After successful completion of the course, students are able to develop scientific questions at the intersection of architecture and instersectionality and elaborate them with appropriate methods. This praparation for basic research and artistic research will be demonstrated with a seminar work of 40,000 characters. 

Inclusive Architectures

„… major axes of social divisions in a given society at a given time, for example, race, class, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, and age operate not as discrete and mutually exclusive entities, but build on each other and work together.” (Hill Collins and Bilge, Intersectionality, 2016, p. 4)

How can architecture create inclusive spaces? How can we think them beyond cateories of male / female, of national connotations and further exclusive categories? 

Photo: Intersektionales Stadthaus (GABU Heindl Architektur, Verein für die Barrierefreiheit in der Kunst, im Alltag, im Denken)  @  GABU Heindl Architektur

We will discuss these questions with intersectional consideration of architecture and space since simplified questions of gender or class or ethnicity explain only limited facets of changing spaces within the complexities of capitalist exploitation. Just on the contrary, this seminar suggests an innovative gender account for understanding and describing architecture. Through an intersectional lens we will follow built and lived projects and thus not only consider intersectionality as a tool for analysis, but furthermore as active instrument for the production of space and knowledge. Thus we will create a socpe of opportunities to discuss architectures. Intersectional feminist theories and methods will in this seminar be discussed mainly at the intersections of feminism and migration. For sure, we will move from either-or-questions to the including and. 

We will mainly deal with three concepts: (1) Submerged perspectives by Macarena Gomez-Barris from the year 2017, (2) feminisms without borders according to Chandra T. Mohanty, published in 2003, and (3) Rosi Braidotti's nomadic subjects, first published in 1994 and crucial for the feminist discussion of architecture. 

With these concepts we will be able to sense the (missing) inclusivity of spaces and planning and deliver comprehensive descriptions of architectures with their help.  

The conference "Claiming Spaces", November 14 and 15 will be joined collectively and discussed afterwards. 

Excursion 1: Que[e]rbau Seestadt Aspern with Arch. Roland Hampl (a-plus architekten) 
Exkursion 2: Schlor with Arch. Gabu Heindl 

The seminar is based on affirmative pedagogics (according to Rosi Braidotti). 

The main elements are text, book and lecture discussions, excursions, discursive development of individual interrogation, which also involves methods of drawing. Workshops will allow us to practice the handling of scientific sources, good scientific practice and writing abstracts. Individual meetings are possible if necessary. 

Exact dates will be announced at the first meeting. 

 Presence, active participation in the seminar and elaboration of an individual seminar work of about 40,000 characters. 

Each seminar requires reading text in advance. Texts will be provided at least one weak before the text discussion (uploaded in TISS). 

Main course literature:  

Braidotti, Rosi. 2011. nomadic subjects. Columbia: Columbia University Press. 

Mohanty, Chandra T. 2003. Feminism Without Borders. Durham and London: Duke University Press. 

Gomez-Barris, Macarena. 2017. The Extractive Zone. Durham: Duke University Press. 
 

 We will read texts in English and hope that you are interested in inclusive architectures.