SYNERGIES symposium TU Graz 2024-Nov-22-23
SYNERGIES symposium about the future of architectural research
9th ARENA Annual Conference
November 22nd – 23rd 2024 Graz University of Technology, Austria
The SYNERGIES Symposium is a scientific conference on research in architecture to which the Institute for Architecture and Media at the Faculty of Architecture at Graz University of Technology invites you in a joint venture with the Architectural Research European Network Association ARENA (see www.arena-architecture.eu). Together with experts from all over Europe who contribute to the conference with lectures and/or posters, the symposium will debate the future of research in architecture.
For a long time, scientific research only played a minor role in architecture, but today it has become indispensable. In view of pressing global problems such as resource scarcity and climate change, which are closely related to unsustainable practices in the creation and use of buildings and in the solution of which architecture therefore plays a key role, this research is also extremely relevant beyond the boundaries of its own discipline.
As the title SYNERGIES suggests, the collaboration beyond disciplinary boundaries is also the main focus of this symposium. The solutions to our pressing problems will not come from one discipline alone. Finding ways to amplify our individual efforts by teaming up with others is therefore something we need to become ever better at and which should inform our research. How this can happen will be one of the topics discussed at the symposium. The symposium schedule includes two keynotes and three panel discussions, each with participants from different disciplinary backgrounds. They will discuss the following three questions:
Panel 1: What makes good research?
Peer reviewing is the gold standard in research assessment. It makes sense: Rather than trying to come up with some universal criteria that could be evaluated objectively (which would be impossible anyway), letting experts (at least two…) decide what is good and what isn’t is so simple and convincing a formula, it’s hard to argue against it. Yet, what are these experts’ criteria? Do we know enough about them, do we talk enough about them? Is the research that is best suited to pass through many peer-reviewing stages also the best kind of research we could wish for? In an ideal world, what kinds of research would societies be funding?
Panel 2: What is changing in architectural research?
The world, the climate, societies, technology – there are rapid changes around us wherever we look. What does Climate Change mean for architectural research? What about Biodiversity Collapse? What about the growing disintegration and political division of society? And what about Artificial Intelligence? If research is about the future, it must take a longer view, it cannot bend to every technological invention, every fashionable trend. And yet it can also not ignore the world around us. What are the changes that are inevitable and overdue in architectural research? What are the most pressing problems, what guiding star can we follow, under the current conditions?
Panel 3: How do we create synergies?
If one thing is clear, it is that we can’t do it alone. We as individuals or we as architects or architectural researchers – we need to reach out, we need to join forces with other disciplines, other kinds of expertise, other points of view. This is just stating the obvious. And yet, finding common ground, working together productively and towards common goals, creating synergies is not easy. In this final session we want to discuss why this is so and what we can do to become better at creating synergies.
Panelists / Speakers
Ben Stringer, Westminster University, London, UK
Torsten Schröder, Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of the Built Environment, Netherlands
Johan De Walsche, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Mo Michelsen Stochholm Krag, Aarhuus School of Architecture, Denmark
Sonja Dragojlovic-Oliveira, Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Chris Younes, ENSA Paris La Villette + ESA Paris, France
Pieter Versteegh, PSYCHE association for architectural research on the construction of identity, Fribourg, Switzerland
Roberto Cavallo, Technical University of Delft, Netherlands
Anđelka Bnin-Bninski, University of Belgrade, Serbia
João Sequeira, iA* Arts Research Unit, University of Beira Interior, Portugal + CHAIA, Évora University, Portugal
Sophia Meeres, University College Dublin, Ireland
Tadeja Zupančič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Xavier Bonnaud, ENSA Paris la Villette + Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, Franc
Ana Betancour, Malmö University, Sweden
Jane McAllister, London Metropolitan University, London, UK
Dominic Stevens, T.U Dublin + JFOC Architects, Ireland
Poster Contributions
Panelists as well as audience members are invited to contribute a poster about architectural research to the conference. The posters will be published in the symposium proceedings and will be on display in the lecture hall and thus form the backdrop of all presentations and panel discussions.
Research in architecture often involves visuals, not only as a means of representation, but also as an integral part of the research methodology. Therefore we want these posters to be mostly about visuals. So, rather than long texts interspersed with images, as is the common poster format at many scientific conferences, these posters should contain just one large image. The image can feature examples from the author’s own research or it can be an evocative work of art or it can illustrate some vision of the future. It could be a photograph or it could be produced using text-to-image AI tools. Or it could simply be one of the traditional architectural forms of representation such as plans, drawings, sketches, models, etc. The only fixed condition is that you must have the copyrights of whatever imagery you use on your poster. And you should give your image an explanatory title and accompany it with a statement.
Please use this Poster Template to create your poster!
Send your finished poster in PDF Format (using wetransfer or similar) to webmaster@arena-architecture.eu.
Deadline for poster submissions is on November 10th
Conference Chair
Urs Hirschberg, Graz University of Technology, Austria
hirschberg@tugraz.at
