In my talk, I will revisit the German term "Stoffwechsel," which was coined in the 19th century by such prominent figures as the chemist Justus von Liebig, who defined the term scientifically, the philosopher Karl Marx and the architect Gottfried Semper, who gave the term theoretical significance. Literally, Stoffwechsel means "(ex)change of matter". Over the course of the 19th century, the term Stoffwechsel moved beyond its scientific origins in physiology and reverberated widely across the areas of economics, technology, art, and architecture. In the light of these writings, Stoffwechsel means both the "transformability of materials" in architecture (Ákos Moravánszky) and the "metabolic regimes" of urban and ecological systems (Timothy Morton), thus addressing the character of the development of the material world. According to Marx, Stoffwechsel does not occur solely as a biochemical automatism, but always requires also "labor". Labor appears as a “process between man and nature”; through labor, Stoffwechsel leaves the purely natural automatisms, such as digestion or photosynthesis. The decisive factor here was to analyse Stoffwechsel not as a mere abstraction (metabolism), but as a concrete exchange of matter through transforming labor (metamorphosis), which corresponded to the basic intuitions of the architect Gottfried Semper. Semper carried out an early anthropological analysis of labor as a process of making, which added the aspect of form to the production of things that cannot be reduced to technology and matter. It is only by considering this multifaceted theoretical legacy that the significance of Stoffwechsel for today’s ecological thinking can be revealed.

Conference “Marx in the Anthropocene”, 11-14 March 2025, IUAV, Venice (Italy)

Labor and Form – Revisiting "Stoffwechsel"

In the twentieth century, architectural theory has shown difficulties to deal with the sphere of knowledge that is occupied, both in method and content, by so-called architectural anthropology. The emergence of architectural an- thropology itself can be understood as an outcome of a conceptual omission in architectural theory as it evolved since the 1960s—this is the central the- sis of this paper. To support this thesis, I will, in a first step, recall the his- toriographical self-understanding of architectural theory; in a second step, I will sketch the early field of architectural anthropological research in order to name forms of differentiation of this field. Finally, I will explain what can be described as the today’s legacy of architectural anthropology: Beyond its occupation with the material culture of popular architecture, it is a field-re- search practice through which empirical methods have entered into architectural research.

Presence of Architectural History, Wolkenkuckucksheim. International Journal of Architectural Theory, Vol. 28, Issue 44/45, 2024/25

The Archive and the Field. Ethnographic Research in Architectural Theory

While tools of prediction and simulation used by climatologists and planners are becoming more and more sophisticated, urban futures are increasingly uncertain. In this context, this conference examines the relations between urban and cultural production and the transforming tools and methods for forecasting and simulating climatic futures. It asks, how can cultural production respond to and use climate simulations, and what is the role of architecture, culture and art in envisioning multiple climatic futures?

The term simulation, which originates from the Latin “simulō” or “imitate”, has gained new meaning in recent decades, in which computer simulations have transfromed many scientific and cultural domains (Heymann, Gramelsberger, Mahony 2017). According to Jean Baudrillard’s renowned Simulacra and Simulation (1995), the simulation of reality contains more truth than reality itself. This symposium will therefore focus on simulation in the search for new insights into our uncertain climatic future, especially in cities.

Climatic prediction and simulation have invariably formed part of architecture and urban design. Technologies of simulation for anticipating the environmental and microclimatic effects of design solutions and so called “ecological design” were the prerequisites for rethinking the existing city. In the context of new environmental laboratories since the early 1960s, scientific knowledge on urban climates has been generated through simulation and experimentation (e.g. wind tunnels). Examples of the investigation of wind flows through simulation in closed physical experimental set-ups are the Micrometeorological Wind Tunnel at Colorado State University or the Environmental Simulation Lab in Berkeley, where the wind profiles of emerging high-rise districts have been investigated (Roesler 2022).

In the last decades, simulations in urban design are increasingly complexifying (Batty and Torrens 2005); new instruments and laboratories are playing a systematic role in the scientific anticipation and simulation of the future. At the same time, climate fiction (cli-fi) and ecocriticism have become established ways in which literature and culture reacts and engages with the climate crisis. Architecture and urban design have adopted speculative methods from cultural practices such as literature and film, imagining and planning for multiple scenarios and futures. Cultural production and critique has in turn been informed by urban climatology.

However, although architecture and urban design have turned towards the future as never before, there is a dearth of academic reflection on this turn, and on the significance of simulation technologies and climate speculation for cultural production that reflects on the climate crisis. This transdisciplinary conference asks about the role played by the prediction and simulation of the climate in urban design and cultural production past, present, and future. It will bring together architectural and urban historians, cultural and media theorists, science and technology studies scholars, historians of science and climatology to explore the new role of climate prediction and speculation in urban design and cultural production.

