Negotiating Ungers

In 1980, the German architect Oswald Mathias Ungers participated in a competition for solar housing in the community of Landstuhl, Germany. Ungers’ design was never executed and has since fallen into oblivion, however with the project Ungers most clearly defined his approach to a sustainable architecture.

The project is used as a starting point to take a new look at both Ungers’ work and the concept of sustainability. During a summer school in July 2018 at the Ungers Archiv für Architekturwissenschaft in Cologne, the project was analyzed together with students from the KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture and the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Following the summer school, six students decided to continue their work on the subject and to further expand on the ideas developed in the discussions. The results are now presented in an exhibition at CIVA. Rather than delivering an overall interpretation of Ungers’ project, it represents a plurality of voices, reflections and interpretations of the design. Besides original drawings by Ungers, the exhibition includes installations and analytical presentations, which critically negotiate Ungers’ position on sustainability.