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[SoSe 2026] Modernism(s) in Modernity – Part 02

Modernism formulates a critique of modernity – in its respective current states – initially, around the turn to the 20th century, in relation to rapid structural changes, urbanization and industrialization on the one hand, and Traditionalism and Historicism on the other. From its early beginnings this critique focused on socio-cultural reform ideas that demanded better living and working conditions, social justice, emancipation, and democratization – one could say, an »appropriation« of the societal and industrial modernization in the sense of Humanism – but also faced ambivalent tendencies of radical admiration and acceleration.
Within and after WWII, and in a world divided between East and West, this critique was confronted with heterogenous and antithetical agendas and backlashes, causing an interrelation of geopolitical and cultural »convergences and divergences«, in the face of different interpretations of modernity – not least pointed out in the juxtaposition of »Modernity vs. Postmodernity« (Habermas, 1980/1981). For these reasons, and especially in Central Europe, the outcomes and perceptions of a transnational genesis have been dominated by these »waves« and the dichotomy between East and West and between »peripheries and centers«.

 

The »Modernism Seminar – Part 02« in summer semester 2026 continues the series of seminars on Modernism by addressing these »convergences and divergences« and especially the »Grand Debates« of Modernism – by lesser-known and supposedly well-known approaches and examples, in the international view.
And again, the seminar emphasizes the question how the understanding and examination of Modernism – and architectural theory in general – are curial and productive for the creation of architecture and urban design.


Throughout summer 2026, the seminar will be connected in cooperation with the »ETOM – European Triennial of Modernism« and the »ETOM NEB Lab«, in the framework of the »NEB – New European Bauhaus«, in context of the preparation and exchange for the »Modernism revisited 2026 ETOM-Milestone-Conference« as part of the »Trencin 2026 – European Capital of Culture«, including external lectures and guest lecturers.

[SoSe 2026] Open Types, Open Morphologies: re-imagining Berlin with its unbuilt pasts

Open Types, Open Morphologies: re-imagining Berlin with its unbuilt pasts

 

This course explores alternative pasts of Berlin through unbuilt architecture/urban competition entries, analogous to Roma Interrotta, it produces visionary future images of Berlin on its unbuilt past.

The research primarily is threefold: first, the typo-morphological analysis of the Berliner unbuilt projects since 1990s, and their variations, not only for their formal aspects but also their cultural, social and political roles; second, the analysis of specific selected typologies and modes of transformations, investigating the methods and tools/elements of transformation such as the relation with the ground, sky, edges, and program; and third, the investigation of a broader view of Berlin’s contemporary culture of civic spaces via reimagining the future with the past images, in between private and public, individual and collective, and exterior/void and interior/solid. 

On the pedagogical front, the course consists of three main steps: introductory lectures/seminars, case study selection/study and fieldwork/site visits, and analysis and representation phase (postcards from alternative pasts), with an expected outcome of a collective catalogue of Berlin’s unbuilt future, still alive within today’s fixed reality.

[SoSe 2026] SEAM CITY | Assemblages, Interfaces, Atmospheres

SEAM CITY | Assemblages, Interfaces, Atmospheres

Seminar Description

Berlin can be approached as a city composed less of continuity than of seams: Places where distinct urban fabrics meet, overlap, clash, or remain unresolved. These urban thresholds are not merely lines on a map but spatial situations where form, movement, and senses are negotiated. The seminar uses the notion of stitching to critically examine how Berlin’s urban environments are assembled through technical systems, historical layers, and everyday practices, producing interfaces that are at once material and perceptual.

Through guided readings and on-site investigations, students will explore selected “stitching” conditions across the city, in relation to political and environmental regimes, technological infrastructures, and scientific paradigms. We will investigate how technology and aesthetics co-constitute environmental assemblages by drawing on Simondon's concept of techno-aestheticism, which provides a framework for understanding how technical objects and infrastructures participate in shaping sensorial experiences and urban form.

Peter Sloterdijk's atmospheric politics will be central to our inquiry, considering how atmospheric, material, and technological enclosures form and shape Berlin's landscapes. Galison’s work on objectivity will inform a critical view of how scientific and technological models construct what counts as a boundary, a connection, or a field of influence. Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of assemblage and deterritorialization will allow us to interpret stitched conditions as processes rather than static edges, foregrounding the tension between control, resistance, and improvisation in the production of urban space.

[SoSe 2026] Architecture Inside Out—On Interior Design - Berlin as a Case Study and Research Laboratory

Architecture Inside Out—On Interior Design

Berlin as a Case Study and Research Laboratory        

“Outside and inside form a dialectic of division,” writes the French Philosopher Gaston Bachelard. In the seminar we shall examine the interior spaces as a theoretical and physical space. One of the particularities of designing interior spaces is that the architect operates within a given space that is usually predefined by the building envelope and various elements related to the building’s systems like the structural frame, electrical wiring, water, and other infrastructures. In the seminar, we will review a number of case studies of diverse typologies of buildings, by way of walking tours around the city of Berlin. We will try to expand our professional toolbox, for different strategies of intervening in interior spaces, by analyzing and studying the phenomena that materialize within these spaces.

