Our director, Stefanie Adisa, was a guest speaker at the 9th ATO Annual Lecture on Wednesday, 8th of December 2021.
The topic centered around “The Role of Adaptive Design”.
Link to Lecture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw0JS7HY5X4
Freshforte building, our mixed-use building in Lagos was featured in Livinspaces’s “Top ten Buildings of 2020”. The “Top Ten” list, compiled by Yakubu Paul and Olorunfemi Adewunmi, is an annual review of buildings of significant interest in Nigeria.
Link to Article:
https://www.livinspaces.net/interviews-and-articles/my-top-10-buildings-of-2020-in-nigeria/
Studio Elementals and our latest project, Freshorte, was Featured in the Foreign Trade section of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce’s website
Link:
wko.at/service/aussenwirtschaft/oesterreichische-architektin-setzt-wahrzeichen-in-lagos.html
Currently under construction is our new mixed-use facility in Lagos. The design links the concept of recycling with traditional craftsmanship. Re-used intermodal shipping containers become the main structural element. For sun shading, we investigated the potential of traditional rattan weaving on façade panels, which create a transitional space between outside and inside. Stay tuned and find out all details soon.
Architecture:
Studio Elementals
Facade Design:
Studio Elementals, Jeanne Schultz
Interior Design:
S.EA Consulting
Construction:
Adisa Design Studio
Photos:
Medina Sage Dugger
Currently under construction is our new mixed-use facility in Lagos. The engineers and craftsmen and women of Adisa Design Studio (general contractor) have worked hard to bring the complex building design to life.
Here some impressions:
Architecture:
Studio Elementals
Facade Design:
Studio Elementals, Jeanne Schultz
Interior Design:
S.EA Consulting
Construction:
Adisa Design Studio
Photos:
Medina Sage Dugger
Our latest project, Freshforte, was featured on the Open House Lagos’ website, a non-profit organization that showcases outstanding architecture and good design in Lagos for all to experience.
link: http://openhouselagos.com/essential_grid/studio-elementals
Studio Elementals Director Adisa (former Theuretzbacher) was part of the launch of the LUDI Library. The Library on African Urbanism and Architecture is an initiative that responds to the lack of centralized information sources on the peculiar rate, style, and trend of design and urbanization in the African Continent.
According to Stefanie, “A library with African content on culture, architecture, and urbanism is very crucial to gain more knowledge on how to develop content and projects that can be more meaningful in the Nigerian context. Books and other media can inspire deeper research and help us understand valuable lost histories for a more informed approach to designing buildings and cities.”
Follow LUDI on
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ludi_org
Website: https://ludi.org.ng/the-ludi-library-on-architecture-culture-african-urbanism/
On Saturday 7th of November 2020, the Creative Director, Stefanie Theuretzbacher was part of a virtual panel organized by Open House Lagos. The panel explored the concept of the city from the perspective of the female designer.
Co-panelists included Dr. Thaibat Lawanson, Tosin Oshinowo, and Nana Biamah-Ofusu, with Olamide Udoma-Ejorh of the Lagos Urban Development Initiative as moderator.
More on Open House Lagos: http://openhouselagos.com
2020
Out NOW!
New IoA Publication STRUCTURES OF DISPLACEMENT by Baerbel Mueller and Frida Robles, published by Birkhauser, in Die Angewandte’s book series Edition Angewandte.
Structures of Displacement refers to the joint project between the [applied] Foreign Affairs lab of the Institute of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) for the conception and design of the Agricultural Training Center in Harsham Camp in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan (2016 -2019).
The project contributes to the overall UN brief of ”integrated stabilization, economic recovery and reconstruction support for displaced persons and returnees”. As part of the project, [a]FA mapped the camp to identify economic networks, habitats, and individual stories. In order to reflect on the project, Structures of Displacement was also organized as an exhibition and symposium that took place at the Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna in October 2019.
Publishing House: Birkhaeuser
ISBN: 9783035623048
Because of our commitment to sustainability and the environment, the Director of Studio Elementals, Stefanie Theuretzbacher has qualified to be an EDGE Expert. She can now lead a project through the green building certification process.
Follow Edge on https://edgebuildings.com
On Wednesday 9th of September 2020, Studio Elementals Director, Stefanie Theuretzbacher was on a live chat with Olamide Udoma-Ejorh of LUDI. The conversation centered around our work at Studio Elementals.
