Institute

Giuliana Fronte studied architecture and urban planning at the University of Stuttgart with stays in Rotterdam and Venice (IUAV). She graduated with a Master's thesis focused on how the privatization water infrastructure influences the transformation of cities from an aesthetic, ecological and socio-political point of view and to what extent an alternative urban planning and architectural approach to wastewater can contribute to more resilient structures. Since 2024 she has been teaching and researching as an associate researcher at the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture and Design (IGmA) and works for Studio Urban Strategies, where she pursues a cross-scale and integrative approach in the design of spaces and their transformation processes. Her fields of interest comprise of the socio-political dimension of architecture, urbanism and remembrance culture in the public space. With her research on the rubble mountain Birkenkopf in Stuttgart she made an important contribution to the City Encyclopedia by the City Archive. Together with the Coordination Office for Remembrance Culture, she is also involved in the development of a participatory design process for a contemporary remembrance concept on the site.

In her doctoral project, she focuses on the spatial implications of freedom based on liberal architecture and urban planning discourses and investigates libertarian spatial productions.

Leo Herrmann studied architecture at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and previously studied comparative literature in Munich. He has worked for architectural offices in Germany and abroad, including Sauerbruch Hutton in Berlin and Raphäel Gabrion in Paris. In 2015 he was co-founder and editorial member of the video magazine Mies.DE. In 2017 he received a scholarship from the Sto Foundation and the ARCH+ Association and contributed to several issues of the magazine. Along multiple collaborators he conceived and realized lecture series, exhibitions, publications and interventions in public space. His texts on city, space and architecture have appeared in magazines such as ARCH+, Bauwelt and Kontext. The focus of his responsibility at IGmA is the BBSR research project "Innovation history as reflected in the magazine ARCH+" and the development of an online platform for the publication of its results.

Andrea Irion studied architecture and urban planning at the University of Stuttgart, complemented by a stay abroad in Rotterdam. At the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture and Design (IGmA), she teaches and deals with spatial staging and the interactions between scenery, architecture and urban space. She is particularly interested in the design of leisure and adventure architecture and its influence on urban space. In her projects, she also deals with the interface between the real and digital worlds and the associated possibilities of designing space in a new way.

In addition to her academic work, Andrea Irion works freelance for various architecture firms, agencies and production companies. During her studies, she already gained practical experience in renowned architecture firms and as an assistant production designer for film productions. Her work has won several awards, been featured in specialist publications and presented in exhibitions and at international conferences.

Philipp Krüpe is interested in the political conditions of space and its aesthetics.

He is an architect and associate researcher at IGmA (University of Stuttgart) as well as station+ (Chair Arno Brandlhuber+, ETH Zurich). Currently he scrutinizes the intersections of digital memes and architecture. 

Together with Stephan Trüby he is co-founder of the platform rechteraeume.net, a digital Atlas of Authoritarian (Meta-)politics in Architecture, Urbanism and Culture. He holds a master’s degree in architecture from the Technical University of Munich and worked for the magazines ARCH+ and Baumeister as well as several cultural institutions like Haus der Kunst Munich, Münchner Kammerspiele, Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin and Goethe Institute.

Sandra Oehy studied art history, political science and sociology at the University of Zurich. As a researcher, exhibition organizer and lecturer, she has been working on projects with a focus on the interfaces of practice and theory in the fields of art, design and architecture for many years. In 2016 she curated “Incidental Space” with the architect Christian Kerez for the Swiss pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2014 she was project lead and co-curator (managing curator) of the German contribution “Bungalow Germania” at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale. From 2010 to 2013 she was co-director of the Van Horbourg art space for contemporary art in Basel and Zurich. She was a long-time member of the art acquisition commission of the Canton of Zug and was involved in a variety of international cultural and exhibition projects, including: in Sri Lanka, USA, Finland, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Italy and Germany. As a lecturer and researcher with a focus on exhibition making, she worked at ETH Zurich, Zurich University of the Arts, the University of Zurich, and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). Since 2018 she has been working as a researcher at the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture (Design and Theory) (IGmA) at the University of Stuttgart. Since March 2023, she is also working as a specialist for networks, collaborations and mediation for art in public space at the cultural office of the city of Stuttgart.

Prof. Dr. phil. Stephan Trüby (* 1970) is Professor of Architecture and Cultural Theory and Director of the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture (IGmA) at the University of Stuttgart. Previously, Trüby was Visiting Professor of Temporary Architecture at the State College of Design in Karlsruhe (2007-09), Head of the postgraduate study program "Scenography/Spatial Design" at the Zurich University of the Arts (2009-14), Lecturer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and Professor of Architecture and Cultural Theory at the Technical University of Munich (2014-18). His publications include Exit-Architecture. Design between War and Peace (2008), The World of Madelon Vriesendorp (2008, with Shumon Basar), Germania, Venezia. The German Entries to the Venice Architecture Biennale since 1991 (2016, with Verena Hartbaum), Absolute Architekturbeginner: Essays 2004-2014 (2017), History of the Corridor (2018) and Right-wing Spaces. Political Essays and Conversations (2020).