#35 ArchDiploma 25 – Rethinking Existing Structures
In this episode, we provide a first insight into archdiploma 2025 “Rethinking Existing Structures,” which presents graduation projects from the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning at TU Wien and highlights the issues that are shaping a new generation of architects and planners.
At the beginning of the episode, curators Heike Oevermann and Harald R. Stühlinger discuss the concept and significance of the format. This is followed by three graduates—Ruth Höpler, Tatjana Riedel, and Johannes Paintner—who talk about their journey through the diploma process: their motivations and methods, the challenges they encountered, and how their topics are continuing to develop in professional practice today. The discussion addresses social spaces, material responsibility, and civic engagement, as well as the question of how teaching, research, and practice must be more closely interconnected in the future.
Further information
archdiploma 25 “Rethinking Existing Structures”
57 diploma projects. 23 research units. 2 degree programs. 1 university.
As the first thematically focused diploma exhibition of the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning at TU Wien, archdiploma 2025 places the treatment of existing structures in all its diversity at the center. Outstanding graduation projects from the faculty’s research units will be on display from November 20–22, 2025, at the Funkhaus, Argentinierstraße 30A, Vienna.
Ruth Höpler studied spatial planning at TU Wien and completed her master’s degree in 2023. Since 2020, she has been working at the future.lab of the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning at TU Wien. Initially, she focused on collaborative housing projects and mixed-use development, which also formed the basis of her master’s thesis. She is currently involved in various projects in the context of social innovation and transformation processes in urban and spatial planning.
Heike Oevermann is a professor of heritage conservation and building in existing contexts at TU Wien, holding both a PhD and habilitation. Her career is marked by numerous teaching and research positions across Europe, including at Humboldt University of Berlin, Università Roma Tre, and as a visiting lecturer at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. With a background in architecture and heritage studies, her research focuses on transformation processes, particularly of industrial and urban heritage, monuments, and housing estates.
Johannes Paintner studied architecture at TU Wien and OTH Regensburg. In his diploma thesis, he explored civil society activism and the actors advocating for the building transition, with a particular focus on the preservation of buildings at risk of demolition. He currently works at Dietrich Untertrifaller Architekten and has previously worked, among others, at Muck Petzet Architekten and at the Department of Heritage Conservation and Building in Existing Contexts at TU Wien.
Tatjana Riedel studied architecture at TU Wien, where she completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and worked as a student assistant. In her diploma thesis, she critically examined the use of resources in the construction industry and explored how the relationship to building culture can be communicated to a broader audience through art. After graduating, she began working at Juri Troy Architekten in Vienna.
Harald R. Stühlinger studied architecture and art history in Vienna and Venice and earned his doctorate at ETH Zurich with a dissertation on the competition for Vienna’s Ringstrasse. He is currently engaged in ongoing research projects in the field of building culture and the digital mediation of architectural and urban history. He has published extensively on the history of architecture, urban planning, and photography from the 19th to the 21st century. In addition, he works as an independent curator and has realized exhibitions at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, ETH Zurich, the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, Bayt al Sennari (Cairo), and Vienna City Hall. In 2023, the collective Parity Group, of which Harald R. Stühlinger is a founding member, received the prestigious Swiss Meret Oppenheim Prize for its engagement in gender equality within architectural practice.
Credits
Episode #35
Concept and hosting: Madlyn Miessgang
Recording, audio, and editing: Lisa-Marie Kramer, Madlyn Miessgang, Nico Schleicher
Photo credits: archdiploma 25
ZUKUNFT STADT Podcast – Production:
Larissa Benk, Lisa-Marie Kramer, Lena Hohenkamp, Madlyn Miessgang, and Nico Schleicher
Intro music: Jakob Kotal
The podcast ZUKUNFT STADT is a project of the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning at TU Wien. It is produced through a collaboration between the future.lab and the Department of Local Spatial Planning at TU Wien.