The theme of this History Research Studio is "'Exotic' Art and Architecture in Switzerland": We will discuss issues of exoticism, orientalism and other forms of “othering”, race and national stereotypes, colonial heritages and other related topics. The Studio aims at mapping different forms of Exoticism in buildings, but also material objects or ephemeral events of the early-modern period.

Material Commons and the City: ZurichThis Research Studio focuses on the material commons of Zurich and explores how local material resources influence the aesthetic, construction and craft cultures. It attempts to answer questions as: What are the material commons and how do architects and other citizens engage with them? How do material resources produce a common architectural and urban idiom?

Grounded Theories: A Collective ManifestoOn the occasion of the project "University in the Rainforest: A Project with the Inga Community in Colombia", originally launched by Anne Lacaton, the students will produce their own writings and read theoretical text from a syllabus.

The subject semester (to choose out of two topics) includes the individual, independent processing of a specific task, whereby the relevance of the respective discipline is examined with regard to the specific architectural and design aspects of the task.

The theme of this History Research Studio is "'Exotic' Art and Architecture in Switzerland": We will discuss issues of exoticism, orientalism and other forms of “othering”, race and national stereotypes, colonial heritages and other related topics. The Studio aims at mapping different forms of Exoticism in buildings, but also material objects or ephemeral events of the early-modern period.

Material Commons and the City: ZurichThis Research Studio focuses on the material commons of Zurich and explores how local material resources influence the aesthetic, construction and craft cultures. It attempts to answer questions as: What are the material commons and how do architects and other citizens engage with them? How do material resources produce a common architectural and urban idiom?

The subject semester (to choose out of two topics) includes the individual, independent processing of a specific task, whereby the relevance of the respective discipline is examined with regard to the specific architectural and design aspects of the task.

Neighborhood: A collective manifestoOn the occasion of the project "Neighborhood" for the Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023 by Karin Sander and Philip Ursprung, the students will produce their own writings and read theoretical text from a syllabus.

A History Research Studio fostering in-depth research where each student will propose and then develop their own individual project.

This Research Studio focuses on the entanglements of the architectural and urban histories of Switzerland and the history of global colonialism. Through architecture-specific research methods, it investigates how centuries of colonialism have historically influenced the aesthetic, construction and craft cultures of Swiss cities, and explores ways to engage with these contested legacies today.

A History Research Studio fostering in-depth research where each student will propose and then develop their own individual project.

The subject semester (to choose out of two topics) includes the individual, independent processing of a specific task, whereby the relevance of the respective discipline is examined with regard to the specific architectural and design aspects of the task.

"Who Cares?" Architecture and Care: A collective ManifestoWhat is care? Therapy, prevention, maintenance, affection, empathy, monitoring, paying attention?Who takes care? Nurses, doctors, family members, scientists, shamans, architects?What is cared for? Children, melting glaciers, birds, decaying houses?Students are invited to give answers to these questions.

Housing Commons and the City: ZurichFocuses on the housing commons of Zurich, namely collectively owned, non-profit forms of housing ownership (e.g. cooperatives). In the ways that they have been produced, managed, used, maintained, and appropriated, housing commons offer new perspectives to think about contemporary urban challenges such as densification, housing demand, and sustainability.

The theme of this History Research Studio is ‘Female Agency in Architecture before 1850’. The Studio aims at exploring the crucial role women played in the birth, life and afterlife of buildings in the early modern period. We will study female patronage, authorship, and criticism in architecture.

In this research semester, we address the topic of Zero Emissions Building Design, which integrates aspects of energy, materials and technology, human behaviour and comfort into architectural design, aspiring synergetic design solutions.

The subject semester (to choose out of two topics) includes the individual, independent processing of a specific task, whereby the relevance of the respective discipline is examined with regard to the specific architectural and design aspects of the task.

Paying Attention: A Collective Manifesto.Attention is a rare commodity. How do we deal with attention? How is it manipulated? Who pays?Students produce autonomous texts.

Zürich’s Land CommonsThis Research Studio focuses on the land commons of Zürich and explores how the ways in which land is managed and appropriated influences the construction of the city. What are land commons and how do architects and how do architects and other citizens engage with them? How do they help us in addressing the social, political, and environmental challenges of our time?

A History Research Studio fostering in-depth research. We will be working together on a specific theme of the early-modern period, with each student developing an individual project.