What Is (or Was) Architectural Theory? Crises, Blind Spots, and the New Paradigms of 1967

24.06.2026

Symposium on the Legacy of the 1967 Berlin Conference on Architectural Theory

Architect Oswald Mathias Ungers would have celebrated his 100th birthday in 2026. Among his many achievements worth remembering—especially at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, which he designed—is the conference on architectural theory that he initiated at the Technical University of Berlin in 1967.
The 1967 conference emerged from discussions surrounding the establishment of what was intended to become the first chair of architectural theory at the Technical University of Berlin. To explore this question, Ungers brought together a group of potential candidates alongside established scholars and asked what architectural theory was—and what role it could play within a faculty of architecture. In fact, the first chair of architectural theory at the Technical University of Berlin was not established until 1993. Despite considerable protest, the chair is being abolished in 2026.
Now, nearly sixty years after the original event, we will revisit and reread the 1967 conference while tracing the development of architectural theory up to the present day. This also means examining its omissions and blind spots. Which positions that were not represented at the time should be taken into account in light of what we know today?
The symposium is organized by the DAM – Deutsches Architekturmuseum and the CCSA – Center for Critical Studies in Architecture, generously supported by the Wüstenrot Foundation and in collaboration with the DFG-funded Research Training Group Organizing Architectures.

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