What Architects Desire

The leitmotif of the German contribution to the 12th Architecture Biennial in Venice, “desire“, is at the same time the topic of a survey among architects ; answers are given through drawings. What are you longing for? The response drawings are highly individual, diversity becomes programme: both in picture language and in the presentation in terms of content, reactions are quite different. But there is one thing they all have in common: the burning desire of something concrete. Sometimes it spreads lightning-like on the observer, sometimes time is required for a contemplative involvement with form and content. The architectural sketch, as it may seem, degenerated into a side product of architectural work within the last years, is back!

“Die Walverwandtschaften München – Zürich - Boston” is a collective consisting of Cordula Rau, Eberhard Tröger, and Ole W. Fischer. Cordula Rau, born in 1961, is an architect and freelance journalist in Munich. She publishes in numerous print media such as DETAIL, Bauwelt, Deutsches Architektenblatt, archplus, NZZ, zeno, industrieBAU, and H.O.M.E. The book “Why Do Architects Wear Black?“ edited by her and published by Springer has recently appeared. Eberhard Tröger, born in 1969, studied architecture at Berlin University of Applied Sciences and, as postgraduate studies, “Theory and History of Architecture“ at the gta Institute of ETH Zürich. Besides numerous lectureships and conferences, he has been scientific assistant of the chair of Professor Gregor Eichinger at ETH Zürich since 2006. Ole W. Fischer, (1974) is an architect, theoretician, curator and educator in Boston. He studied architecture at the Bauhaus University Weimar and the ETH Zurich. He taught theory of architecture at the Institut gta of ETH from 2002-08 where he also obtained his PhD. He was awarded with several international fellowships and research grants. Since 2009 he is a research fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Design and since 2010 visiting professor for history, theory, criticism of architecture at MIT, USA.