Soft Architecture HS2026

Lecturers: Roman Kirschner and Vinzenz Leutenegger

Contents and Objectives

The seminar is an introduction into designing (with) spaces. „Soft Architecture“ differs from the classical idea of architecture in that it does not aim to build permanently habitable spaces. It rather encourages students to experiment with existing spaces, to ask what they offer and how they can be adapted to communicate and afford specific atmospheres, narratives, rules, actions and interactions.

Experimenting with spaces comprises experimentation with structures and materials that give these spaces character. Through trial and error, bodily experiences and discussions, students develop their sensitivity and intuition as designers.

This year we will approach this experimentation

uexkull organisms and their sensorium develop together with their environment.

minigolf as small playgrounds.

• exclusion of senses → focus on other. recombine specific senses

• empathy with spaces?

• find choose appropriate materials

• use and get inspired from circulation zone

• final presentation as tournament (what counts? minimal amount of strokes, enjoyability, success in general, maximum strokes, ???)

• themed? how to develop characters for small playgrounds?

• how to communicate understanding towards the goal? is putting a ball into a hole the only goal available?

• rethink rules together with material and spatial structure

with a very special topic and several shifts of perspective. We will explore bodies of water, how they are presented in indoor spaces, and how visitors experience them, putting ourselves in the position of fish. However, we will not only focus on how fish experience these bodies of water and their translucent vessels from the inside, but we will also address the question of whether and under what conditions interactions between fish and humans are generally possible.

Schedule

Course: 14.09. – 08.10.2026, Monday – Thursday: 9-17

Week 1
(Introduction, Ideation and Team Building)

Week 2
(Concept development (Topic/Goal/Spatiality), Prototyping, Game Development (Rules/Realisation))

Week 3
(Final Project Development + Exhibition Preparation)

Week 4

Locations

Indoor:

14.09. 4.D11

15.09. 4.D12

16.09. 5.K07

17.09. 4.D11

21.09. – 01.10. 4.K16

05.10. – 08.10. Galerie 1

Outdoor:

Minigolf Hard
Hardgutstrasse 7
8048 Zürich

Materials

Hazer, overhead projector, short throw projectors all available at Leihs, for the hazer a permission slip has to be filled out at Empfang, not all rooms are suitable for use of hazer

Exhibition Vernissage

8.10., 13:00, Aktionsraum ZT 5.K06

Mentoring

We will prepare doodles for mentoring with time slots of different lengths depending on the progress of the overall project. Reserve your slot, be prepared and be on time. Questions can be asked anytime – also via email.

Deliverables and Documentation

1. Final Prototype or Intervention

2. Final Presentation

3. Standard IAD Documentation (see handbook on wiki):

• Text file including the project title, names of students and mentors, a short description (250 - 400 characters ), and a long description (>1000 characters ), in a file to be labelled “Texts”

• At least 10 representative images of the project (to be stored in a file labelled “Images”)

• One longer video (< 5 minutes) of the project (to be stored in a file labelled “Video”). Mp4 full HD, see wiki for more details on format.

• One to two short social media teaser videos (20-30 seconds) in portrait format.

• A PDF documentation (to be stored in a file labelled “Documentation”)

• Additional raw data, e.g., presentation, prototypes, or codes (to be stored in the respective file).

• Upload your documentation files to: smb://fileredu.ad.zhdk.ch/DDE/BDE_VIAD/01_ABGABEN/24_HS/Sem3_Soft_Architecture/Group

4. Documentation of Exercises:

• Upload your scans to: smb://fileredu.ad.zhdk.ch/DDE/BDE_VIAD/01_ABGABEN/24_HS/Sem3_Soft_Architecture/Individual