The Making of... Architectural Theory

Lecture by Nicole Stoecklmayr

The lecture focuses on the materiality of the wall by presenting and exploring some pivotal scenes from BBC’s television series “Sherlock” (2010-present).
In particular, it analyses how different types of walls not only serve as a background for the episodes’ scenes, but also have an agency and are directly involved in action and interaction within the visual, auditory, and spatial narrative. The fundamental question behind the examination of the particular material qualities of the wall as a building element and as part of the film plot is how we can deal with theory and discuss architecture as a cultural production today. The documentation of the construction process (research, writing, and rendering) of an essay on walls will be part of this presentation on the making of architectural theory.

Nicole Stoecklmayr is a writer and lecturer in history & theory of architecture, media studies, and design. She holds a Ph.D. in cultural studies from the University of Applied Arts Vienna where she also graduated with a degree in architecture. Her research and publications focus on mediums of architecture (e.g. drawings, models, buildings, computer simulations) as well as architecture in media (e.g. movies, TV shows, games). She was Research Associate at MECS Institute for Advanced Study on Media Cultures of Computer Simulation, Research Fellow at IKKM Internationales Kolleg für Kulturtechnikforschung und Medienphilosophie, and taught at Leuphana University of Lüneburg and Bauhaus-University Weimar. In addition to her academic work, she also runs scenesofarchitecture.com, a blog dedicated to the architectural in movies, television series, and games.