Panel 1

Andri Gerber: How to play CO2: Environmental games as ultimate simulations?

Andri Gerber explores the relationship between games, architecture, and urban design, referencing Jean Baudrillard’s ideas on simulation and simulacra. He argues that games function as simulations, translating aspects of reality into mechanics and themes, with architecture and urban environments often serving as references. However, while games influence how reality is represented, their impact on architectural and urban design has been limited. With increasing awareness of the climate crisis, environmental games present new opportunities for engagement and education but also face challenges. Games are powerful cultural and pedagogical tools, yet they simplify reality and often carry specific ideological biases. They are also technologically fixed, limiting player agency. By considering games as cultural practices, the discussion aims to assess their potential and limitations in shaping architectural thought. A historical perspective will be introduced, tracing the development of environmental games and the increasing complexity of their simulation models.

Anne Dippel: The Depths of Illusion. Knowing Reality Through Computer Simulations

In this talk Anne Dippel explores the decline of concept-based truth in the digital age, focusing on how computer simulations shape knowledge in physics. Using a media ethnography of the quantum physics double-slit experiment and its simulation, Anne Dippel introduces "operational realism" as a way to navigate digital epistemic challenges. The presentation, based on a recent book co-authored with Martin Warnke, examines the ethical implications of algorithmic world design and the role of media in knowledge production. Drawing from new materialism, media theory, and queer-feminist science and technology studies (STS), the talk reflects on different epistemic perspectives through a case study that blends theory and practice with humor and critical insights.

Panel 2

Panel 2: simulation as cultural technique

Marco Caracciolo: Weirded Urban Spaces in Contemporary Fiction and Video Games

Marco Caracciolo explores how the literary mode of the weird is uniquely suited to grappling with the uncertainty of the climate crisis. Originating in H.P. Lovecraft’s early 20th-century work and later reimagined by authors like Jeff VanderMeer and China Miéville, the weird blends science fiction and horror while emphasizing bodily atmospheres. Marco Caracciolo examines how the weirding of urban spaces in fiction enables the simulation of both empirical and affective instabilities caused by climate change. Using China Miéville’s The City & the City (2009) and the video game Alan Wake 2 (2023) as case studies, the talk argues that these narratives provide compelling frameworks for representing climate uncertainty in an emotionally resonant way.

Peter Krapp: Simulation as a cultural technique

In this talk Peter Krapp explores simulation as both a cultural technique and a means of preserving cultural memory through modeling, imitation, and serious play. He examines how simulation serves as a critique of the computer age, tracing its media history from ancient thought experiments to modern computing. Peter Krapp challenges common-sense realism as anti-speculative and highlights simulation’s role in shaping our understanding of mediated reality. The discussion also addresses the theoretical foundations of computing, particularly the ability of universal Turing machines to emulate one another, emphasizing the significance of simulation for digital heritage, archives, museums, and the preservation of digital culture.

With the speakers of Panels 1 and 2: Andri Gerber, Anne Dippel, Marco Caracciolo and Peter Krapp. Moderated by Noa Levin and Sascha Roesler.

PANEL 3

Angela Rout: Reimagining Data: New Approaches to Climate- Responsive

This presentation examines how data visualization and computational methods can be adapted for architecture, allowing practitioners to interpret complex information in spatially and visually intuitive ways. Architecture transforms observations into meaningful spaces for people and the environment, and with digital technologies and ubiquitous sensors, architects now have access to vast new data sources. Architectural data—ranging from observations to visual records—is dynamic and multidimensional. While scientific data analysis methods reveal patterns, they must be reimagined to align with the creative, context-driven nature of design. This lecture explores how redefining architectural data can lead to proactive, climate-responsive solutions that address both environmental and human needs.

Joshua Silver: Observing the Future: Digital Simulation to Sustain Networks of Design Practice

Joshua Silver explores how digital simulation practices help sustain precarious architectural design and construction, particularly in the face of uncertain work conditions and the climate crisis. Using the Los Angeles Academy Museum of Motion Pictures as a case study, he examines two simulation approaches: Transsolar’s "thermal comfort" consulting, which uses simulations to adapt design features to future climate uncertainties, and Kiran Consulting Group’s Discrete Event people flow simulations, which model building occupants as spatial problems to be solved. The paper concludes by reflecting on the limitations of simulations, including their rejection or failure to sustain the futures they propose.

