Guest Lecture: “Architectural Research: Formal & Functional” by Patrik Schumacher

Thursday, 20 November 2025, at 19:15 CET
Auditorium of the Faculty of Architecture 

 Patrik Schumacher
“Architectural Research: Formal & Functional” 

The lecture focuses on the methodology and pedagogical work of Patrik Schumacher within the Design Research Laboratory (AADRL) at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, as well as on contemporary approaches in the rich body of work of Zaha Hadid Architects. Topics to be addressed include the relationship between theoretical thinking and experimental practice, reflections on the role of contemporary technologies in formulating new design methodologies, and the historicization of contemporary styles such as Parametricism and Tectonism, among others. 

 Biography 

Patrik Schumacher is a British-German architect and architectural theorist. He is Principal of Zaha Hadid Architects, whose history he has significantly shaped as Zaha Hadid’s long-time partner. Since 1996, he has been teaching at the AA School within the Design Research Laboratory (AADRL), which he co-founded. He has also taught at the Technical University of Berlin, Innsbruck University, Vienna University of Applied Arts, as well as Harvard University, and is currently engaged as a PhD supervisor at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP), Tongji University in Shanghai. He received his PhD in 1999 from the Institute for Cultural Science at the University of Klagenfurt and is the author of The Autopoiesis of Architecture vol. 1 and 2 (John Wiley & Sons, 2011/2012) and Tectonism: Architecture for the Twenty-First Century (The Images Publishing Group, 2023). Patrik Schumacher is the 2025 laureate of the European Prize for Architecture. 

 This lecture is organized as part of the course Architectural Philosophy.