PUBLICATIONS
2026
TU Delft
Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment
Curators:
Jurjen Zeinstra; Dick van Gameren; Ralf Bock
8 Sep. - 16 Oct., 2026
In the 1920s, two significant architectural design theories emerged. One became world-famous. The other fell almost into oblivion.
When Le Corbusier published his Five Points of a New Architecture in 1927, he formulated a manifesto that would have a lasting influence on generations of architects. Adolf Loos, by contrast, never published the principles underlying his most important design concept. It was not until 1931 that his closest collaborator, Heinrich Kulka, coined the term Raumplan. And although the Raumplan ranks among the most significant spatial innovations of modern architecture, its underlying principles were never systematically formulated. Loos conveyed them exclusively through teaching at his private architecture school and through the daily practice of his architectural office. Only through Ralf Bock’s scholarly investigation of Kulka’s letters to Gustav Schleicher has it become possible to reconstruct the Commandments of the Raumplan.
The significance of reconstructing these Commandments lies not merely in the rediscovery of a historical document. The more fundamental question is why a design concept developed almost a century ago should suddenly appear so remarkably relevant today.
Architecture is undergoing a profound transformation. The central challenge is no longer simply to construct new buildings, but to adapt and transform the existing built environment. Resources are becoming increasingly scarce, and existing buildings must accommodate new uses. At the same time, the architectural profession is gradually rediscovering that technical, functional and ecological requirements alone cannot produce good architecture. They are necessary, but they are not sufficient. It is precisely at this point that the Raumplan offers a surprisingly contemporary perspective.
Loos and Kulka never conceived the Raumplan exclusively for new buildings. From the outset, they regarded the transformation and extension of existing buildings as architectural tasks of equal importance. Existing structures were never understood as obstacles, but as starting points for new spatial possibilities. Through their engagement with the existing building fabric, Loos and Kulka developed an architectural attitude that understood transformation not as a compromise, but as a creative opportunity. In this sense, the Raumplan was, from the very beginning, as much a theory of building within the existing fabric as it was a theory of creating something new.
2025
ARCHITEKTURBIENNALE 2025
OUT OF ORDER – BETTER TOGETHER
As you enter the pavilion, you will find a fast-food restaurant on your left, offering a quick and convenient solution. Simply place your order, pay, open the pre-prepared, packaged meal and the chilled disposable bottle, and satisfy your needs as quickly as possible.
However, the display board, which would normally present the available menu options, bears a different message in large illuminated letters: OUT OF ORDER.
Looking towards the other side, you will discover a beautiful setting framed by arches, with a floor that invites you to picnic and sit together. Encounters emerge through individual initiative. Through exchange and interaction, eating and drinking once again become part of our social experience and a shared cultural activity.
You can shape your own space by choosing crockery, cutlery, serving materials, tablecloths and table decorations. The space offers opportunities to settle in, to connect with others and to get to know one another through acts of communication and openness.
6. Oct. – 31.Dec 2021
LIVEABLE PLACES
Spatial installation at the Burghardt Collection featuring photographs by Elias Grüner
(Carpets on loan from Farhad Rahimi)
As an architect with decades of international experience, Ralf Bock now works from his own practice, Bauwerkstadt Ralf Bock, in Vienna. His work is characterised by a holistic approach, beginning with a careful analysis of the surrounding environment.
In his curated spatial installation Livable Places, Bock explores the interior of the Burghardt Collection. He creates a room within a room that appears both open and enclosed, depending on the viewer’s position. Like a spatial shell, it can be entered and exited from different sides.
The walls of Bock’s installation are made of traditional, hand-knotted wool carpets from Iran and Afghanistan. Their ornamental patterns and colours unfold in all their beauty as wall-hung images, creating a warm atmosphere of comfort and shelter.
Like the clothes we wear against our bodies, textile walls form a second skin. They conceal our intimate vulnerability while presenting us to the outside world. Clothing also serves to keep us warm. In architecture, the primordial shelter is the tent made of animal hides, offering protection from the elements. The wall, understood as a material envelope, is closely related to the German concept of Gewand—a garment or covering.
Suspended from the ceiling, the carpets create a space at the centre.
Smaller carpets placed on the floor, in a variety of sizes and formats, define individual places that invite visitors to linger.
The open arrangement of the hanging carpets creates alcoves, bay-like spaces and rooms that adjoin the central space while maintaining a connection to the surrounding environment.
Within this central space, conceived as a space of community, different activities can take place simultaneously. Communal living is understood as an active process that can be shaped flexibly and creatively.
Living is not an act of separation, but of connection with the world.
There is a particular pleasure in sharing the central space with others and engaging in conversation. Photographs are hung along the outer surface of the spatial shell.
Elias Franziskus Grüner’s photographs reflect the young artist’s perspective on built spaces embedded within their lush, almost paradisiacal natural surroundings. Viewed from a variety of angles, the images reveal a sensitive relationship between human beings and nature.
