What Is (or Was) Architectural Theory? Crises, Blind Spots, and the New Paradigms of 1967 Symposium on the Legacy of the 1967 Berlin Conference on Architectural Theory

Nov 12 – Nov 13, 2026, 9:30 AM – 8 PM
DAM-Auditorium

Participation fee: museum admission (€12 per day; reduced rate €7; students and CCSA affiliates are admitted free of charge).
No pre-registration required.
The symposium has been accredited with 16 education credits by the Chamber of Architects and Urban Planners of Hesse (AKH).

In English

Architect Oswald Mathias Ungers would have celebrated his 100th birthday in 2026. Among his many achievements worth remembering—especially at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, which he designed—is the conference on architectural theory that he initiated at the Technical University of Berlin in 1967.

The 1967 conference emerged from discussions surrounding the establishment of what was intended to become the first chair of architectural theory at the Technical University of Berlin. To explore this question, Ungers brought together a group of potential candidates alongside established scholars and asked what architectural theory was—and what role it could play within a faculty of architecture. In fact, the first chair of architectural theory at the Technical University of Berlin was not established until 1993. Despite considerable protest, the chair is being abolished in 2026.

Now, nearly sixty years after the original event, we will revisit and reread the 1967 conference while tracing the development of architectural theory up to the present day. This also means examining its omissions and blind spots. Which positions that were not represented at the time should be taken into account in light of what we know today?

The symposium is organized by the DAM – Deutsches Architekturmuseum and the CCSA – Center for Critical Studies in Architecture, generously supported by the Wüstenrot Foundation and in collaboration with the DFG-funded Research Training Group Organizing Architectures.

Generous support by the Wüstenrot Foundation

SPEAKERS Joseph Bedford, Sarah Borree, Chris Dähne, Oliver Elser, Daniela Fabricius, Christiane Fülscher, Stéphane Gaessler, Frida Grahn, Hilde Heynen, Frederike Lausch, Hannah Le Roux, Hua Li, Cristina López Uribe, Anna-Maria Meister, Daniela Ortiz dos Santos, Sol Perez Martinez, Jörg Pampe, Sascha Roesler, Carsten Ruhl, Gabrielle Schaad, Dirk Schubert, Kathrin Siebert, Tobias Freimüller, Theodora Vardouli, Macarena de la Vega de León Großzügig unterstützt durch die Wüstenrot Stiftung

12. November 2026 — DAY 1

 9:00 Uhr (Museum öffnet um 8:30 Uhr) 

Opening remarks
for the CCSA: Frederike Lausch / Oliver Elser

Session: The 1967 Conference in its Context

9:15 Uhr

Keynote: Vorsicht Architekturtheorie! (in English)

Daniela Fabricius, UPenn, Philadelphia

10:00–12:30 Uhr

Clustering ’67

Moderation session: Christiane Salge, TU Darmstadt / CCSA

Cluster 1 / Skepticism, Pessimism, Participation
Key figures: Achleitner, Burckhardt, Conrads, Posener, Rowe
Oliver Elser, DAM / CCSA

Cluster 2 / Architecture as Technology, Environment, and Process
Key figures: Banham, Blake, Corboz, Feuerstein
Anna-Maria Meister, KIT Karlsruhe / Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence – Max Planck Institute / CCSA
Frederike Lausch, ENSA Grenoble / CCSA

Cluster 3 / Towards a New Science
Key figures: Janssen, Graf, Joedicke, Sekler, Stevens
Chris Dähne, TU Darmstadt / HfG Ulm Archives / CCSA

Cluster 4 / Architectural Theory as Architectural History
Key figures: Frampton, Hernández, Vogt, Giedion
Daniela Ortiz dos Santos, Goethe University Frankfurt / CCSA
Sarah Borree, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf / CCSA

General discussion (30 minutes)

 12:30 Uhr Lunch break

Session: Missing Voices (I)

13:30–15:30 Uhr

Moderation session: Jorun Jensen, TU Darmstadt

Monica Pidgeon: Publications and Networks
Sol Perez Martinez, ETH Zurich

Frida Grahn, London South Bank University

Jane Jacobs: Her Influence on Germany
Dirk Schubert, HCU Hamburg

Sybil Moholy-Nagy: Teacher and Critic
Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven

General discussion (30 minutes)

 15:30 Uhr Coffee break

Session: Eyewitnesses of 1967

16:00–17:30 Uhr

Jörg Pampe, Berlin and others (tbc)

17:30 Uhr Break

 Session: Influences from the US and Italy

18:00–20:00 Uhr

Moderation session: N.N.

Architectural Theory in the United States before 1967
Joseph Bedford, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg

Ungers and His Connection to Italy
Carsten Ruhl, Goethe University Frankfurt / CCSA

General discussion (30 minutes)

 13 November 2026 — DAY 2

Session: Missing Geographies (I) – Just Behind the Berlin Wall

10:00–12:00 Uhr

Moderation session: Christiane Fülscher, Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts / CCSA

German Democratic Republic (GDR)
Kathrin Siebert, Zurich

USSR: Architectural Theory in the 1960s. Engaging with Western European Debates

Stéphane Gaessler, University of Toronto, Toronto and Paris

China
Hua Li, Southeast University School of Architecture, Nanjing

General discussion (30 minutes)

 12:00 Uhr Lunch break

Session: Missing Geographies (II) – Searching for New Directions in Theory

13:00– 15:30 Uhr

Moderation session: Christine Hieb, TU Darmstadt / Organizing Architectures

Japan
Gabrielle Schaad, Zurich University of the Arts

Australia
Macarena de la Vega de León, ETSA Madrid

South Africa
Hannah Le Roux, University of Sheffield

Mexico
Cristina López Uribe, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

General discussion (30 minutes)

 15:30 Uhr Coffee break

Session: Missing Voices (II) – Missing Perspectives

16:00–18:00 Uhr

Moderation session: N.N.

Ecology
Sascha Roesler, USI Mendrisio

On Christopher Alexander
(Via Zoom:) Theodora Vardouli, McGill University, Montreal

On Alexander Mitscherlich
Tobias Freimüller, Fritz Bauer Institute, Frankfurt am Main

General discussion (30 minutes)

 18:00 Uhr Conference ends

The symposium was organized by the ATK67 group jointly run by DAM / CCSA:

Sarah Borree, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Chris Dähne, TU Darmstadt / HfG Ulm Archives
Christina Clausen, TU Darmstadt / LOEWE project Architectures of Order
Teresa Fankhänel, DAM
Oliver Elser, DAM
Christiane Fülscher, Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Daniela Grotz, LOEWE project Architectures of Order
Jorun Jensen, DAM / TU Darmstadt
Frederike Lausch, ENSA Grenoble
Anna-Maria Meister, KIT Karlsruhe / Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence – Max Planck Institute
Carsten Ruhl, Goethe University Frankfurt
Daniela Ortiz dos Santos, Goethe University Frankfurt

Location:
Deutsches Architekturmuseum
Schaumainkai 43
60596 Frankfurt am Main
Contact: oliver.elser@stadt-frankfurt.de