Architecture & Tourism

Lehrinhalte

Assoz. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Eric Sidoroff:

This course will start with a journey through the history, present and future of
architecture & tourism to deepen the understanding of the relationship between both topics. But! Is Covid-19 changing the rules of the game? We will try to come up with ideas and visions of our built environment and how a new understanding of tourism will change picture of cities and touristic infrastructures in particular.

Everything seems to have changed and a simple return to business as usual seems more and more unlikely, if Pharma industry doesn't find a proper vaccine to end the pandemic.but even if it does, in reality we have to be prepared to have more choices and possibilities to deal with these extreme situations, without having to shut down whole countries.
In tourism the consequences of Covid-19 really forces businesses to rethink their possibilities and come up with new ideas and alternatives.
We are at a moment time, when Universities and other scientific institutions have the task to develop possible scenarios on what a livable and attractive future could look like. And this is, what we try to do this term.

The seminar will be divided into three parts and will give an insight into architecture and its influence on our society, the perception of our environment, our behaviour and its relationship to social and economic issues in our society. The seminar will include informative as well as participatory elements, where students will take an active role during the lessons. We will undertake a small excursion to Innsbruck where we try to experience and understand the city in a more elaborate way.
Part 1: Is there more to it? - The influence of architecture and design on our society and how the image of architecture is being used by
tourism. We will start with a series of questions, trying to find our own views, attitudes and positions towards architecture and design. What is design? Where do we meet design? How is design generated? Is architecture the same thing as design? What does the sentence "form follows function" mean? Is there something beyond? Why is design necessary? What is architecture good for? We will talk about the "decorated shed" and we will be "Learning from Las Vegas". We will try to get beyond superficiality. We will analyse the connection between image and content and try to understand how new ways in tourism lead
to new ways in architecture and design. Or is it the other way around? Part 2:
The meaning of aesthetics in tourism - learning from history to design the future. A new and innovative connection between tourism and architecture in the spotlight of social and economic change. Again, we will try to discuss the question, how the change in our own contemporary epistemic perception of society might also have changed the self-understanding of tourism. Can this change be seen in architecture? We will also envision, where this journey is going to take us, what kind of new developments will happen in the near future.
Alpine tourism will show us the fine borderlines between authenticity and cliché. World exhibitions and Expos show how design and architecture will lead us to a new and sustainable understanding of tourism.
Part 3: Exploring the city we live in. On our one day excursion to Innsbruck we will get to know the city from its architectural side, learn about history, design, innovation, important buildings. But we will also explore and document elements and impressions of the city actively. Not like tourists following some guide like a herd of sheep, but as city users and as urban participants.

Studiengang

Masterstudiengang Entrepreneurship & Tourismus