You can also follow Open House Lagos on http://openhouselagos.com
no 47, May, 2020
Das Kröswang Magazin / Le Fritz Publishing
Our interior Design project “Kofe Club” was featured in the Austrian food and lifestyle magazine, Frisch.
Our director, Stefanie Theuretzbacher, was also interviewed for the article about the Lagos food scene.
March 2020
In the context of the 150-year anniversary of the University for Applied Arts, SLIVER presented as “positions” the works and ideas of graduates from the Institute for Architecture created in the course of the last three decades. This publication presents these as a cross-section through time and as a pulsating exchange covering the challenges faced by the teaching and practice of architecture, research, and design culture in the past, present, and future.
Publishing House: Birkhaeuser
Article contribution by Stefanie Theuretzbacher
The Harsham Camp ATC in Erbil, the largest city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, was officially inaugurated today by Begard Talabani, Iraq’s Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Benoit Wuatelet, UNIDO Programme Coordination Specialist, Stefanie Theuretzbacher, project architect. The opening ceremony was hosted by UNIDO, in collaboration with the [applied] Foreign Affairs Lab of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, who conceived the project.
Harsham is the temporary home of 1500 IDPs, who were forced to leave Ninewa and other northern governorates of Iraq affected by the recent conflict with the Islamic State. Women especially, have few perspectives and possibilities in the everyday life of the camp. The new training center consists of an educational hub, green houses and a garden on 8000 square meters of land. The camp’s inhabitants know how to grow vegetable, now they receive adequate space to supply themselves with fresh food, for communal exchange and income.
Images:
UNIDO
Find more information under the link below:
https://www.unido.org/news/new-agricultural-training-centre-opens-doors-iraqi-idps
We just completed physical models for a large-scale planning project in Nigeria. We used laser cutting and 3D printing to visualise how to combine nature protection and production on 2000 ha of land.
Margit Maximilian, foreign affairs editor at ORF, Austria’s national television, interviewed Stefanie Theuretzbacher in Lagos. They are discussing about the positive aspects of living in Lagos and about the problematic image, that Western media shape of Nigeria and its people.
Together with Aderemi Adegbite, and Olamide Udoma-Ejorh, Stefanie Theuretzbacher was jury member of the logo competition for this year’s German teaching conference in Lagos. We selected the best designs for the German-Nigerian cooperation “Sabi German for Naija”.
Congratulations to the winners Ireyimika Ajala, Blessing Ayomide Adebayo, Sulaimon Adekunle, James Okpare Okemute, Isaac Temitope Busari, Precious Tobore Ohwerhi
Image © Goethe Institute
For more information, see: www.goethe.de/ins/ng/en/kul/sup/sgf.html
800 participants from 60 nations active across all sections of architecture came together at the congress Future of Building 2019 in Vienna, Austria. Among them, spoke Stefanie Theuretzbacher at the panel discussion “EXPLORE THE AFRICAN MARKETS – DIALOGUE WITH AFRICAN COMPANIES AND EXPERTS”. She was invited by “Advantage Austria”, as part of the Nigerian delegation. The conference offered insights in latest technologies, project ideas for sustainable construction and high-quality buildings, smart city solutions, as well as the symbiosis of historical heritage, modern green architecture und high tech.
Find more information under the link below: https://buildings2019.b2match.io
Featured images: WKO
Studio Elementals hosts a Bridge Series Dinner of the Lagos Urban Network starting at our office. The Lagos Urban Network Bridge Series is a monthly series of talk sessions, dinners, film screening nights, debates and other events that bring together professionals and students interested in their city to come together and get engaged in conversations that enrich and promote their shared interests. This series is a chance for young students to network with professionals focused on city development in a relaxed and informal setting over food and drinks. We had good discussions about practicing architecture, youth involvement in urbanism, public spaces in Lagos, and much more.
Find more information under the link below:
https://lagosurbannetwork.com/the-bridge-series/
The Nigeria Institute of Architects invited Stefanie Theuretzbacher as guest speaker and resource person at Lagos Architects Forum 2019. Visit her presentation and seminar stream on spatial and social peripheries and how to do spatial research as an architect at Lagos 10.0 – Architectural Regeneration 2 – The Lagos Response. At the event, you can learn about sustainable architecture, the current economic climate in Nigeria, and latest trends in design and developments of the construction industry.
