building Environments: Architectural Theory beyond a Changing Climate Event

The ​“building Environments” symposium will address the current state of architectural theory in the context of numerous ecological crises. If theory is what establishes the relationship between what is present and what can be imagined, allowing us to look forward and backward, then it is the task of architectural theory to consider what remains constant and what changes in the discipline as it addresses current challenges. ​“building Environments” asks the participants to think about how environmental issues impact, affect, and shift theoretical work on architecture, landscape and design. 
The symposium will be organized around three conversation topics: ​“Design of Environments,” ​“Pedagogy in Action,” and ​“Exhibition as Media,” based on the work of the participants, Maria Auböck, Ingrid Halland, Elisa Iturbe, Ana María León, Catherine Mosbach, Tatjana Schneider, and Michael Wang. 

The conversations will draw connections between architectural theory and environmental issues, highlighting ways to consider architecture in relation to climate, energy, extraction, land, and production. The environmental lens on theory provides ways to encompass all elements of building activities, allowing for connections to be made across a wide range of scales, from that of a building detail to those of entire landscapes and cities. It also urges us to consider the representation of the environment in architecture, bringing into view the limits and entanglements of the discipline, drawing new affinities, producing knowledge and advancing the discipline. 

The symposium will be convened by Tülay Atak from the Department of Theory of Architecture, Institute of Architecture, and the conversations will be moderated by Brigitte Felderer, Sam Jacob, Baerbel Mueller, and Lina Steeruwitz. 
In conjunction with the symposium, the exhibition, ​“Energy at the Threshold of the Visible World,” which brings together historical visualizations of energy along with contemporary works on images and representations of energy, will be opening at AIL – Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab, Georg-Coch-Platz 2, 1010 Wien. 

Participants: Maria Auböck (Auböck + Kárász Landscape Architects, Vienna), Brigitte Felderer (University of Applied Arts, Vienna), Ingrid Halland (AHO, Oslo), Elisa Iturbe (The Cooper Union, New York), Sam Jacob (University of Applied Arts, Vienna), Ana María León (GSD, Harvard, Cambridge), Catherine Mosbach (Mosbach Paysagistes, Paris), Baerbel Mueller (University of Applied Arts, Vienna), Tatjana Schneider (GTAS, TU Braunschweig), Lina Steeruwitz (StudioVlaySteeruwitz, Vienna), and Michael Wang (New York).

Organized by: Tülay Atak (University of Applied Arts, Vienna)

10:00 / Welcome
Petra Schaper Rinkel 

10:10 / Introduction
Tülay Atak

10:30 – 12:20 / Design of Environments 
Catherine Mosbach and Maria Auböck in conversation 
Moderator: Lina Steeruwitz 

13:00 – 14:50 / Pedagogy in Action
Ana María León
Tatjana Schneider
Moderator: Sam Jacob

15:10 – 17:00 / Exhibition as Media
Elisa Iturbe 
Ingrid Halland 
Moderator: Brigitte Felderer 

17:30 @ Postsparkasse / Keynote: Constructing Climates 
Michael Wang
Response: Baerbel Mueller 

19:00 / Reception and exhibition opening
Energy at the Threshold of the Visible World