Since the beginning of the 21st century, changes increasingly perceived as crises have expanded the range of influencing factors. In addition to […], functional, […], technical-structural, […], legislative, […], economic, and (architectural) cultural factors, […], ecological, […], social, […], existential, […] and ideological parameters have gained massive significance. Architecture as a discipline, and building theory in particular, face the challenge of going beyond the continuation of established ideas to to drive forward transformations and typogeneses—that is, process-oriented (re)developments of architectural types—of (non-)buildings and spaces for habitable and resilient futures. There is an urgent need for answers to the questions regarding the spatial organization of social relationships that have been brought to light by the COVID-19 pandemic, while weather events exacerbated by climate change, material and resource shortages, or large-scale projects such as the mobility transition, call for new types that are not yet to be found in the canon of building theory.

The Teaching and Research Area of Building Theory and Design (LFGE) at the Department of Architecture at the University of Siegen has set out to promote and focus on such transformations and genesis. The new and changing factors influencing the conception, execution, and evolution of architecture are to be identified, described, and translated into typological and design-oriented approaches in collaboration with students and associates. This involves both networking existing expertise within the discipline—particularly within our own department—and cooperatively incorporating perspectives from other disciplines. The foundation for this continues to be the insights of building theory as a field of teaching and research in architecture, which are to be comprehensively conveyed to students and serve as the starting point for investigative, analytical, and design-oriented research in teaching. Building on this foundation, the goal in design is to deconstruct, reassemble, hybridize, and even completely reinvent types.