Thank you, Fitzgerald Umah and NIA Lagos Chapter for your invitation!
Find more info here:
https://nia-lagos.org/speakers/
Hello Nigeria invited Stefanie Theuretzbacher and Fitzgerald Umah, the Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, Lagos State Chapter for a live discussion on Wazobia Max TV. Get to know insights about the Lagos Architect Forum 2019 – architectural regeneration, the Lagos response on energy efficient buildings, sustainable and safe housing, as well as the relevance of architectural expertise in Nigeria.
See the full discussion here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3e6jeE3Uw4&app=desktop
There are too many limitations for creative innovation in architecture in Austria, explains Stefanie Theuretzbacher. At the same time, Nigeria lacks immensely well-trained architects. Read all about the fascination of working with regional materials and our consultancy work in today’s issue of Kurier, one of Austria’s leading newspapers.
Find the full online feature under the link below (in German): https://kurier.at/wirtschaft/unternehmens-gruendung-herausforderung-afrika/400362065
Featured Text: Irmgard Kischko
Featured Image: Medina Sage Dugger
The new agricultural training center in Erbil, Iraq is under construction. The Austrian daily Wiener Zeitung published an article about the collaborative project of the [applied] Foreign Affairs lab (University of Applied Arts Vienna) and UNIDO, and local challenges. Baerbel Mueller, head of the [applied] Foreign Affairs Lab (University of Applied Arts Vienna), and Stefanie Theuretzbacher, the project architect, give insight in the conceptual focus of the project: providing IDPs with the possibility of leading an independent life: by offering training, communal space, food supply and income.
Find the full feature here (in German):
Featured Text: Michael Ortner
Featured Image: UNIDO, Gerald Reyes
Read about the contemporary architecture and art scene in Lagos, Studio Elemental’s long-term vision and the daily life as an architect in Nigeria in the latest issue of the Austrian magazine Architektur & Bauforum.
Interview: Brigitte Groihofer
Featured Image: Larry R. Williams
Online publication (in German):
https://www.bauforum.at/architektur-bauforum/stefanie-theuretzbacher-jenseits-von-afrika-171744
Today, Austrian newspaper Die Presse published a portrait of Stefanie Theuretzbacher talking on her life and professional practice in Lagos, Nigeria. The interview discusses the unique possibilities and challenges for architects working in Nigeria, urban planning in the mega city Lagos, as well as contemporary dynamics of architecture in West Africa and disappearing traditional building practices.
Interview and featured Image: Brigitte Groihofer
Online publication (German): https://www.diepresse.com/5474882/osterreichische-architektin-bdquoin-nigeria-hat-man-viel-mehr-moglichkeitenldquo
The [a]FA Lagos Legacy lab is a joint project by [applied] Foreign Affairs, Institute of Architecture University of Applied Arts Vienna with Legacy 1995. We have been investigating the Nigerian Railway Compound in Ebute-Metta, Lagos, a large open space within the city with several unused or barely use spaces, such as its running shed. Based on the notions of HERITAGE, TERRAIN VAGUE, and SCALE we map the fragility, beauty and potentials of the given site. An interdisciplinary team of students of architecture and art, architects and artists collaborated on different projects on site.
See the online-publication in the link below for more information:
Issue-Publication: [a]FA Lagos Legacy
For information on the Lagos Biennal 2017, go to www.lagos-biennial.org.
Oct 14 – Nov 22
The [a]FA Lagos Legacy lab is a joint project by [applied] Foreign Affairs, Institute of Architecture University of Applied Arts Vienna with Legacy 1995. We have been investigating the Nigerian Railway Compound in Ebute-Metta, Lagos, a large open space within the city with several unused or barely use spaces, such as its running shed. Based on the notions of HERITAGE, TERRAIN VAGUE, and SCALE we map the fragility, beauty and potentials of the given site. An interdisciplinary team of students of architecture and art, architects and artists collaborated on different projects on site.
