Failed Architecture (FA) is a research platform that aims to open up new perspectives on urban failure – from what it’s perceived to be, what’s actually happening and how it’s represented to the public. Supported by a website, travelling workshops and a series of lectures, FA seeks to develop ongoing and open conversations with experts and the public at large.

We find it crucial to examine architecture not just from an architectural discourse. Since architecture is a product of the political, economic and social conditions of its time, it should be scrutinized as such.

Observing and living in a time of crises, speculations, vacancy, mega developments and the inflation of the architectural profession, we are often astonished by what is happening to our built environment – both physically and ‘behind the scenes’. Simultaneously, the best visited online architectural media are preoccupied with the eye candy produced by architects, without being critical about current or future developments. Nevertheless, we feel that there is a demand for more holistic, 360-degree observations that lay bare the downsides of urban development and architecture in order to learn from past and contemporary failures.

Mission

By using the maxim ‘failed architecture’ we aim to raise questions. What is failure? Which criteria do we/ can we use to define failure? According to whom has something failed? If perceived as failed, what caused this and what are its effects? We understand architecture as the outcome of larger urban dynamics, which are therefore at the core of our research. By exploring a wide range of viewpoints – e.g. residents, architects, planners, developers and artists – we aim to provide some possible answers to the aforementioned questions. This will provide us with broad insights into how the relationships between design, politics, economics, culture and human behavior can literally and representatively (re)shape our built environment.