14.03.11

This morning I attended Oliver Schurer’s ‘Technic and Civilisation’ lecture. The course was taught in both German and English, he would switch confidently between the languages and I believe that I managed to engage well with the lecture. It was difficult at times but it seemed that he would explain in one language and conclude in another, so I felt confident that we were not at a disadvantage in his class. 

He talked us through how ideas in architecture had played a large influence in the creation of technological systems. He explained that some systems were more successful than others and many initial ideas were not brought to fruition until years later when the technology was finally available or invented. He spoke passionately about how science and engineering has been a benefit for people and our lives. Schurer was just as interested by the ideas that had not ever reached the stage of actually working, as to those that were worked through to final concepts or products.

We were then given a list of theoretical and architectural schemes that he felt encapsulated or fulfilled these; we were then asked to research on a chosen scheme and prepare a presentation for discussion at the next session.

The next lecture was with Andreas Hofer on ‘Architecture, Construction and Settlements’. Last week we had discussed formal and informal markets. We had looked at countries across the world and how they had reacted or transformed to political changes – especially to those in Europe.

This week he had decided that due to the earthquake that shocked Japan he wanted to focus on settlements that grew or were created due to disasters. Although not a natural disaster, he chose to look at Tschernobyl, the effects of the disaster, how the government and people reacted to this and then the settlements that were created to re-house those that were affected by this.

I must admit that the lecture made me realise how little I knew on the subject. We spoke about the ecological, cultural, social and economic changes and focused then on the development of Slavutich (built to re-house and re-structure lives after the disaster). The lecture looked at design influences and models used and applied, then moved onto its present state.

The openness of his lectures means that all of his student’s engage willingly with him and the subject. At the end of the session he asked us to prepare a statement and short presentation on ‘Informality in my surroundings’. This related more to our first lecture but was to encourage us to think about types of informality, the advantages and disadvantages to the people involved and how we view these in our lives.