Teaching: Baerbel Mueller, Frida Robles, Stefanie Theuretzbacher Head: Baerbel Mueller
Partnering institution: Legacy 1995
Local organization [a]FA: Stefanie Theuretzbacher
Local organization Legacy: Sola Akintunde, Mogbolahan Ajala
Guest review with: Olamide Udoma-Ejorh, Amritt Flora, Papa Omotayo, Oyindamola Fakeye
Works by: Adeola Olagunju, Aderemi Adegbite, Cansu Ergün, Frida Robles, Jon Krizan, Katerina Joannides, Mathias Juul Frost, Stephanie Rizaj, Tito Aderemi-Ibitola, Toms Kampars
Curated by: Baerbel Mueller and Stefanie Theuretzbacher
See the online-publication in the link below for more information:
Issue-Publication: [a]FA Lagos Legacy
[applied] Foreign Affairs Lab
www.legacy1995.org.ng
[a]FA is a laboratory of the Institute of Architecture of the University for Applied Arts in Vienna, in which spatial, infrastructure, ecological and cultural phenomena of the Sub-Saharan region are investigated. The concept for each project is based on an interdisciplinary and trans-cultural approach. This publication documents three projects that were carried out between 2011 and 2015. GUABULIGA _ WELL BY THE THORN TREE / ON OTHER PLANNING in northern Ghana, STAGING APAM / ON OTHER ARCHITECTURE at Ghana’s Atlantic coast, and LUBUNGAMODE / ON OTHER ARTISTIC RESEARCH in Kisangani, DR of Congo. The book illustrates the projects’ creative processes and contexts, embedded in contemporary discourses – well-known experts from architecture, art, theory, and urban sociology take a stand.
Editor:
Baerbel Mueller, Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Editorial team:
Juergen Strohmayer, Stefanie Theuretzbacher
Managing editor:
Roswitha Janowski-Fritsch
Research support:
Chrili Car
Layout, cover design and typography:
grafisches Buero
© 2017 Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, Basel P.O. Box 44, 4009 Basel, Switzerland Part of Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin / Boston
Printed in Austria
Purchase publication on amazon
Archiafrika Jamestown Café
High Street, next to Ussher Fort, Accra, Ghana
Opening remarks:
Joe Osae-Addo, Baerbel Mueller, Stefanie Theuretzbacher
Panel discussion:
Baerbel Mueller, Juergen Strohmayer, Kojo Benedict Quaye Aka Sir Black, Mae-Ling Lokko, Victoria Okoye
Moderation:
Joe Osae-Addo
Ddiploma thesis: A hybrid building housing a music school and pedestrian bridge as a complementary structure to the traffic node and broken urban fabric of the Schottentor, Vienna.
The scheme reacts to the site specifically by utilizing an interweaving structure/building set with the landscape and surrounding built environment at the site. By blurring the boundaries the outcome is a park landscape that also acts as urban furniture radiantly forming usable spaces that are then transformed from pavilions to a usable roof-scape as architecture.
The architectural scheme is derived from utilizing a series of wave interference patterns that create the basis for morphology of the terrain and thereby promotve specific directional flows.
An urban, social and cultural condenser as an infrastructure that interconnects pedestrian movements. Programmatically the project covers a range from organized music spaces to impromptu performance venues.The architecture is designed to enhance and promote impulsive and spontaneous musical happenings.
Diploma Thesis project: Design by Stefanie Theuretzbacher
University of Applied Arts Vienna: Studio Hani Rashid
2011-2012
“Narrated-environments.com” is a platform that investigates the connection between architecture and the written word.
The act of drawing and the act of writing are similar. They take the same energy and provoke the same hand movement, they require the same strength and will to put an idea onto paper. Writing is an act of drawing, drawing letters. Drawing is an act of writing in the most figurative sense. The act of moving your hand towards a blank page is the conscious movement of leaving a trace, of carving ink itineraries into space and paper. Architecture as literature starts with a stroke, with a figurative intention of transforming nothing into something. Stories and spaces are the raw material of our disciplines. We think that the creation of places to live, walk, write, paint, enjoy, are better when they are thought in a narrative way. Places are narrated in order to become your own. You cannot reside in an unnarrated place. Space becomes livable through narration. We as an interdisciplinary artist collaboration are engaged with binding architecture and storytelling together. Architects make formal decisions, they design beautiful shapes; writers invent worlds or discover them, they trigger an emotional orientation towards space. Architecture benefits from writing, writing benefits from constructed spaces. A built space makes a profound statement when it has a story behind it.
A project by Frida Robles – Writer (Mexico) and Stefanie Theuretzbacher – Architect (Austria); 2014
