This design studio addresses the big questions of architecture regarding its role in political development. Recent local events, for example “Hypotopia – Die Milliardenstadt am Karlsplatz,” but also international ones, such as “Occupy Wall Street,” show an ever present interest in the ways architecture and its theory can play a role in solving (urban) political and financial problems. At first sight, this does not seem to fit the definition of architecture as an art form, as purely creative expression, but rather that of architecture as part of the social setting people use for their actions and interactions against the background of political and financial development. During the stage of analysis of the studio, we will address this apparent disparity and critically debate possible architectural strategies of tackling political and financial inequalities. This will inform our designs but also our understanding about what architecture may be all about.

The subject of the course is in this case neither to fill a specified architectural site nor to meet the criteria of a given an architectural programme. We will start from a recent development in architectural education, which has been dubbed the “Midwest Mafia of Architecture Schools.” The collaboration between four North American schools, which gave rise to this mob architecture, has been argued to show that “architecture is no longer bound to the canvas – plans and sections – but can be ‘represented’ in sitcoms or Sears-style shopping catalogues.” (Matt Shaw for Domus, 19.02.2013) Consequently, not only the final material product, but each step of the architectural process can be experienced by the public of large. We will not only study these mob strategies during a USA fieldtrip to the schools, which we recommend you sign up for in addition to the design studio (LVA 251.045), but use them to find conceivable architectural forms and mediums of addressing the political and financial inequalities we will debate in the theoretical part of the course. Your final projects will use these strategies to propose architectural approaches to the topic of your choice, to be chosen from a list including (urban) densification, accessibility, gentrification and segregation, temporary land use and use of built space, to list a few.

First meeting: March 5th, 2015, Seminar room @ a-theory