Research Lab 2: Technology, Building Culture and Habitation

About Research Lab 2: Technology, Building Culture and Habitation

The vision of Research Lab 2 is to integrate theory and practice by focusing on research within and across the fields of architectural technology, building culture and habitation.

Architectural technology is understood in the light of the original concept of ‘techné’, which is closely related to the realm of the arts, poetics and tectonics – and thus, obviously, to the field of ‘archi-tectonic’ matters.

Building Culture is understood as the technical practices of building and assembling, as well as the manifold social, political, philosophical and representational concepts of architecture in a historical and present perspective.

Habitation is understood as the relation of architecture to how and under what conditions we live, both as individuals and as a community, broadly understood to include the social, anthropological, and philosophical aspects of living and dwelling together.

These three research fields are connected through cross- and interdisciplinary research groups, sharing a common need to work toward sustainable building practices and critical reflections on future, societal trajectories.

Toward this end, the Lab pursues research in architectural materials, building cultures and technologies, from original craft traditions to current manufacturing methods and emergent, future manufacturing methodologies. It actively engages with the school’s workshops, utilizing practice- and material-based research, establishing paths toward artistic, speculative and applied innovations, via hands-on, full-scale experiments and representations.

The Lab pursues research in history and theory as written, critical inquiry, as well as through practice-based research and experimental modes of artistic development. The Lab pursues research in the architecture of housing, as viewed through historical examples and contemporary building practices, housing typologies, and future speculations.

And finally, the Lab pursues research into the poetics and tectonics of the built environment, broadly understood as the art of building, actively integrating theoretical, technical and artistic competencies.

Through collaboration with architectural practice and related disciplines, from art, anthropology to philosophy, engineering and manufacturing, the Lab seeks to challenge the visions and boundaries of ideas in architecture.

Professor Marie Frier Hvejsel works as a coordinator in Research Lab 2.