BUA Institution

Technische Universität Berlin

Research Description

My research employs architectural and cultural methods to critically analyse executive architectures, territories and spaces of the border regime. I seek to explore how spatial, technological and aesthetic forms serve instruments of rule and violence, and examine architecture’s complicity with authoritarian and xenophobic state and non-state actors.

Where in the world has your career been largely based until now?

Berlin, but then also many other physical and theoretical spaces.

Why Berlin?

Berlin is a complex and contradictory city – culturally, socially, and spatially. The city helps to understand the multiplicity of past, present, and future conditions.

What fascinates you about your research area?

Architecture is a discipline that permeates many other forms of cultural production. Using a spatial lens allows me to analyse, dissect and deconstruct not only architecture itself, but also the social actions it codifies. By examining border territories, I aim not only to contribute to theories on the relationship between space, power and society, but also to act in solidarity with marginalised groups.

How will your research change the world?

I hope my research can contribute to the broader discourse on border practices by taking responsibility for all forms of spatial production and showing how architectural tools can be employed beyond the building itself.

What major short-term goal are you currently working towards with your research?

My aim is to catalogue and define border space typologies within the EU, as well as the planning and design conditions from which they emerge.

How did you become interested in your specific topic?

Political developments and societal changes have made critical engagements with present conditions necessary.