We build this City... Yes, it´s us (all) - PPAG / Anna Popelka

Lecture of PPAG architects, Vienna
in the context of the lecture series “We built this City” at the Institute for Art and Architecture Summerterm 2009.

In connection with an urban dimension it is often said that the problems lie beyond the possibilities of the single person. We tend to think that we are powerless, on the other hand we take the qualities of a city for granted. We, PPAG, think, that we all have possibilities to contribute, to influence, as architects and as citizens. We think it is not only possible to take responsibility, it is even a duty. We try to make that position clear in the lecture by showing our big scale projects like WAP / Wohnen am Park with 275 flats, EU6 / Europan-Fickeysstrasse, as well as small projects, e.g. the effect of the MQ furniture project on the city context, and, from a very personal point, our own living and workingspace. Alongside we will explain some of the methods which we are constantly inventing and applying.

PPAG is a practice based in Vienna led by Anna Popelka and Georg Poduschka. PPAG works in different disciplines and dimensions of architecture, from furniture design to urban planning, intentionally not spezialised. We are committed to research and progress in architecture and we believe in the importance of personal experiences as influence of our work. ->

The lecture will be held by Anna Popelka.

About the Lecture Series:

WE BUILT THIS CITY…

Architects build Cities, how?
Can we reduce the city as simply a collection of buildings, or do we need to distinguish between architecture and urbanism?
How can we ignore one if we are conceiving the other?
Is the city a system of buildings or is it a complex system, which allows for buildings to be arranged in an orderly or chaotic manner?
Some cities are more desirable to live in than others, why?
Some cities are more expensive t han others, why? | Some cities are easier to get around, why?
Some cities are models for others, why?
Some cities are greener than others, why?
Some cities are dormitories, why?
Some cities are struggling with their glorious past, why?
Some cities are grounds for experiments, why?
Some cities are divided by war, why?
Some cities are automobile cities, why?
Some cities are exploited by politics, why?
Some cities are more public than others, why?
Some cities are…

The lecture series 08/09 will explore the question of urbanity, and what makes the city of the 21st century a ground for another urbanism: We will debate the future possibilities of the metropolis. If Manhattan was the model of a retroactive manifesto, what could be the future of our urban living? And who is to build it?