Especially in the suburbs, commercial clusters of workshops and factories formed, which also influenced the city’s architecture. Thus, for example, the planned commercial districts around Spittelberg, Neustift, Neubau, Schottenfeld and the Fünfhaus complex were created. (cf. Bobek, Lichtenthaler 1966: 264f.) Above all, the factories with exposed brickwork still determine the cityscape today. Many of these buildings have been given new, often cultural uses in recent years. This craft culture and the specific knowledge of how to handle and process a wide variety of materials has been preserved until today in Vienna with its rich past of the craft tradition. However, especially in the age of increased mass production, a new awareness is needed to strengthen sustainable, quality-oriented and regional production and thus promote a functionally mixed urban development.
Material culture has its meaning because people can learn about themselves through the things they make. If we learn to understand how things are made, we are more likely to be able to make material life more humane.
Craft skills refer to a basic human aspiration: the desire to do a job well for its own sake. This applies not only to craftspeople, but also to a whole range of other professions (doctors, software developers, architects etc.).
The aim of the design task is to present the qualities of craft skills and ways of working and lost knowledge of materials in a unique, didactically exciting place of learning and research, in a comprehensible and communicative form.
A material archive, as a store of information and knowledge, in a motivating environment, supports interested as well as professionally qualified people in enriching their knowledge.
Based on the analysis of the theme (workshop – craft work as performance) and the location (Vienna, an old factory building), concepts for the themes of exhibiting and presenting are developed. These will be further developed through precise spatial refinements to support the design.
First meeting and organisational introduction on Thursday 5.03.2020 at 13:00 in Projektraum 4
Registrations with a portfolio will be preferred!
Research and analysis as group work.
Project development – individual work!
A detailed semester schedule with all supervision times can be found under Documents in the TISS.
The beginning of the design process starts with short tasks, accompanying talks, basic analyses and in-depth workshops. The design will mainly be developed based on the model starting at the planning scale leading all the way to the detailed scale. The design will be introduced in the form of plans and presentational models. A final digital documentation completes the task.
