JOVIS Research – serie

Newly constructed embassies simultaneously convey prestige and establish a national identity. Their primary aim—to represent a state in a foreign country and reflect its societal self-image—turns them into political symbols. Over the past 5 years, Germany has consistently sought to express itself through the distinct architecture of its government buildings in other countries. In particular, the new diplomatic buildings constructed during the forty-year division between the GDR and FRG document the close relationship between political, cultural, and personal choices and their contexts. From their extraterritorial positions, the buildings offer an expanded view of history and self-conception. To this day, they continue to shape representative architecture abroad.

Der Bau von Hochhäusern ist oft von emotionalen Diskussionen begleitet: Der Gebäudetyp wird einerseits als Lösung für die aktuellen Herausforderungen an die Städte gesehen, anderseits als ästhetische Unmöglichkeit oder Ausdruck einer unerwünschten Gentrifizierung. In aktuellen Entwürfen zeigt sich eine typologische Erschöpfung, die in starkem Kontrast zum strukturellen Reichtum der Hochhäuser früherer Jahrzehnte steht. Anhand eines Katalogs von Projekten gibt Falk Schneemann einen kritischen Überblick über die Entwicklung der Hochhäuser Westdeutschlands zwischen 945 und 98 . Mithilfe technikphilosophischer und technikgenetischer Ansätze zeigt er Brüche und Innovationsmomente auf, die zu einem grundlegenden Verständnis des Bautyps beitragen und eine bessere Einschätzung aktueller Entwicklungen ermöglichen.

All around the world, new technologies are being implemented to help meet modern challenges such as climate change, pollution, and resource scarcity in the context of the digital transformation. The use of AI, ICT, real-time information, and Big Data is significantly changing the shape of the city and, as such, making new demands on urban spaces.This book reveals the specific and vital spatial dimension of urban digitalization processes at neighborhood level. Using three examples from German-speaking countries, Radostina Radulova-Stahmer demonstrates the necessity of orienting urban development towards the common good in in the context of the digital transformation.

New Belgrade represented a material and social experiment for a new society in post-war Yugoslavia. As the city and the country were being simultaneously built, the philosophy of praxis was developing in both the Yugoslavian and the international scene. Praxis of Collective Building deals with the interactions between this school of thought and the histories of architectural construction sites. By closely studying the microhistories of construction, the author considers the theoretical problems of collective production through different narratives: voluntary youth actions in the construction of New Belgrade through the lens of Marxian praxis, participative prefabrication as a way of addressing housing shortages in Yugoslavia, and the transfer and adaptation of the Yugoslavian prefabricated system to the Cuban context by the microbrigade movement.

From early modernist designs like Hans Poelzig’s archetypal gas station to the Stuttgarter Schule standardized filling stations on the Reichsautobahn, and through to Lothar Götz’s modular post-war constructions—which paved the way for the standardized corporate designs that flourished later—gas stations have been a key element of our surroundings since the 1920s. While the design and construction of gas stations has since become a significant area of work for well-known architecture and engineering firms, this type of building has thus far received barely any attention in academic discourse. Franz Arlart examines and systematizes the development of gas stations in Germany with reference to the architects that designed them. Taking into account functional, technical, and symbolic considerations, this book presents the architectural development of the building type from 1920 to 2020 and outlines the trends that will shape gas station design going forward.

What makes some regional architecture more famous than others? The Making of Alpine Architecture investigates the cultural construction behind contemporary Alpine architecture, exploring the events, publications, and buildings that have shaped architectural discourse on an international scale. With a particular focus on the Austrian Vorarlberg and the Swiss Grisons, the book examines the underlying dynamics and traces how shifts in architectural criticism from the late 1980s onward have fostered a new cultural image of the Alps. By weaving together historiography and detailed case studies, it reveals how strategic cultural interventions not only shaped regional identity but also influenced the quality and reception of architecture far beyond the mountains.Examines Alpine architecture and its global receptionMerges cultural theory with case studies including works by Peter Zumthor, Valerio Olgiati, Gion A. Caminada, and othersIdentifies strategies to strengthen regional architectural identity and quality

Housing Greece offers a critical perspective on state housing through the lens of emergency. Examining key episodes in Greece’s modern history, the book reveals how turbulent factors, such as migration flows, warfare, natural disasters, political instability, and economic crises have shaped state housing policy from its early developments until today as ad hoc interventions. Drawing on extensive archival research and fieldwork, each chapter is anchored in a specific emergency, from the 1922 refugee crisis following the Asia Minor Catastrophe to the 2008 economic meltdown and the 2014 Mediterranean refugee influx. Alongside these historical accounts, interviews with architects, urban planners, sociologists, and humanitarians connect past responses to today’s housing challenges. State of emergency as a lens through which to view state housing policyHistorical crises in Greece’s modern history in dialogue with today’s housing challengesBased on extensive archival research, fieldwork, and interviews with experts from practice and academia

Economic, ecological, and social crises not only become manifest as interruptions in societal development, but also as spatial phenomena. A key example of these are urban wastelands such as abandoned factory sites, large-scale unoccupied residential buildings, and unused spaces at street level. They are the visible results of urban change, highlighting challenges for disciplines such as architecture and urban design.This book explores urban transformation using the concept of urban voids. Wastelands hold manifold possibilities for urban development, as it is here that the strategies of planners meet the collective and self-managed tactics employed by local residents. The author analyses case studies from Latin America in order to open up future angles for space-shaping disciplines in Europe.

The structural manifestations of digital data usually remain shrouded in secrecy. Katharina J. Neubauer has visited all of Google and Facebook’s data centers in Europe, and here presents an architectural and spatial discussion of these buildings. Directly confronting the structures draws our attention to their existence, their size and—imultaneously—heir inconspicuousness. They are buildings of enormous societal importance that are not intended to be viewed or understood; yet the author has done so here, and recorded them through photographs and drawings.