Movement and mobility appear as categorical counter-concepts to the static and stationary nature of architecture – but only at first glance. Indeed, on the one hand, buildings can be dynamic and seemingly in a state of flux by virtue of their formal design. On the other hand, and even more remarkably, the perception of architecture, both on the part of the built structures themselves as well as on the part of the recipients, often incorporates aspects of mobility. In Europe, for example, doors, gates, and other parts of buildings such as windows, ramps, and bridges have been moved for a good 5,000 years, while the supposedly passive, built architecture has been experienced in movement on foot, on horseback, and from carriages, thereby being animated and set in motion. A motionless, static perception of architecture thus poses an exception rather than the rule. The technological transformation of modern life has, under initially thermodynamic auspices, from steam and combustion engines to the current upswing in electromobility, engendered new modes of dynamic architectural perception, which we would like to examine in the course of an interdisciplinary conference. Its emphasis lies on both mobile architectures and on mobile architectural perception as well as all their manifold amalgamations, which are jointly considered as a coherent aspect of modern architectural experience. To this end, the term "architecture" is understood in a decidedly broad sense, encompassing in particular areas of design. For example, mobile furniture or means of transport and their interiors are included as locomotive architecture.

Given the new experiences of speed in trains, streetcars, automobiles, and airplanes, new horizons of architecture perception have unfolded since the 19th century, which were, in turn, linked to urban, peripheral, and rural spaces. Crucial in this regard is also an accentuated physical passivity of the viewing subject, who, soon no longer an active flaneur, could observe from a mobile viewpoint in elevators and on escalators effortlessly and at ease. In contrast, doors, gates, and barriers today often move as if by magic, triggered by motion detectors or digital control, thus exhibiting their own architectural agency. The incentive to act no longer rests exclusively with the viewer, who is guided and even controlled in his or her architectural perception by sign systems, wayfinding, and speed regulations. In this way, architectures often harness the visual axes determined by runways, track and road layouts, taking into account not only the viewer's point of view, but also the respective travel speeds.

These architectural perceptions are specifically modern not only because accelerated locomotion has been increasingly democratized by the train and the car, but also because the interdependence of speed, space, and time has formed a genuinely modern model of thought at least since the theory of relativity. If, following this model, attention is directed to the location of the actual impetus for movement, different variants of perception can be distinguished phenomenologically. For example, it is possible to describe a largely static observation of (parts of) architecture in motion, which is juxtaposed with perceptual processes in which the recipients themselves are in motion while observing static buildings. For modernism, however, integrative hybrid forms of these two constellations seem to be particularly characteristic. In such cases, the perception takes place from within architecture that is itself in motion – e.g., from a moving train, a car, or an escalator. Here, ultimately, perceptions of static architecture and architecture that is itself in motion can be distinguished, for example, when a moving train is observed from a moving car.

Organized by Atreju Allahverdy and Thomas Moser.