Modulverantwortung: Prof. Oliver Dufner
Lehrteam: Prof. Dr. Oliver Dufner, Dr. Marcel Bächtiger, Dipl. Ing. MAS Caroline Ting
Assistierende Arch. Alice Busani

Architecture in Switzerland around 1989 – «forme forte» between Image and Abstraction

This year, interest in getting to the bottom of possible paradigm shifts in architectural history once again constitutes the basis of our research. After an in-depth examination of the architectural discourse in Switzerland and the Netherlands around 1968 over the last two semesters, we will be looking at the architectural debate around 1989 this semester. First and foremost, the fall of the Eastern bloc in 1989, which found its symbolic image in the breaching of the Berlin Wall, represents perhaps a geopolitical event. However, globalisation and ideas such as that of the ‘end of history’ (Francis Fukuyama) or the ‘end of the grand narratives’ (Jean-François Lyotard), which were emerging with the collapse of the Eastern bloc, also acquired a broader cultural significance and found their expression in the practice and theory of architecture in a more or less direct way. The fact that the year 1989 also marks the invention of the World Wide Web may be a historical coincidence, but it points to the parallel development of and close connection between globalisation and digitalisation, the latter being enduringly relevant to architectural production in a way that must not be underestimated.

 Form 

The module serves to teach scientific working methods and concentrated thinking and writing. It offers the opportunity to reflect in writing on one‘s own actions as a designing architect. The aim is to write an independent in-depth thesis relevant to the topic.