Torsten Lange

Die seit Mitte der 1970er Jahre an den Rändern bedeutender DDR-Bezirks-städte entstandenen Großsiedlungen gelten weithin als ort-und charak-terlose Schlafstädte auf der "grünen Wiese". Doch stellt sich die Lage bei genauerer Betrachtung komplexer dar, als es zunächst offenkundig ist: So unterscheidet sich das etwa zwölf Kilometer nordöstlich des Berliner Stadtzentrums gelegene Neubaugebiet Berlin-Marzahn (1976-1987) von den großen Vorgängerprojekten der 1960er Jahre vor allem dadurch, dass dort der Gestus des Neuen weitgehend fehlt. Es beruhte trotz seiner räum-lichen Dimensionen und modernen bautechnologischen Umsetzung in vielerlei Hinsicht auf Vorstellungen von Konvention und Kontinuität. In dieser Hinsicht spielte der spezifische Umgang mit dem landschaftli chen Umfeld sowie mit dem vorwiegend dörflich geprägten baulichen Kon text bei den Planungen für den neuen Stadtteil eine bedeutende Rolle. Zen-trale, bei der Planung entstandenen Konflikte zwischen den an der &quot...

Over the course of the last decade, women from all over the world and from different social and cultural backgrounds continued to strive for equal rights in the face of discrimination, sexism, and misogyny. Utilizing new tools and strategies for communication, this ‘fourth wave’ of feminist thinking and activism is characterized by its commitment to a ‘diversity of purpose’ that recognises intersectionality as a key issue of our time and questions established sex/gender systems and gender as a binary category. This Special Collection explores the impact of current feminist discourse on architectural historiography. It offers critical debate on the legacy of second and third wave feminism, and asks for the ongoing relevance of the concerns and methodologies. It also highlights the potential of new strategies for documenting and researching the work of women architects, investigating the possibilities of digital tools and networked knowledge. Moreover, the collection considers histori...

This article charts transnational exchanges between East German and Finnish architects in the development of adaptive housing solutions for urban sites. It focuses on the Hannes Meyer Seminars – a series of annual international design workshops held at the Bauhaus Dessau from 1980 to 1986 – as a contact zone. The seminars challenged dominant forms of mass housing, and put forth alternative models to suit historic contexts. These exchanges went beyond previous (one-directional) material and technical exports that stretched back as far as the mid-1950s. As a result of the policy of detente in the early 1970s, relations between Finland and the GDR began to form an ever more complex and entangled network, with greater emphasis on knowledge transfer and collaboration. Formal agreements on ‘scientific and technical cooperation’ thus provided the framework for the intensification of contacts between design schools such as the College for Architecture and Civil Engineering (HAB, Hochschule ...

Architecture is, at its most basic, about imagining desirable futures. Yet, despite growing awareness of the lasting and extensive effects that design decisions have in the world, many people remain inadequately represented (or entirely unrepresented) by the profession, which lacks diversity. The faction of those who hold the power to design is still, by and large, comprised of a relatively homogenous group of middle-class white men who dominate not only the profession but also architectural education, even though there is now—in most places—near gender parity among students. How, then, might we—as educators committed to forms and practices of architecture that are inclusive, progressive, egalitarian, socially and environmentally just, and so on—implement and promote feminist pedagogies? Together, this set of short responses by young as well as established gures in the eld, begins to sketch the outlines of an approach to architectural education rooted in feminist politics. Our goal ...