EAST / TACKLE THE TYPE : DORMITORY CONFERENCES

13h00    Anja Fröhlich "Bed Landscape as Sleeping Arrangement. About Typology of the Dormitory in Architecture."
13h15    Michael Mönninger "Space and Dream. Spheres of Sleeping in Art, Literature and Architecture"
13h45    Christina Sonderegger "Bed stories - Sleeping in four Centuries. An Exhibition of the National Museum Zürich"
14h15    Estelle Lepine "The bed as a founding element in the design of mountain huts"

15h45    Beatriz Colomina "The Bed in the Age of Covid 19"
16h15    Claudio Bassetti "Sleep: Problem and occasion"
16h45    Arne Winkelmann "Sleeping lined up. The Political of Accommodation.

17h45    Closing Jazz Concert Marcel Maffli, Contrebasse, Fedia Amice, Guitare, Denis Maffli, Guitare

Architectural types are defined by identifying similarities inherent in objects, whether due to their form or program or both. Their manifestations result from a process of development characterised by the adaptation of the type to its environment – with territorial, social and economic factors. Some program related types evolve and others disappear. The dormitory-room-type has a long cultural tradition, and today it is a rather marginal architectural phenomenon. 
The collective dormitory was replaced by the individual sleeping and the unitarian space was replaced by the addition of smaller cells. To understand the essence of this type, we will explore history as a treasure trove and our collective cultural memory. As a large room to accommodate sleepers, it is determined by both idealistic features such as community and social belonging along with an efficient use of space. The dormitory is also a space of confrontation between the individual and the collective whole. If its design is dominated by the idea of sharing, it does not exclude the smallest individual unit of the bed – most of the time as a piece of furniture also expected to organise the plan.

The conference will look at the phenomenon from architectural, social, scientific and political perspectives in order to discuss what we can learn from this obsolete architectural type.