Since its founding in 1967, IGmA has applied a context-based reflection as a teaching method for students in the fields of architecture, theory, politics, economics and society - and since then has influenced not only the thinking of many theoreticians, but also the design approach of countless architects.
Since 01 April 2018 Prof. Dr. Stephan Trüby is in charge of IGmA. With his new team, he continues the tradition of the institute and determines new research directions such as the economics and politics of architecture as well as elements and synthesis of architectural space
Architecture and Cultural Theory
Architecture is perhaps the most complex cultural technique humanity has produced. Nowhere else - neither in literature nor in the theater or in the fine arts - are economic, technical, scientific, artistic, legal, media, religious and political interests as integral as in the case of building and architectural planning.
Even a glance at the history of architecture shows that buildings are also to be seen in the context of cultural (national, regional etc.) differences as well as in the context of transmission processes. They are the result of cultural evolution, which can’t be traced back to distinct individuals (heroes of architectural history, etc.), and owe their existence to a complex mix of economic, political, material and stylistic factors, traditions, craftsmanship rules, software frameworks, etc.
All of this is on the agenda of an architectural theory understood as cultural theory that does not want to indulge in subjectivist illusions. At the same time, architectural theory - as well as subject-oriented design theory - is not only interested in what happened in the past and what is happening right now, but also how things should be; and this not only in the sense of desirable artifacts, but also in the sense of a desirable society.