Panel 4

Dario Negueruela del Castillo: Simulating Urban Denkstile: Vision-Language Models as Theoretical Lenses for Uncertain Futures

This presentation introduces an innovative urban simulation approach that integrates data-driven digital twinning with critical urban theory. Utilizing advanced vision-language models (VLMs) enhanced with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), the method operationalizes the thought styles (Denkstile) of urban theorists like Henri Lefebvre, Walter Benjamin, and Georg Simmel, alongside contemporary paradigms such as assemblage theory and urban metabolism. Rather than merely aggregating data, this approach simulates the complex social, material, and discursive assemblages that shape cities, offering a historically grounded, multi-layered perspective on urban environments. Initial results demonstrate how AI-driven methods facilitate dialogues between theoretical frameworks and urban realities, providing a nuanced alternative to reductionist, purely data-driven models. By critically engaging with simulation as a cultural technique, this work contributes to speculative urban planning, exploring multiple climatic and urban futures while examining AI’s role in cultural production and urban climatology. Ultimately, this fusion of computational innovation and theoretical insight advances discussions on urban resilience, climate adaptation, and the future of cities amid environmental and technological change.

Orit Halpern: Planetary Experiments: Science, Life, and Politics in the Age of the Anthropocene

We are living in an era of planetary experimentation, where the boundaries between scientific laboratories and the world itself have dissolved, as noted by Bruno Latour. Large-scale scientific projects, such as the Event Horizon Telescope and the European Commission’s Destination Earth, exemplify this shift by using the entire planet as an experimental space. The concept of the Anthropocene further reinforces this notion, as human-caused global warming has been framed as both an unintended experiment and a problem requiring deliberate planetary-scale interventions. This paper examines how digital twinning technologies, particularly NVIDIA’s Earth 2 and the EU’s Destination Earth, are reshaping planetary management by automating data analysis and utilizing generative AI for climate crisis response. These developments signal a broader epistemic transformation in how knowledge is produced and life is governed in the digital age.

With the speakers of Panel 3 and 4: Angela Rout, Joshua Silver, Dario Negueruela del Castillo and Orit Halpern. Moderated by Noa Levin and Sascha Roesler.

With all speakers of the day, followed by the conclusion by Sascha Roesler. 

A one-day Symposium organized by the Institute of Urban and Landscape Studies (ISUP), and the Institute for History and Theory of Art and Architecture (ISA), and the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio (USI), in collaboration with ZAZ Bellerive – Zentrum Architektur Zürich, at Höschgasse 3, 8008 Zürich

On Simulation: A Cultural Technique for Uncertain Urban Futures

Drei grosse Geschichten für Biel sind dem Perimeter zwischen Bahnhofquartier und See eingeschrieben. Diesen wollen wir nachspüren.

1. Die Park-Stadt am See wollen wir pflegen und weiterentwickeln. Das "Maison Bleue" steht für die Präsenz des Sees nahe dem Bahnhof (heute heisst es Seestübli...). Das an Bäumen reiche und durchgrünte Quartier bietet viele Wege und eine durchmischte Nachbarschaft. Zum Bahnhof hin ist künftig die "Seestrasse / Rue du Lac" die erste Adresse.

2. Das industrielle Erbe beleben wollen wir zwischen Nidau und Biel. Den Auftakt bildet die reanimierte Kraftzentrale als integraler Bestandteil der ehemaligen General Motors Montagefabrik. Der neue BFH Campus wird täglich tausende Studierende, Dozierende und weitere Menschen ins Quartier führen. Nicht nur sie finden neue Aufenthalts-, Wohn- und Betätigungsorte um die alte GM-Fabrik herum (heute noch das introvertierte Coop-Center…) im Marché Couvert der denkmalgeschützten Halle am erweiterten Robert-Walser-Platz, im "Kickstarter" und um die "Maison Rouge", dem alten Schlachthof-Verwaltungsgebäude.

3. Das heutige Bahnhofquartier wollen wir bewahren und begrünen. Die Busse halten übersichtlich in der vom Durchgangsverkehr befreiten Johann-Verresius-Strasse. Baumschatten und Aufenthaltsqualität findet sich am Bahnhofplatz und rund um den Casino-Komplex. Breite Trottoirs mit langen Sitzbänken begleiten die Bahnhofstrasse in Richtung Zentralplatz. Trinkbrunnen und kühlender Nebel im Sommer begleiten die FussgängerInnen. Sehen und gesehen werden.

