Personal Statement

Jorg Sieweke focuses on concept, strategy, theory and tactic to inform design of urban landscapes as a critical practice. Sieweke came to the School of Architecture from TU-Berlin in 2009, before he taught design and theory in Dresden, Berlin and Stuttgart. For the past decade Sieweke practiced with Stefan Tischer and Topotek1, before he established his own firm, _scapes. Holding a dual degree he is licensed as a landscape architect and urban designer in Berlin. Sieweke is the recipient of numerous awards, as well as the author and subject of magazine articles and co-author of the book Atlas IBA-Hamburg. Next to his teaching he was successfully invested in design competition as a means of applying and testing his research. His dissertation reflects the methods and principles of design as well as contemporary concepts of nature. His current interest in design theory explores the implications of modernizations on urban landscapes and the agency of landscape architecture to mediate these processes. Consequently his design-research work investigates the limitations and shortcomings of aging mechanistic civic infrastructure and potentials to add value in their more inclusive redesigns. Jorg Sieweke is director of ParadoXcity, a design-research initiative, investigating the struggle for stability of Delta Cities: Venice, New Orleans, Baltimore and Hamburg. He suggests understanding the graduate design program as a framework to draw his research interest into teaching in order to establish a "next practice".