Learning from Environmental History and Theory: Agency of Others
Tulay Atak
Institute of Architecture , Theory of Architecture
2026S, scientific seminar (SEW), 3.0 ECTS, 2.0 semester hours, course number S05767
Description
Environmental history and theory provides a way to consider architecture in relation to histories of energy, extraction, infrastructure, production, supply chain and labor. The environmental lens on history is a way to encompass all the elements of the built world (people, place, technology), allowing for making connections across a variety of scales from building details to cities. Environmental history and theory provide ways to consider architecture’s disciplinarity, how research is defined in architecture and how architecture incorporates knowledge from other disciplines. It offers a vantage point where the limits of the discipline come into view, where new affinities can be drawn and articulated, and where we can ask the question, “how do we know what we know?” and “what can we do with what we know?
Studying the works of figures like Rachel Carson, Wangari Maathai, Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, Michelle Murphy, this course will particularly address the role that women have played in environmentalist movements and in the development of environmental humanities, focusing on reproduction / production, care / cure, experimentation / control as primary themes. We will be studying and analyzing how these themes can be located within the discipline of architecture in historical and contemporary case studies and texts. As we consider concrete example, we will discuss the agency and accountability of architecture as a field.
Examination Modalities
Weekly readings, class discussions and short writing assignments.
Dates
Wed, 11 March 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar Room 24
Wed, 18 March 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar room 35
Wed, 25 March 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar Room 24
Wed, 15 April 2026, 10:45–12:15 Lecture Room 1
Wed, 22 April 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar Room 24
Wed, 29 April 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar room 35
Wed, 06 May 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar Room 24
Wed, 13 May 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar room 35
Wed, 20 May 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar room 35
Wed, 27 May 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar room 35
Wed, 03 June 2026, 10:45–12:15 Lecture Room 1
Wed, 10 June 2026, 10:45–12:15 Lecture Room 1
Wed, 17 June 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar room 35
Wed, 24 June 2026, 10:45–12:15 Seminar room 35
Course Enrolment
From 02 February 2026, 09:00
The online registration was already closed
Curriculum Allocation
Art Education: subject kkp (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.80
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.80
TransArts - Transdisciplinary Arts (Bachelor): Theoretical foundations: Theoretical foundations 180/003.01
Architecture (Master): Expertise: Theory: Theory of Science and Theory of Society 443/003.03
Expanded Museum Studies (Master): Electives: Theory and History of Architecture 537/080.22
Media Arts: Specialisation in Transmedia Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie und Geschichte : Architekturtheorie, Architekturgeschichte 566/208.06
Media Arts: Specialisation in Digital Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie, Geschichte: Architekturtheorie, Architekturgeschichte 567/208.06
Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften (Master): Electives Area 2: History and Theory of Architecture 568/006.13
Design: Specialisation in Design and Narrative Media (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Fundamentals: Humanities 576/203.02
Design: Specialisation in Design and Narrative Media (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Fundamentals: Ecology, Ethics and Sustainability 576/203.04
Design: Specialisation in Communication Design (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Humanities 577/203.02
Design: Specialisation in Fashion Design (1. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Free Elective Pool Methodological and Theoretical Basics 584/103.80
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Media Theory,Art&Knowledge Transfer,Th. of Architecture,Th. and Hist. of Design 605/202.02
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Free Electives out of Scientific and Research Practice 605/202.80
Co-registration: possible
Attending individual courses: possible