Entwurf einer architektonischen Gebäudelehre
Andreas Lechner
Zurich: Park Books, 2018
German, 492 pages, hardcover
ISBN 978-3-03860-068-8
EUR 58.00

This reworking of Andreas Lechner´s habilitation thesis describes architectural design as a transformation process: from loose existing elements, patterns and precedencies for developing and screening space into new proposals for solid structures in specific places. This happens in two ways: firstly, in the form of drawn typologies delivering explanatory materials as a traditional architectural notation of ideas, i.e. ground plans, sections and elevations of twelve classical architectural projects in the context of twelve public uses – theatre, museum, library, state, office, leisure time, religion, retail trade, factory, education, control and hospital.  Secondly, in three essays that understand design initially as getting acquainted with the bandwidths of aesthetics and logistics as a cultural dimension of construction in which typologies play a key role between empirical observation (inductive real types), theoretical presuppositions (deductive ideal types) and the societal ranking. However, at the centre of this work, which is conceptualised also as an aid for designing and teaching design, does not lie the interest in knowledge and thus the ultimate goal of typologies, i.e. knowledge gain through information reduction. This collection of forms and functions rather intends to draw attention to composition as an aesthetic determination of form that is fed architectonically by architectural “memory lessons” as well as the analysis of specific places. These twelve by twelve drawn projects provide a set of tableaux consisting of forms and programmes that are not only ideally suited for comparison and reference, but also for drawing new connecting lines in design.

Andreas Lechner is an architect and associate professor in the Institute of Design and Building Typology.