EXPLORATIONS: Teaching, Design, Research

Swiss Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia
Giardini di Castello
September 14 to November 23, 2008
Open daily from 10 am to 6 pm

Not long ago, Swiss architecture was dominated by the practical concerns of building. While the field has advanced significantly in theoretical and speculative areas, it is curious to see how deeply actual physical contexts and the precision of construction are still ingrained in numerous research and teaching activities today. With the signing of the Bologna Declaration in 1999, twenty-nine European countries agreed to an education reform that would change the landscape of universities throughout Europe. In the fall of 2007, Swiss schools came under compliance with the aim to harmonize higher education and the initiative to start research activities not only in the humanities and sciences, but also in the vast field of design-oriented disciplines. This shift in education policy has left significant consequences for architectural research and education.

This exhibition aspires to stimulate discourse, question preconceived notions, and expand the open field of architectural research in relation to teaching and design. Its intention is to debate the meaning of “design research” in the applied discipline of architecture in an attempt to provide alternatives for a term, and an academic field, that still lacks sharp definition. The projects presented indicate how Swiss architecture has advanced beyond building in order to redefine the built environment once again.

The question that immediately arises from this work is how research can be defined in a design-oriented, creative-technical field. Architectural research derives its potential not by limiting itself to a concise statement of the problem, but by associating fields of knowledge in a way that does not necessarily adhere to academic convention. The humanities and sciences are brought into contact with practice-oriented, heuristic-creative approaches in order to transform the design process. As an instrument of research, design joins together what ordinarily remains separate.

Based on four case studies from the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Lausanne and Zurich, this exhibition showcases different perspectives on applied design research to argue for the potential value of treating instruction as a research apparatus. As these examples show, individual authorship gives way to a collective group identity. The once static architecture studio turns into an experimental laboratory, a platform for debate, and a synthesizer of ideas and concepts, drawing on the expertise of a wide range of individuals and fields of interest. It offers a productive research environment by engaging in diverse networks, adapting seemingly determined technologies, and testing structures of didactics and methodologies.

This exhibition brings into focus the conflicts and complexities of spatial, organizational, and technological dynamics that characterize any discussion of the discipline. The projects exhibited permit a critical questioning of architectural research. They invite an opening up of fields of discussion and a widening of perspectives in order to demarcate the possibilities and limitations of a particular mode of exploring and encountering the world.