Eine Serie von Brunnen und weiteren Wasserelementen macht das Wasser bewusst. Sie bilden einen ideellen Wasserweg, der die beiden Kanäle, Schüss und Zihl, verbindet und ausgehend vom Zentralplatz den Weg zum See weist. Das Wasser im Stadtraum verbindet damit die drei grossen Erzählungen im Bahnhofgebiet von Biel.

Testplanung Bahnhofgebiet Biel, organized by Stadt Biel, Team: (Re)Connecter, Landschaftsarchitekur und Städtebau: Lorenz Eugster, Raumplanung und Städtebau: pool, Stadtklima: Sascha Roesler, Mobilität/Verkehrsplanung: Scheniter AG, Sozialraum: Zeugin-Gölker

Biel: Testplanung Nutzungskonzept Bahnhofgebiet Biel/Bienne

Coastal megacities face a critical threat from rising sea levels, with projections ranging from 30cm to 1m by 2100. More dire scenarios predict a 2-6m increase if the 1.5-degree Celsius global warming target is missed. These statistics underscore the urgent need for proactive measures and innovative solutions to address imminent challenges in urban environments.

Urban planners and designers grapple with unprecedented challenges due to global warming, demanding a fundamental shift in focus toward "urban futures." Architects play a pivotal role in envisioning and creating sustainable urban landscapes resilient to climate change impacts, especially rising seas.

The research seminar explored architects' multifaceted roles in tackling these challenges, emphasizing the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary design. Inspired by Donna Haraway's idea that "scientific facts and speculative fabulations need each other," the seminar urged students to blend scientific knowledge with imaginative ideas, crucial for adapting architecture, infrastructure, and urban planning to impending sea level rise.

Students' outcomes, presented as research papers and posters, contributed significantly to the ongoing discourse on sustainable urban development amidst climate change. Research in the field of architecture not only illuminates potential strategies for mitigating rising sea impacts but also stresses the imperative for continued inquiry, collaboration, and innovative thinking in architecture and urban planning.


Prof. Dr. Tanhea K. Bacchin
Dr. Cristina Baldacci
Dr. Ludovico Centis
Sofie Yde
Prof. Dr. Johannes Schubert

Urban Futures: Rethinking Architecture and Infrastructure in View of Rising Seas 

The Climate Adaptation Lab aims at rethinking climate control – a key concern of the discipline of architecture – through the lens of city climate and climate change phenomena. Architecture’s one-sided obsession with controlling the indoor climate of individual buildings is questioned and the (thermal) dialectics between inside and outside examined instead.

Due to its man-made character, the city climate differs fundamentally from the natural climate. By looking at the historical emergence of this concept since the beginning of the 20th century (as urban climatology) and the complex adaptation in the field of architecture and urban design, a robust architectural knowledge for today’s discussions on the “climate adaptation and mitigation” was provided. After an introduction into the history of modern architecture and urban planning striving for new “climate cities,” case studies and methods with particular relevance for today’s architects were addressed.

Relying on these theoretical approaches, the city of Vienna served as a main case study for the students. The city of Vienna is projected to change its climatic zone from the humid-continental to the humid-subtropical by 2050. This climatic shift of cities can also be described by defining city analogues (Bastin et al.). This method holds interesting implications for architectural research: What (implicit) knowledge can we derive from the study of analogue cities for the climate adaptation of Vienna? The seminar therefore looked closely at the similarities and differences of the public realm in the humid-subtropical city of Milan, analyzing the preconditions that constitute its urban thermal landscape and developed ways of transferring this knowledge to Vienna.


Federico Bertagna (ETH Zürich)
Giulio Bettini (Penzis Bettini Architekten, Zürich)
Giulio Galasso (ETH Zürich)
Dr. Lidia Gasperoni (TU Berlin)
Dr. Lorenzo Stieger (USI)
Natalia Voroshilova (Master Student ETH)
Dr. Noa Levin (USI)
Prof. Dr. Rainer Hehl (TU Berlin)
Sibil Sträuli (Pini & Sträuli architects, Milan)

Group D


Cipolla Emanuele
Contini Massimo
Frigerio Edoardo Gabriele
Monaco Gabriele
Robatto Elena

Group F


Carnal Robin
Heleno Oliveira Monica
Jeannerat Louise
Moser Nadja

Group K


Jacopo Gioanina
Simone Mirabella
Matteo Miretta
Nora Soldati

City, Climate, and Architecture – The Climate Adaptation Lab

The Material Transitions Lab series intends to challenge sustainability within architecture pedagogy. Today's paradigm shift in building construction shall be examined by enabling students to develop an ecological perspective through an analytical and critical attitude. The five workshops conceive sustainability in architecture not as a given formula but as an ongoing set of collective sociocultural practices that students will need to actively embrace as future architects and global citizens.

