After successful completion of the course, students are able to understand their individual architectural projects as part of two broader considerations. First, students' design of a contemporary mosque must build on the accumulated knowledge of centuries of design of Islamic architecture. Second, the situation of the mosque into an urban site as challenging (and exciting) as Karlsplatz will ask students to consider their insertion as one single element in a complex and demanding network of the Ring and of Vienna as a city as a whole.

This studio will situate the design of a mosque within the chair of Gestaltungslehre's broader investigation into the Ringstraße, through the lens of the historic Glacis.

Already home to Karlskirche and the TU, Karlsplatz has a long history of realized and unrealized urban transformation projects. As the nexus of several different programs with an already complex organization and geometry, Karlsplatz will bring productive friction with the formal and functional requirements of a mosque. The methodology will begin with historical precedent studies of mosques to understand the transformation of this type over time. Then, the studio will move into the design of a new mosque that will serve not only as a place to pray and gather but also as a significant representative building for the Muslim community of Vienna.

The studio will commence with a typological investigation of historic precedents of the mosque. This study will give us an understanding of the formal and programmatic requirements of the mosque, and how it has evolved over its long history. 

This architectural study will run parallel to a consideration of the urban figure of the Ring in general and Karlsplatz more specifically. 

Armed with an understanding of one small piece (the mosque) and the broader puzzle (Karlsplatz in the Ring), students will proceed through the design of a building, with a corresponding site and urban strategy, that is appropriate for Vienna's Muslim community as well as the city at large.

The studio will focus on drawing and model-making, both individually and in groups, to create compelling representations of a new future for this site.

The studio will be taught with instruction in English. Weekly design meetings will allow progressive assessment of historical plan studies as well as the development of students' own design projects.

The main evaluations will take the form of critiques, where drawings, models, and photography representation will be assessed for their presentation of a clear and compelling design