Are we architects? - Peter Fattinger

The Faculty of Architecture of the Brno University of Technology, in collaboration with the Architecture Gallery Brno and the Student Council of the Faculty of Architecture, invites you to the lecture “design.build studio: practical social activism in architectural education” by Austrian architect Peter Fattinger, which is part of the lecture series “Are We Architects? On Education, the Architectural Profession, and Institutional Critique”. The event will take place on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 18:00 in lecture room A310 at the Faculty of Architecture, Poříčí 5, Brno. The lecture will be in English.

PETER FATTINGER: design.build studio. PRACTICAL SOCIAL ACTIVISM IN ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION
design.build studio at the Vienna University of Technology offers students a unique opportunity to engage physically in all phases of a real architectural project, from design to realization. Project-based learning methods support immediate learning – within the project, students test practical construction skills, learn much about building techniques and details, budgeting, scheduling, how to face unexpected difficulties, and how to work in a team, collaborating with others. Throughout the projects, students communicate and interact with real clients, future users, local authorities, professors, craftsmen, and suppliers. As a result, students are confronted during the realization phase with the resistance that typically occurs when bringing ideas into reality.
However, the goal of the design.build studio is not only to build architecture, but primarily to enable students to reflect on the quality of their thinking in real conditions and to understand the consequences of their decisions in a broader context. In addition, the studio aims for socially engaged construction projects and encourages students to be active and take civic responsibility. Founded by Peter Fattinger in 2000 at the Institute of Architecture and Design, design.build studio has realized a range of different projects, from temporary installations in urban public spaces to permanent buildings for social institutions in Austria, southern Africa, and Indonesia.
In his lecture, Peter Fattinger will present a selection of various projects from design.build studio and discuss the framework, process, and significance of architectural education.

Peter Fattinger is an architect and educator – he manages the conceptual and project studio Fattinger Orso Architektur in Vienna with his colleague Veronika Orso, where they work at the intersection of architecture, art, and design. Their activities range from designing small objects, interior designs, exhibition design to artistic installations in public spaces, cultural production, and urban interventions, as well as lecturing and teaching. At the Institute of Architecture and Design at the Vienna University of Technology, they lead the design.build studio. Since 2000, they have realized a number of different projects at a 1:1 scale: mobile kiosks, temporary housing for asylum seekers, accessible and usable installations in urban public space, community projects in southern Africa, and conversions on the Indonesian island of Nias. Student teams work on all phases of a real project – from initial design sketches to creating models and detailed drawings, and up to practical involvement in the entire construction process – independently, with full responsibility and consequences. In 2011, Peter Fattinger completed his doctoral studies on the topic "Design-Build-Studio. Conditions, Processes and Potentials of Design-Build-Projects in Architectural Education".

ARE WE ARCHITECTS? ON EDUCATION, THE ARCHITECTURAL PROFESSION, AND INSTITUTIONAL CRITIQUE
In the last fifteen years, architectural education has been subjected to dual pressures. One direction stems from the recalibration of the institutional framework of higher education and is associated with what is sometimes referred to as the "research turn." In response to increasing demands and performance in research, schools of architecture and design have reacted with a vaguely articulated approach called “research by design.” This "evasion" clearly indicates an epistemological divide between architecture and more methodologically grounded scientific disciplines that conduct research without qualifiers. Essentially, a similar problem, this time coming from the outside, is often framed as a theory-practice problem. This direction of critique frequently points to the detachment of architectural education from real problems and the applicability of architectural research to real life. The question of relevance is precisely the acupuncture point that connects doubts about the relationship between academia and architectural practice, and in turn, doubts about the relevance of the architectural profession to contemporary “society.” Thus, what begins as an epistemological question about the nature of architectural teaching and research becomes an ontological question: How do we, as architects, relate to the surrounding world and what role do we want to play in it?

The lecture series “Are We Architects? On Education, the Architectural Profession, and Institutional Critique” is held with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the statutory city of Brno, and the AKTION program.

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