Our entry point will be represented by materials most commonly employed in the construction industry. Drawing from Mark Jarzombek's article "The Quadrivium Industrial Complex" (2019), questioning the most important building materials, concrete, glass, steel, and plastic, we will intentionally shift our attention from the so-called and the often debated operational emissions of the built environment to the embodied emissions – intended as the sum of all the emissions required to produce any goods or services, considered as if that emissions were incorporated or 'embodied' in the products themselves. Mining, production, delivery, and assembly processes [the embodied emissions] of these materials have never been more extensive and cheaper than today, causing an enormous impact on a planetary scale for humans and non-humans and their possible evolution in the context of energy transition policies. Energy transition and material transition are to be understood as one and the same process.

The five workshops (plus a wrap-up session) will elaborate on different thematic threads related to the sustainable transition of the construction industry and its materials, discussing innovation and criticalities. Referring to Gottfried Semper's theory of "Stoffwechsel," material transition is intended as a symbolic and physical transfer of forms and materials to new needs. In particular, Semper's approach highlights the transregional sociocultural exchange of building construction and its materials from one culture and moment in time to the other. With the notion of material transition – translated from German "Stoffwechsel" – the workshops foreground the process of outliving and mixing architectural elements and materials of the past to develop contemporary sustainable new materials for architecture. Semper's intuition sets the stage to convey the complexity behind a holistic transition toward an ethical, sustainable construction industry. All five workshops will be centered on the theoretical and practical understanding of the often invisible consequences determined by the construction industry on an ecological and social level on humans and non-humans alike, thus informing students on the global metabolism of architecture production.

During the workshops, guests will join us to provide practitioners' and scholars' perspectives on a sustainable transition of materials combining theory and practice.


Boeva Yana
Buser Barbara
Ferrer Carla
Hildebrand Thomas
Petersmann Johann

Group 1


Riccardo Avogadro
Océane Alexandrine Brosteaux
Giovanni Campagnola
Lucrezia Casilli
Clara Della Casa
Oscar Victor Larfeuille
Chiara Vicuna Narvaez
Marisa Vocaturi

Group 2


Sofia Basso
Nathalie Bettoni
Eliot Ferguen
Giulia Ricci
Stefania Archilli
Maria Vittoria Giani
Elisa Acquistapace
Benedetta Assolari
Sveva Bonapace



Sustainable Design – The Material Transition Lab

In this semester’s seminar students documented the current energy landscape of Warsaw and imagined ways for its transition towards a carbon free future. The fragmented quality of the city fabric, its strong infrastructural imprint and its continuing reliance on fossil energy make it an intriguing object of study. Building upon emblematic ethnographic descriptions of urban ecologies by Boyarsky and Banham, student groups of two developed their take on the energy ecologies found in the city of Warsaw.

Building upon an analysis of the status quo during a field trip to Warsaw, students envisioned a transition strategy during the following seminar weeks in Mendrisio. In a shift to a more contemporary medium, students were asked to produce a video essay that develops a new chapter in the conceptual dealings with urban energy. The fieldwork material acquired during the excursion formed the basis for the video essay production in Mendrisio.

Informed by input lectures of filmmakers, theorists, and architects, students had the chance to iteratively work on their video essay along the six seminar days of the semester. As a final outcome, students formulated their unique approach to urban energy theory in the form of a video essay and presented it in front of invited guests.


Dr. Adam Przywara (University of Manchester)
Małgorzata Kuciewicz and Simone De Iacobis (CENTRALA)
Monika Konrad (Head of municipal planning Warsaw)
Michał Suchora (BWA Warsaw)
Aleksandra Kedziorek (MSN Warsaw)
Anna Ptak (Warsaw University)
Patrycja Okuljar (Studio Okuljar)
Dr. Rafael Dernbach (USI)
Prof. Milica Topalović (ETH Zürich)
Prof. Kevin B. Lee (USI)

Warsaw: Energy Landscapes and Energy Transitions

While 20th century architecture learned to control the climate of a building, the architecture of the 21st century needs to learn to cope with the climate of cities. Problems such as urban heat and air pollution need to be included in planning and design. Based on empirical realities in Cairo, Chongqing, Geneva and Santiago de Chile, the book underlines that the materiality and social practices attached to room heating, compound greening, street alignment or climate policies together form the tissue for contemporary urban climates. It interweaves socio-cultural with meteorological data and pioneers the new concept of "thermal governance" by linking architectural and technological as well as legal and economic dimensions of climate control in urban environments.

