Conference

The international conference Questions for Our Time: Architecture Theory Today brought together leading scholars in architectural theory and history at TU Berlin to discuss the relevance of theoretical thinking in the face of contemporary social, technological, and ecological challenges. Following the opening remarks by Jörg H. Gleiter, Anja Sieber-Albers, and Sophia Ungers, the first panel featured Tom Avermaete, Sandra Meireis, Lara Schrijver, and Frederike Lausch in a discussion on the relationship between architectural theory and critical theory. The second panel brought together Joseph Bedford, Jasper Cepl, Ole W. Fischer, and Prof. Dr. Adria Daraban to examine the temporal dimensions of architectural theory and its position between historical continuity and future perspectives. This was followed by a roundtable discussion with Jörn Janssen, Fritz Neumeyer, Werner Oechslin, and Jörg H. Gleiter on the relevance of architectural theory for contemporary research and practice. The final panel, featuring Beatriz Colomina, Wolfgang Schäffner, Albena Yaneva, and Klaus Platzgummer, explored artificial intelligence, architectural intelligence, and non-human agency—including biological actors such as bacteria—and their implications for contemporary architectural theory and practice. The conference concluded with a keynote lecture by Mark Wigley.