The Great Strength of the Collective!

The creation of architecture – from the first sketch to the built space – is always a result of an expert group working together. This idea indeed corresponds to a basic socialist understanding: Especially, the GDR attributed a “great power” to collaborative working in architecture to achieve highest qualities, as the “political architect” Benny Heumann stated in 1961. However, even independently of the prevailing political ideologies, architects do not work in isolation from one another. Every planning stage and area of work of planners is interconnected and dependent on each other. In different temporal and social contexts, the collaboration of planners was differently addressed – be it in the creation of collectives, teams or communities. In contradiction to this necessity of collaborative work in the planning process is the depiction of the master builder as a singular universal genius, as the professional image of the architect since the Renaissance suggests. We take this tension between collaborative work in the planning context and the demand for a designing architect, to whom a work can be clearly attributed, as an impetus for a conference examining the organizational forms, practices and depictions of collaborative working of architects in the 20th century.

The meeting will be held in a hybrid format. If the pandemic situation in September allows it, we would be very pleased to welcome as many participants as possible. We therefore cordially invite all interested parties to register for the conference in order to hopefully once again have a personal professional exchange with us!