Verena Hartbaum (University of Stuttgart; PhD at TU Munich):
DER INSZENIERTE KONSENS. ARCHITEKTURTHEORETISCHE UNTERSUCHUNG ZUR KULTURELLEN HEGEMONIE IN DER BERLINER REPUBLIK
Im Dissertationsvorhaben soll das Normierungen verarbeitende und Normalität produzierende gesellschaftliche Kräftespiel der Architektur unter dem Begriff des Konsenses gefasst werden. Als politisches Werkzeug jedoch wird ein gesellschaftlicher Konsens oftmals nur inszeniert, um ohne großen Aufwand und ohne großen Gegenwind die kulturelle Hegemonie für sich und sein Vorhaben zu beanspruchen. Architektur, sowohl als Handlung als auch als gebautes Objekt spielt hierbei mitunter eine tragende Rolle: 1.) als gebautes Objekt ist sie das Produkt einer Vielzahl an Prozessen und Regulierungen die alle eigens dafür eingerichtet wurden um Konflikte oder Kontroversen zu verhindern. Und, 2.) als Handlung hat Architektur einen großen Einfluss darauf, was Menschen unter „kultureller Normalität“ verstehen.
Da einer sowohl kulturell-hegemonial als auch politisch-administrativ geprägten Konsenskultur die Konstruktion eines Kulturkonsenses voranstehen muss, bewegt sich das Dissertationsvorhaben methodisch sowohl auf einer empirisch-analytischen als auch auf einer verfahrens- und gesellschaftstheoretischen Ebene. Verfahrenstheoretisch wird die Rolle der Institution nachvollzogen. Ein näherer Blick auf den Ort der Entstehung von Konsens erfolgt daraufhin über die empirische Analyse: Gibt es – im kulturpolitischen Bereich – gar Institutionen deren zentrale Bestimmung in der Konsensbildung liegt?
Grundlegendes zum Phänomen des Konsenses soll über thematische Zugänge aus der soziologischen und politikwissenschaftlichen Forschung gefunden werden. Darauf aufbauend soll die Frage, wann und wie welches Konsensmodell entsteht und unter welchen Voraussetzungen, Zielen und Prämissen es zum Tragen kommt eingehend erörtert werden.
Prof. Dipl. Ing. Adina Hempel (Zayed University, Dubai; PhD at University of Stuttgart):
THE MAJLIS – PARTICIPATORY URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE ARAB WORLD (WORKING TITLE)
The majlis is a common space in most domestic architecture across the Middle East North Africa (Mena) region and also often referred to as diwaneeyah, madafa or mudhif. A space mainly known as male reception room to guests of the house owner, the majlis evokes the most prominent picture of ‘Arabia’ and orientalist interpretations: a grand room filled with men casually sipping coffee, while sitting relaxed on patterned cushions placed along the edge in u-shape. However, the majlis is more than simply a reception room to a family house, it holds an important social, cultural and political role in the Arab world. As the public interface in a mostly domestic setting, the majlis encourages the participation of community in affairs of the neighborhood, city or state, simply through an open-door policy. The majlis serves as space for dialogue between community members and nation leaders. The late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, founding president of the UAE, held regular majlis gatherings and brought together experts, advisors, community and family members to consult on matters of current development and future progress. While in most western nations the parliament, as elected body and representative of the society, guides the governance of the country, in the Arab world - specifically so in the Gulf Arab countries - the majlis aids in the decision-making process as consultative council through its participatory approach and inclusive nature. Referred to as “the very foundation for planning cities, architecture and communities” by Salem Al Moosa, former resident of Dubai Heritage District, the majlis functions as urban typology, that extends the public into the private domain in Arab cities.
Dasha Kuletskaya, M.Sc. (RWTH Aachen; PhD at University of Stuttgart):
THE POLITICS OF HOUSING: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MINSK AND BELGRADE IN THEIR TRANSITION FROM SOCIALIST TO CAPITALIST ECONOMY (FROM 1945 TILL PRESENT; WORKING TITLE)
Since the period of industrialization and following urbanization housing for broad population became a realm of professional architectural praxis. In the socialist countries like Yugoslavia and Soviet Union it was a crucial part of the political agenda and an ideological instrument. Planning and construction institutions as well as legislative system were developed in those countries for the realization of ambitious programs for provision of
decent housing reflecting the socialist standards for „existential minimum“ for the whole population. As the countries fell apart in the early 90s, so perished also their housing programs. Privatization of state planning and construction enterprises as well as of the housing stock was realized using different scenarios and didn’t always run smooth. The
transition to the free-market economy was followed ubiquitously by the significant rise of inequality and social injustice. Present research aims through the comparative analysis of the cases of Minsk and Belgrade to investigate the mechanisms, strategies and preliminary outcomes of the not yet accomplished transition to the neoliberal economy in the realm of housing.
Uta Leconte, M.A. (PhD at TU Munich):
WORLD TRADE CENTERNESS. REPERCUSSIONS OF THE TWIN TOWERS
Almost 18 years after their destruction, the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York remain one of the most iconic building symbolizing world trade. This research investigates the interrelation between the Twin Tower buildings and the global organisation of the World Trade Centers Association, a spin-off from the Twin Towers’ original development organisation. By describing the phenomenon of ‚World Trade Centerness‘, it refers to the representation of world trade by the World Trade Center Twin Towers and their instrumentalization by the World Trade Centers Association. In an effort to multiply the effect of Worlds Trade Centerness, the World Trade Centers Association has, throughout the past decades, developed hundreds of World Trade Center buildings worldwide under their license. This research argues, that the Twin Tower buildings represent not only global trade, but the global system itself, and takes the timely coincidence of the economic paradigm shift in the early 1970s and the completion of the World Trade Center Twin Towers as support. It further claims that this phenomenon is being utilized by the World Trade Centers Association, thus providing an example of how the global system and its organisations interrelate by constructing and utilizing narratives to stabilize an economically unstable system. It is the objective of this research, to describe, analyze and contextualize the interrelation of building, global organization and the phenomenon of World Trade Centerness and, by synthesizing these findings, to identify and describe elements of World Trade Centerness.
