Every year in late fall, our institute offers two one-week workshops. We invite external guests to participate. They bring their own exciting perspectives, provide us with new tools, and stimulate discourse at our institute.
 

Alex Bykov is a Ukrainian architect and researcher based in the Czech Republic. His work explores the history and legacy of Ukrainian architecture of the twentieth century. He is the co-author of the books Soviet Modernism, Brutalism, Postmodernism. Buildings and Structures in Ukraine 1955–1991 (2019) and Orthodox Chic (2020). He is also chief editor of the magazine 5.6 issue “Architecture. Community. Time” (2018). Since 2015 he has preserved archives, curated exhibitions and filmed documentaries on Soviet modernism in Ukraine. His recent projects include co-curating Retrotopia in Berlin (2022–2023) and contributing to the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2023. Alex Bykov teaches at the Faculty of Architecture, Brno University of Technology. He leads his studio Alex Bykov Dream Team and runs courses on architectural photography. 

Brief to Superstructure by Alex Bykov:

Soviet modernism was both strange and ambitious: it borrowed ideas from Western architecture, yet at the same time declared its own uniqueness, set against the West and shaped by the Iron Curtain.

In this workshop, we will explore this paradox through the example of Ukrainian Soviet modernism, using archival materials, personal stories and case studies. Our focus will be on public buildings: individual, extraordinary projects that stood apart from mass housing.

Together we will reflect on what was borrowed from global architecture, what was genuinely unique, and what lessons contemporary architecture can still take from this legacy.

Our final outcome will be creating a Supermodel, a collective Superstructure that unites all reflections into one architectural vision.

Mershandlee is an architecture and design studio based in Vienna, founded by Lida Badafareh and Mehrshad Atashi. Their work explores the interplay of architecture with time, place, everyday life, and rituals to capture unrevealed narratives and ambience that inspire new ways of living. Their projects span various scales and formats, including scenography, interiors, furniture, text, video animation, urban projects, and buildings. Mershandlee has collaborated with artists and architects at institutions such as Kunstverein Graz, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and the 2019 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. Their essays have been published in journals such as Drawing Matter, and their work has been exhibited at aut. architektur und tirol in Innsbruck, among others. 

Lida and Mehrshad both hold a Master of Arts in Architecture from Städelschule in Frankfurt and a doctorate in architecture from the University of Innsbruck. In addition, they have taught design studios and seminars at the University of Innsbruck and at the RaumKlasse Institute at UdK Berlin.
 

Brief to Structure by Mershandlee:

Imagining House for Madame d’Haussonville as a site where the ritual of observing and being observed unfolds, this workshop explores the synergy between architecture, narrative, time and participation. We investigate the life of the house across day and night, dusk and dawn. At dawn, Madame d’Haussonville sits before a painting she has painted, carefully studying the expressions of the character whose biography she has been asked to write—while being silently watched by her other being. Every afternoon, she rehearses her sitting session with Ingres. She wants to be a good sitter, and she meticulously studies the impression of her posture. At dusk, she appears as a central figure in a mirror, surrounded by cherished memories of the past and the joy of a once-collective life. At night, she always sleeps standing up, her sleep becoming theatrical. 

During the workshop, students will engage with narrative-oriented descriptions and drawings to imagine structures that enable specific acts and rituals to take place. In groups of five, they will construct one of the following structures: Keeper of Memories, (Auto)biography Observatory, The Sitter and the Painter, and Marionette for Sleeping. The workshop will culminate in a display, showcasing the structures and inviting visitors to become active participants in the narrative and program of the house.