Main outcome of a six-year research project on "architecture and urban climates," funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Based on ethnographic inquiries and visual mappings.

Geneva (Switzerland):
The Architecturalization of Water Ecologies
On the Integration of Energy Transition and Climate Adaptation
Lorenzo Stieger


Santiago de Chile:
The Standardization of Indoor–Outdoor Transitions
On the Dynamics between Public Spaces and Climate Control
Lionel Epiney


Chongqing (People’s Republic of China):
The Electrification of the Urban Fabric
On Governing the Built Environment’s Seasonality
Madlen Kobi


Cairo (Egypt):
The Domestication of Urban Heat
On the Everyday Production of Microclimates
Dalila Ghodbane

Architecture and Thermal Governance
Six Components
Sascha Roesler, Madlen Kobi, Lorenzo Stieger


Urban Climate Protocols
Visualizing Socio-climatic Differences
Sascha Roesler, Madlen Kobi, Lorenzo Stieger,
Chandrasekhar Ramakrishnan, Adrian Ehrat ;
with the support of Lionel Epiney and Dalila Ghodbane

Volume 2 in the series Klima Polis, Birkhäuser

Coping with Urban Climates - Comparative Perspectives on Architecture and Thermal Governance

The publication rethinks climate control – a key concern of the discipline of architecture – through the lens of city climate phenomena over the course of the 20th century. Based on a history of climate control on urban scales, it promotes the integration of indoors and outdoors in order to reduce environmental and thermal loads in cities. Just as heating and cooling practices inside the buildings are affecting the (urban) climate outdoors, urban heat islands are influencing the energy requirements and thermal conditions inside the buildings.
While the first part of the book focuses on the interwar period in Europe, the publication’s second part considers examples from all over the globe, tracing the growing significance of ecological thinking for the design of urban environments.

A new series highlighting design-driven approaches to urban climates across the globe.

I European Developments before 1945:
The Field of Knowlegde

Urban Studies of Man-made Climates
An Introduction


1 Thermal Geographies of the European City
Urban Hygiene and the Heat Economy


2 Man-made Climate by Design
Urban Climatology and Modern Architecture


3 Democratizing Urban Nature
Infrastructures of Climate Control at Large Scales

II Global Adaptations after 1945:
Three Design Metaphors


Design Metaphors of Man-made Climates
An Introduction


4 Thermal Heritage
Collective Memory and the Natural History of Cities


5 Microclimatic Islands
Thermal Spectacles and Closed-system Imaginaries


6 Energy-Synergy
Energy Ecologies and Settlement Structures

7 Singapore as a Model?
Urban Climate Control in Practice

Volume 1 in the series Klima Polis, Birkhäuser

City, Climate, and Architecture - A Theory of Collective Practice

The seminar aimed at rethinking climate control – a key concern of the discipline of architecture – through the lens of city climate and climate change phenomena. Architecture’s one-sided obsession with controlling the indoor climate of individual buildings was questioned and the (thermal) dialectics between inside and outside examined instead. Climate has become a multiscalar topic, that requires a new understanding by architects.

Highlighted in particular were the manifold implications of the notion of “urban climate” for architecture and urban design. Due to its man-made character, the city climate differs fundamentally from the natural climate. By looking at the historical emergence of this concept since the beginning of the 20th century (as urban climatology) and the complex adaptation in the field of architecture and urban design, a robust architectural knowledge for today’s discussions on the “climate adaptation and mitigation” was provided.

After an introduction into the history of modern architecture and urban planning striving for new “climate cities,” case studies and methods with particular relevance for today’s architects were addressed. The seminar shed light on the growing capacities of urban societies to provide urban climatic data (via thermal measurements, wind tunnel modelling, simulation techniques), while at the same time highlighting evidence-based design strategies referring to urban climates (such as heliomorphism).

Relying on these theoretical approaches, the city of Vienna served as a main case study for the students. Heating and cooling practices connecting to urban microclimates were explored and climate-related strategies on various scales (considering groups of buildings, green spaces, urban topography etc.) discussed.