Dipl. Ing. Elena Markus (PhD at TU Munich):
ANALOGUE ARCHITECTURE 1983-1987: (DIRTY) REALISM
Political protests or calls for social change were rare in Switzerland before the youth protests in Zurich, a protest movement of the post-punk generation beginning around 1980. Its rebellious spirit also affected a young generation of Swiss architects, and in particular, a group of students and young architects at the ETH studio led by Fabio Reinhart, Luca Ortelli and Miroslav Sik. Their teaching approach, latterly called Analogue Architecture, was represented by large-scale crayon perspective drawings; with the travelling exhibition of the same name, for a short time the images enjoyed much resonance within the European architectural discourse.
From today's point of view the "post-punk spirit" of Analogue Architecture should be considered in the meta-context of dirty realism, a concept defined by Bill Buford in 1983 in relation to the then-new American literature which was seen as not being "heroic or grand" but rather referring to "the belly-side of contemporary life." Only a few years later Liane Lefaivre applied the concept to the built examples of renowned architects and Josep Lluís Mateo to the cinematic art and urban environment. Dirty realism appeared to be a response to the demand for an objective reproduction of reality in the 1980s instead of idealistic architecture concepts of the previous decade.
Similar to the literary representation of dirty realism, achieved through the conceptualization of everyday life in the form of artificially constructed everyday language, the Analogue Architecture images represented a particular architectural concept visualizing the fragile dirty reality of post-industrial society, taking into consideration the unique urban reality of Switzerland. The oppressive photorealistic cityscapes with oddly backward-looking buildings were considered by the proponents as exercices de style, in which a wide range of "difficult" image references – such as reform architectures, Biedermeier or Nordic Classicism as well as everyday structures and popular culture images – were assembled and transformed into a hybrid of complex configurations. The Analogue drawings not only differed from ordinary architectural design, but also from the common modern and postmodern types and forms. Thus they demonstrated a critical architectural practice: an "estranged" architectural universe as critique of the "depthlessness" of postmodern architectural structures.
Martin Murrenhoff (TU Berlin; PhD at TU Munich):
DIE TIEFE STADT. ARCHITEKTUR- UND INFRASTRUKTURGENESE IN PARIS UND MÜNCHEN. EINE MODERNISIERUNGSGESCHICHTE
Die „historischen“ Zentren europäischer Städte unterliegen im Verlauf des 20. Jahrhunderts einer weitestgehend unsichtbaren Transformation. Im Querschnitt betrachtet zeigen sich ihre Anlagen als nahtloser Zusammenschluss historischer und moderner Strukturen. Unterirdische Infrastrukturen – Bahnhöfe des Nah- und Fernverkehrs, Parkhäuser, technische Anlagen zur Ver- und Entsorgung und weit vernetzte Untergrundpassagen – gehen eine vielschichtige Verbindung mit der historischen Substanz ein. Das Dissertationsprojekt untersucht, wie die hybriden Komplexe entstanden sind und wie sich die historische Stadt im Zuge ihrer Entwicklung veränderte. Die These ist, dass die moderne die historische Stadt unterwandert hat. Unter dem Einfluss restriktiver Baugesetzgebung führten Wachstums- und Modernisierungsprozesse zu einer weitgehend unbemerkten, inwendigen Expansion architektonischer wie infrastruktureller Dimensionen, und damit zu einer tiefgreifenden Veränderung der Zentren. Die Arbeit verfolgt diese allgegenwärtige, bisher jedoch weitgehend undokumentierte, Entwicklung vergleichend am Beispiel der Städte Paris und München. Während Architektur- und Städtebaudiskurs sich in der Regel mit dem Hochbau befassen, geht es im hier vorgestellten Promotionsvorhaben um die Beziehung von Stadt, Architektur und Infrastruktur, das Verhältnis von Gestaltungs- zu Ingenieurdisziplinen, die Dimension des Unsichtbaren und letztlich um die Verhandlung von Bewahrung und Veränderung.
Zsuzsanna Stánitz, M.A. (University of Stuttgart; PhD at TU Munich):
An Architectural Cross-selling Business: The Case of OMA/AMO
The argument of the thesis is that the foundation of AMO - OMA´s research agency - signals a trend for the future operation of architectural practices. It was established in a climate (1990s) when not only the disciplinary boundaries of architecture were questioned, but when the notion of immaterial labor (Lazzarato) and the economic category of the creative industries started to become topics of discussions. Architecture as a discipline has started to engage with these discussions only in the last decade though, as the publications “Spatial Agency” (2011); “Future Practice” (2012); “The Other Architect” (2015) or “The Architect as Worker” (2015) suggest.
AMO represents itself as an agency with the expertise of branding, marketing, research, exhibition design and policy making. All this doesn’t only create a new identity for the office, but more importantly, through entering these new terrains, it brings in new clientele and throughout, new commissions beyond the conventional architectural brief. If OMA´s aim is to re-balance its operation and throughout, its profit by 50% OMA and 50% AMO commissions, what does it say about the future of architectural practice?