Anna MacIver-Ek und Axel Chevroulet have commenced their interim professorships at the Chair of Urban Architecture at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Their architectural designs challenge conventional construction techniques with the goal of reducing material usage and enhancing the potential for recycling. They seek to create architecture that embraces its environment rather than isolating itself from it.
In their teaching at TUM, MacIver-Ek and Chevroulet are dedicated to exploring the project titled "Dirt": How can architecture learn to live with dirt and value it as a resource? The interim professors challenge conventional standards of cleanliness and order that lead to environmental issues like flooding and urban heat islands. Together with their students, they intend to explore how architecture can incorporate dirt and utilize it as a resource. This includes developing innovative concepts and allowing nature back into buildings.
With their interim professorships, MacIver-Ek and Chevroulet continue their search for alternative forms of practice and bring their experiences from co-founding the collective la–clique, which investigates horizontal hierarchies and the use of collective intelligence. Their progressive approach and their recognition with the Swiss Art Award for Architecture in 2021 highlight the innovative contribution they they are set to make at TUM in the upcoming summer semester.