Florencia Collo (Atmos Lab, London)
Katja Jug (Artist, Zurich)
Dr. Lorenzo De Chiffre (TU Vienna)
Maria Vassilakou (Former Vice-Mayor of Vienna)
Dr. Michael Hirschbichler (Architect, Zürich)


Virtual field trip to Vienna, broadcasted online to the students

Group A


Gabrielė Dužinskytė
Norman Nager
Léna Carola Reesink
Marie Sieber
Varvara Sulema
Cristian Amadeo Termine

Group C


Rui Chen
Luigi Chierico
Vittorio Alfredo Maria Chiesa
Luca Huttenmoser
Alessandro La Porta
Carlo Valli
Micaela Vergari

Group M


Veronica Irene Bissanti
Maria Bonazzi
Francesca Cazzulani
Ulisse Iacopi
Paola Rapanà
Tahnee Rutter
Maria Trombetta

City, Climate, and Architecture - Rethinking Subtropical Vienna

What are the relevant agencies of sustainable design today? This workshop series addressed the complex relationship between theory and practice in the field of sustainable design. Architects are increasingly forced to develop a new attitude toward their practice, questioning the carbon legacy of 20th century modernity. Although “practice” is commonly conceived as the counterpart of “theory,” the notion of a new “theory of practice” exceeds the dichotomy and promotes a specific approach to sustainability in architecture today. First and foremost, sustainable design depends on an awareness for the dialectics between theory and practice: Architects need to inform their ideas on sustainable design through a profound cognition of the construction sector and vice versa.

The workshop series was centered around two main questions: (1) HOW TO OVERCOME THE LEGACY OF CARBON MODERNITY? and (2) HOW TO BUILD IN THE ERA OF THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS?. Much of what is modern in the city is a “by-product of oil” (Michael Watts). By highlighting the perspectives of different actors (such as architects, anthropologists, and artists), a transdisciplinary understanding of sustainable design and sustainability in general was promoted.

The collective character of sustainable design shaped the workshop series’ framework for challenging the existing strategies in architecture and construction. It combined the topic of sustainable design with broader concerns on “environment-making” (Jason Moore) in times of the Anthropocene. Every workshop formed an autonomous unit, comprising lectures, exercises, and discussions. The workshops highlighted the topics of “bricolage”, “care”, “imagination”, “data”, and “circularity”. At the end of the semester students collaboratively produced a manifesto on sustainable design, incorporating the knowledge gained throughout the semester.


Christina Hemauer (Artist, Zurich)
Prof. Dr. Ena Llorett Fritschi (SNSF Professor, Accademia)
Prof. Dr. Madlen Kobi (Social Anthropologist, University of Fribourg)
Matthias Heinz (pool architekten, Zurich)
Peter Kneidinger (Materialnomaden, Vienna)
Roman Keller (Artist, Zurich)

Group 01


Veronica Irene Bissanti
Valerio Maccabruno
Maria Trombetta
Gabrielė Dužinskytė


Gabrielė Dužinskytė
Varvara Sulema
Marie Sieber

Group 3

Sustainable Design - A Dialog Between Theory and Practice

Human activities have caused global climate challenges such as rising sea levels, temperature increase, desertification, climate-induced migration, and extreme weather phenomena. In the city, those global impacts are less perceptible than local environmental changes. Climate danger in the form of urban heat island effects or air pollution threaten physical health. Taking the example of Chongqing, a city located in a subtropical climate in Southwest China, this presentation discusses the ways in which climate dangers affect the thermal, social and political reordering of urban spaces. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork, semi-structured interviews, oral narratives, and architectural history, the presentation engages with human-environment relations in the contemporary Chinese city. In particular, it emphasizes the shifting use of indoor and outdoor spaces related to urbanization since the 1980s. Buildings play a fundamental role both for accelerating urban climate change, but also for providing shelters from the outdoors. On the one hand, construction is resource-intensive, seals urban soils and is energy-consuming. On the other hand, operating energy, especially for climate control of indoors through air-conditioning and heating, emits heat to the urban atmosphere. The presentation investigates into the power of urban governments, ordinary residents, and the construction industry to mitigate urban climate dangers.

Lecture for MURN (Münster Urban Research Network)

Urban Climate as Danger. Thermal, Spatial and Material Reordering in the Chinese City of the 21st Century

Sascha Roesler: The Idea of the Climate-Responsive City

Madlen Kobi: Urban Energy Landscape in Practice: Architecture, Infrastructure and the Material Culture of Cooling in Post-Reform Chongqing (PR China)

Workshop organised by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

Heat in Urban Asia Past, Present, and Future

This lecture series promotes the notion of "energy landscape" as a conceptualframework to challenge our current understanding of energy as a cheapand abundant resource for architecture. It presents concepts and methods for designing the energy landscapes of the future.

The City as Energy Landscape 

This project, located next to a highway overpass, combines adaptation and mitigation strategies in the redevelopment of an industrial site. The design connects indoor and outdoor spaces, addressing solar exposure, wind dynamics, and biodiversity as key elements of its microclimatic approach.