[SoSe 2026] Time and Architecture

[SoSe 2026] Lateinamerikanische Architektur: Moderne Architektur in Peru

Lateinamerikanische Architektur: Moderne Architektur in Peru


Sprache:                     Deutsch, englisch
Teilnehmer*innen:     20
Ort:                             A 201a
Beginn:                       22. April 2026
Zeit:                            Mittwoch 14:00 – 16:00 Uhr

Im 20. Jahrhundert hat die moderne Architektur die Theorie und die architektonische Praxis weltweit ziemlich verändert. In Peru wurden diese Ideen von Architekt:innen eingeführt und diskutiert, die die Prinzipien der internationalen Moderne in einem lokalen kulturellen und städtischen Kontext neu interpretieren wollten. Wenn man sich diese Diskussionen heute noch einmal ansieht, kann man besser verstehen, wie globale Architekturideen angepasst und unter bestimmten regionalen Bedingungen umgesetzt werden.

Das Seminar wird diese theoretischen Debatten durch die Lektüre ausgewählter Texte und durch die Identifizierung zentraler formaler Prinzipien der modernen Architektur untersuchen. Die Studierenden werden analysieren, wie diese Prinzipien im peruanischen Kontext interpretiert wurden, und sie als analytische Werkzeuge verwenden, um ausgewählte Beispiele der modernen Architektur in Peru zu analysieren. Auf diese Weise wird sichtbar, wie sich die moderne Architekturtheorie, international wie in ihrer peruanischen Neuinterpretation, auf die Praxis des architektonischen Entwerfens auswirkt.

Ziel des Seminars ist es, den Studierenden eine strukturierte Methode zur Analyse der modernen Architektur zu vermitteln und gleichzeitig ein kritisches Verständnis für die Beziehung zwischen dem internationalen Architekturdiskurs und seinen lokalen Neuinterpretationen zu fördern.

[SoSe 2026] Styles Are (not) a Lie: Rethinking Style in Contemporary Architecture

Styles Are (not) a Lie: Rethinking Style in Contemporary Architecture

Sprache:                     Englisch
Teilnehmer*innen:     20
Ort:                             A 201a
Beginn:                       20 April 2026
Zeit:                            Montag 10:00 – 12:00 Uhr

Style in architecture is a broad and complex subject that has developed throughout human history. Since ancient times, architects and artists have used different styles to express their ideas and emotions and to reflect the cultural and social characteristics of their era. However, despite its significant role in architectural discourse, style has also been the subject of increasing skepticism. Its difficulty to be clearly defined, together with the diversity of contemporary architectural practices, has led many to question whether the concept remains useful today.

Throughout the twentieth century, architectural debates repeatedly challenged the relevance of style. Attempts to distance architecture from inherited stylistic traditions even produced provocative claims that “styles are a lie,”1 reflecting a broader effort to rethink architecture in relation to the technical, cultural, and productive conditions of its time. In recent decades, the proliferation of digital design tools and the growing plurality of architectural approaches have further complicated the question. This raises a central issue for the seminar: can contemporary architecture still be described in terms of style?

This seminar invites students to debate the contemporary relevance of style in architecture through a series of readings, discussions, and case studies. By examining different interpretations of style and contrasting positions within architectural discourse, the course explores whether style remains a meaningful concept for understanding architecture today.

1 Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. Dover Publications, 1986.

[SoSe 2026] Fragen an die Zeit. Architekturtheorie heute

Fragen an unsere Zeit. Architekturtheorie heute

Das Seminar bereitet die Tagung Questions to our Time. Architecture Theory Today vor, die das Fachgebiet Architekturtheorie zusammen mit dem UAA (Ungers Archiv für Architekturwissenschaften) für den 3. Juli organisiert. Anlass ist der 100. Geburtstag von O. M. Ungers, der als Professor der TU Berlin 1967 die erste internationale Konferenz zur Architekturtheorie organisiert hat. Vorbereitend auf die Tagung werden wir uns mit O. M. Ungers und den Beiträgen der anderen Teilnehmer von 1967 beschäftigen. Die Hälfte des Seminars dient der Vorbereitung und Betreuung der Tagung am 3. Juli.

Dienstag, 18.00-20.00 Uhr

[SoSe 2026] Einführung in die Ästhetik III

Einführung in die Ästhetik III

Das Seminar ist als Vorlesungsreihe und Fortführung des Themas aus den vergangenen Semestern konzipiert. Es werden aber keine besonderen Kenntnisse vorausgesetzt. Behandelt werden Themen der klassischen Ästhetik des 20. Jahrhundert wie auch der Ästhetik der Nachhaltigkeit an. Man könnte einfach sagen, dass nur was schön ist, auch nachhaltig sein kann. Das ist einerseits richtig, andererseits aber eine grobe Verkürzung des Begriffes Ästhetik. Ästhetik hat nur einerseits etwas mit Schönheit zu tun, klassischerweise ist sie definiert als die Wissenschaft von der sinnlichen Erkenntnis. Das ändert sehr viel. Es stellt sich aber sofort eine weitere Frage: Was versteht man unter sinnlicher Erkenntnis? Hier will das Seminar anknüpfen.

Dienstag 16.00-18.00 Uhr
Ort: A 409

 

[SoSe 2026] Architekturtheorie II