Ringvorlesung Architectural Research 2021/22

Martino Tattara is a practicing architect and Associate Professor at KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture. After studying in Venice and Rotterdam, he obtained a PhD in Urbanism at the Università luav di Venezia with a dissertation centered on Lucio Costa's project for Brasilia. His writings and projects have appeared in many journals and magazines. Together with Dogma, the architectural practice he co-founded with Pier Vittorio Aureli, he is working on a research by design trajectory that focuses on domestic space and its potential for transformation. In the last years, Dogma has exhibited studies and projects at different venues, among which the HKW Berlin 2015, the Chicago Architectural Biennial 2017, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2019, the Seoul Architectural Biennial 2019 and the Venice Biennale 2021 and has published The Room of One´s Own (2017); Loveless: The Minimum Dwelling and its Discontents (2019) and Platforms (2021). A forthcoming book titled Living and Working is currently under preparation and will be released in 2022. 

Anne Femmer and Florian Summa are both architects and Professors for Integral Architecture at Graz University of Technology. They founded their Leipzig based office summacumfemmer in 2015, aiming to explore the (critical) potential of architecture in its entire diversity. Recently the office finished the cooperative housing scheme „San Riemo" in Munich, which pushes the conventional boundaries of individual and collective living. summacumfemmer received various awards and recognitions including the Bauwelt Prize 2017 and a Nomination for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2022. In their teaching and research Anne and Florian focus on new ways of combining intellectual thinking and quite dusty handcraft within the architectural design process.

Alex Lehnerer is an architect and teacher. Before his appointment as Professor in Graz, he was Assistant Professor at the ETH Zurich and at the School of Architecture in Chicago. He designed the German Pavilion in Venice in 2014; his books include Grand Urban Rules (NAi010 2009/2014), The Western Town (Hatje Cantz, 2013), and Bungalow Germania (Hatje Cantz, 2014). He holds a doctorate from the ETH Zurich, a master's degree from UCLA in Los Angeles, and a diploma from TU Berlin. His architectural office Alex Lehnerer Architekten is located in Zurich and Erlangen.

Martin Knight is the Founding Director of Knight Architects, an extraordinary architectural studio recognised internationally for its design of bridges and civil infrastructure. Since 2006 his award-winning practice has built more than fifty bridges in the UK and internationally. Their approach to design has been hailed as exemplary by government bodies including the National Infrastructure Commission and the Design Council in the UK and Bundesstiftung Baukultur in Germany. Martin believes that excellent architectural design serves communities daily; improving quality of life and bringing people together; driving economies and helping to define a sense of place. Yet infrastructure also contributes to climate breakdown and biodiversity loss, and transformational leadership is required to reverse these damaging trends. He has always promoted interdisciplinary discourse, especially in education. He has taught architectural and engineering students in the UK and mainland Europe, including a Guest Professorship at the TU Graz (Austria), Institute of Structural Design and since 2018 has been visiting tutor at TU Delft (Netherlands), Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.

Lukas Pauer is a licensed architect, urbanist, educator, and the Founding Director of the Vertical Geopolitics Lab, an investigative practice and think-tank dedicated to exposing intangible systems and hidden agendas within the built environment. At the University of Toronto, Lukas is an (Honorary) Adjunct Professor of Architecture. At the Architectural Association in London, Lukas has pursued a PhD AD on political imaginaries in architectural and urban design history with a focus on how imperial-colonial expansion has been performed architecturally throughout history. He holds an MAUD from Harvard University and an MSc Arch from ETH Zürich. Among numerous international recognitions, Lukas has been selected as Ambassadorial Scholar by the Rotary Foundation, as Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum, and as Emerging Leader by the European Forum Alpbach - leadership programs committed to change-making impact within local communities.

Andreas Lechner is Associate Professor at the Institute of Design and Building Typology at Graz University of Technology and founded his eponymous design and research studio in 2009. Andreas studied at TU Graz and after formative study stays in Los Angeles, trained as an architect living in Berlin, Tokyo and Vienna. At TU Graz, he was assistant professor from 2007 to 2011. After obtaining a PhD in 2009 he was a visiting researcher at the Università luav di Venezia and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and held lectures and visiting professorships in Copenhagen, Genoa, Hamburg and Istanbul. Andreas won first prize at Europan 10, participated in the second Istanbul Design Biennial 2014 and the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale 2016. His habilitation thesis was published as awards winning „Entwurf einer architektonischen Gebäudelehre" (Zurich 2018) based on his research and lectures at TU Graz since 2013 (nominated for the Teaching Excellence Award 2019). The second and revised german edition is now published together with its english version titled „Design Thinking - Blueprint for an Architecture of Typology" (both Zurich 2021). As scholarly author and reviewer he is also co-editor of the bilingual peer-review GAM Architecture Magazine. He is a member of the Graz historic town commission (ASVK) and a licensed and practicing architect.