To adapt for warming climate conditions, shade and wind are considered key design elements. The highway overpass serves as a source of valuable shade during hot summer days, creating cooler and more comfortable outdoor spaces. Towers are positioned at a 45-degree angle to prevailing wind directions, reducing gusts and minimizing façade downwash enhancing pedestrian comfort.

Optimized structural shading elements on the façades provide essential shade while also generating photovoltaic electricity, supporting renewable energy production and lowering energy demand. The use of sustainable materials, such as wood and rammed earth, minimizes embodied carbon in construction processes. Green infrastructure, including vegetated façades and permeable surfaces, enhances biodiversity and mitigates urban heat accumulation.

The project integrates adaptation and mitigation strategies, connecting microclimate considerations with sustainable design to address the challenges of future urban climates.

Urban Design Competition with ARGE Meier Hug Semadeni Architekten

Werkstadt, Bern Ausserholligen

Hassan Fathys Diktum, Architektur beschäftige sich nicht mit Gebäuden, sondern mit Gebäuden und Menschen – "Architecture deals with human beings and buildings, not just buildings" – bringt emblematisch ein Architekturverständnis auf den Punkt, das bereits mit Gottfried Sempers Projekt einer "vergleichenden Baulehre", dem lange angekündigten aber unrealisierten dritten Band des Stils, seine konzeptionellen Anfänge genommen hatte. Die Korrelierung von Gebäuden mit Menschen kann ganz allgemein als anthropologischer Begründungsversuch von Architektur begriffen werden, der von einem inhärenten, von physikalischen Gegebenheiten ausgehenden Begründungsansatz unterschieden werden muss. Ein anthropologisches Verständnis von Architektur zieht wechselweise Bauen und Menschsein zu ihrer Bestimmung heran. Dieses anthropologische Verständnis wird von einer Intuition getragen, die im Bauen ein generelles Vermögen des Menschen erkennt, das dem Wissen architektonisch-baulicher Experten (Architekten, Ingenieure) epistemisch vorausgeht. "Jeder Mensch" – und nicht etwa "der Architekt" – wäre demnach das zentrale handelnde Subjekt der Architektur und damit im Mittelpunkt einer konstruktiven Forschung dieser Disziplin.

Book “Weltkonstruktion“, in "arch+", 221, 2015, p. 14-15

Anthropologische Theorie der Konstruktion

In the framework of a seminar called LabZone, this contribution is based on the collaboration between the artist Sonia Kacem and Dalila Ghodbane's work on the thermal environment of ordinary houses in Cairo. The warmth of the ambient air, like the colour of a carpet, appears meaningful only to the interested observer. In that regard, there are many parallels between the experience of climate and that of colour. Sonia and Dalila explored some of those paralells through examples from Cairo, questioning the selectiveness of our attention and its effects on our work.

Geneva University of Arts and Design (HEAD), Master students LabZone, by Sonia Kacem

Your Attention Please. Color in Context

The aim of this paper is to broaden the Eurocentric architectural history of climate control by introducing a discussion of the interrelation of architecture and thermal practices in the Southern Chinese “non-heating” zone. Based on a governmental policy that dates from the 1950s, China is divided into a heated North, where urban houses enjoy the amenities of a district heating infrastructure, and a non-heated South, which lacks this infrastructure. Most high-rise buildings in this zone are constructed without insulation, and a rapidly growing middle class heats under uninsulated conditions. Residents mitigate the winter cold through active means of climate control, primarily with electric devices that serve to warm certain parts of their bodies, or warm limited spaces in their apartments. This paper is based on a methodology that combines ethnographic building analysis, discourse analysis, architectural theory, and building science. Most of the fieldwork data - including home visits and interviews with residents and thermal experts - was collected in winter 2017-18, in the northern part of the non-heating zone of China, especially in the city of Chongqing. Our architectural view of heating in the non-heating zone perceives buildings as agents that mediate between the macro- and the micro-scale, between the North and South, and between inside and outside.

Article published in ABE (Architecture Beyond Europe) 17, 2020

Urban Climate Indoors. Rethinking Heating Infrastructure in China's Non-Heating Zone

The exhibition promotes the notion of “energy landscape” as a conceptual framework to challenge our current understanding of energy as a cheap and abundant source for architecture. It presents concepts and methods for designing the energy landscapes of the future, taking the greater region of Geneva in Switzerland as its case study. While in the last few decades the discipline of architecture was mainly concerned with the self-sufficiency of individual buildings, the exhibition emphasizes the need for a new urban scale for saving energy, which integrates technological systems and natural processes.

Exhibition at Accademia di Architettura (Mendrisio)