AGENDA
station+ (s+) is a teaching and research platform at the Institute for Design at the Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich. It started in 2017 and is rooted in the collaborative film series Legislating Architecture, The Property Drama and Architecting after Politics (Brandlhuber+ Olaf Grawert and Christopher Roth, 2016 – 2018). These films explored the potential of film and storytelling to popularize discourses on themes, that shape architecture (from theory to practice). Building on this notion, s+ started as an architecture TV station. The idea was to further explore the potential of video and film as design tools for another kind of form-making: beyond the built object, between fact and fiction, in space and time.
Conventional concepts of architecture are countered with proposals that challenge the underlying systematics that limit collective and individual imagining. We need new starting points in order to imagine alternative ways of designing the world. s+ aims at overcoming a retroactive architectural practice that only afterwards, legitimizes its formal decisions through fabricated tales. Instead, we seek to unlock the power of speculative architecting. Through embedding narratives the focus of design shifts from the object and its manifestation, to the argument behind it. Or, as Christopher Roth said: "Don’t complain. Design a strong argument. Compress the argument. If it does not survive compression, it is not a good argument. That is how we make TV."
TEAM
Arno Brandlhuber (DE, 1964) is an architect and urban planner at bplus.xyz (Berlin) a collaborative practice that emerged from Brandlhuber+ (2006-2021). In his architectural production – from buildings to research to media – he is dealing with the existing building stock with a focus on legislation. In doing so, he understands the given not as a restriction but rather as an active design tool to challenge the norms. Besides buildings such as Brunnenstrasse 9, Antivilla or St. Agnes, this approach resulted in three films: Legislating Architecture (2016), The Property Drama (2017), and Architecting after Politics (2018) – together with director Christopher Roth. It was this engagement with the medium of film and its political and spatial potential that led to the founding of station+ at ETH Zurich in 2017. Together with Olaf Grawert and Christopher Roth. A collaboration that continued and resulted in 2038 - The New Serenity; the German Pavillon at the 17th Venice Biennale, together with Olaf Grawert, Nikolaus Hirsch, and Christopher Roth.
Severin Bärenbold (CH, 1987) is a cinematographer and film producer based in Zurich. He studied cinematography in Paris. After graduating he co-founded the video production company Motor Productions, producing a variety of formats ranging from documentary to advertising, music videos and fiction film. His seminar Access to Tools focuses on the technical aspects and skills required in storytelling and the production of video formats and other time-based media. He is teaching with station+ at ETH Zurich since 2017.
Ludwig Engel (DE, 1982) is a futurologist and urbanist based in Berlin. Together with a dense network of collaborators, his post-disciplinary practice spans from teaching, researching, curating, writing, publishing to organizing workshops, conferences, discourse platforms and advising companies and public institutions on the impact of futures and utopias for society’s capabilities to create and design better tomorrows. Together with Julian Schubert he directs the Master’s program „Studio for Immediate Spaces“ at the Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. He is collaborating with station+ at ETH Zurich since 2018.
Olaf Grawert (AT, 1987) plans, writes and talks about architecture with a focus on the political and economic conditions of spatial production. He works collaboratively between Berlin and Zurich in a close network of people and institutions, developing architectural projects between theory and practice – from campaigns, exhibitions, publications and films to teaching and building projects. He works in technical and editorial roles: is partner at 2038 and bplus.xyz (Berlin), co-editor of What is Architecture? and lecturer with station+ at ETH Zurich since 2017.
Pan Hu (CN, 1995) works as a freelance architect and researcher at the Case Studio of Günther Vogt in Zurich. During the past years, he gained experience with FAR in Berlin, Herzog & de Meuron in Basel and Team 2038, the German Pavilion at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021. He further contributed to associated research projects such as Arch+ 236: Posthumane Architektur (2019) or New Modernity (ongoing). Together with Yufei He and James Horkulak, he initiated the research and design collective Dorsa. He is teaching at station+ ETH Zurich since 2022.
Elise Misao Hunchuck (CA) is a transdisciplinary researcher, editor, writer, and educator. Based in Berlin and Milan, Elise’s practice brings together architecture, landscape architecture, and media studies to research, write and teach about the political ecologies of sites in Canada, Japan, China, and Ukraine. She is the journal editor and curator of transmediale festival and an editorial board member for the journal SCAPEGOAT. Currently, she is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at GSAPP at Columbia University. Alongside Marco Ferrari and Jingru (Cyan) Cheng, she co-led the architectural design studio ADS7: Politics of the Atmosphere at the Royal College of Art in London (2019–2022). Elise is researching with s+ at ETH Zurich since 2023.
Alina Ana Kolar (AUT, 1990) is a communication scientist, creative strategist and curator specialised in visual cultures and political semiotics. She works at the intersection of art, activism and social change, with a particular focus on the visuality of political events and representations of the public. An expert in diverse and inclusive management across organisations, Alina has built global partnerships and specialist consultancies that move fluidly through the public and private creative sector. Between 2017-2022, she co-founded and led the international street newspaper, publishing house and philanthropic organisation Arts of the Working Class. She is researching and teaching with station+ at ETH Zurich since 2023.
Jolene Lee (MY, 1993) is a Berlin based architect and partner at bplus.xyz (Berlin). As a practicing architect she is interested in taking concepts and theories into reality. Her tool set encompasses representational narrative in conceptual design, entrepreneurial strategies in architecture and curation of architectural documentation. Since 2017, her architectural projects focus on live, work and third places in collaboration with Brandlhuber+, Muck Petzet Architekten and FAKT Office for Architecture. In her latest exploration, Jolene is researching and teaching with station+ at ETH Zurich since 2022.
Meghan Rolvien (DE, 1995) gained experience as an architect at Brandlhuber+ (Palermo) and Bruther (Paris), as well as a collaborator with NEXPO and Team 2038; the German Pavillon at the Venice Biennale 2021. She works both as an independent architect and in collaboration with ALIAS, Zurich. As part of activist collective ZAS* in Zurich, she deals with the transformation of existing buildings that are threatened to be demolished. As part of her interest in the consequences of demolition, she is further researching the effects of natural catastrophes on architecture, which she was awarded the Heinrich-Hatt-Bucher Prize for. This interest is further reflect in her teaching with station+ at ETH Zurich since 2021.