Architecture stands at a turning point: many buildings and systems no longer fit a world in constant flux. This studio therefore asks how architecture can be conceived not as a finished object, but as a permanently adaptable system. HIL serves as our real-world laboratory.
We understand buildings as structures that are used and transformed in different ways over decades. Rather than simply renovating or demolishing them, we explore how they can learn, evolve, and accommodate new forms of work, teaching, and exchange. Examples such as the Hagia Sophia, the Eiffel Tower, or the former Hönggerberg pavilions show that architecture endures when it remains flexible.
From this perspective, we see HIL as an in-between condition: neither complete nor fixed. A place where materials, uses, and ideas circulate—like a workshop, a laboratory, or an open campus space. Students are invited to explore how HIL can be reorganised, opened up, or extended without losing its existing substance.
The studio is research-based and experimental. In the first phase, you analyse HIL: its construction, atmospheres, paths, programmes, material cycles, and hidden potentials. In the second phase, you develop your own strategies—from small interventions to new spatial logics that demonstrate how architecture can respond to change.
Projects may be temporary or permanent, local or systemic—what matters is that they articulate a clear position and show how architecture can be rethought in an age of climate change, resource scarcity, and continuous transformation.