This is not a Summer School.The International Laboratory ofArchitecture and Urban Design(ILAUD)

31.03.2026, 17h00–18h30, Book presentation [EN]- Room Fl.3.1

Elke Couchez, Isabelle Doucet, Setareh Noorani

The Laboratories LoUIsE, HABITER and Hortence invite you for the book presentation of This is not a Summer School. The International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design (ILAUD), edited by Elke Couchez and Hamish Lonergan and published by gtaVerlag (2025). The International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design (ILAUD) aimed to rethink the city in terms of discourse and pedagogy. It brought prominent architects – including its founder Giancarlo De Carlo and members of Team X – together with teachers and students from Europe and North America. Together they explored issues such as user participation, building reuse, and eclecticism. ILAUD was a barometer and active shaper of theoretical discussions in urban design and architecture in the 1970s and 1980s. Nevertheless, academics have largely overlooked its impact. In this volume, contributors narrate the complex history of the laboratory’s early years and explore its archive through their own conceptual, methodological, and geographical expertise. They shed new light on this pivotal experiment in architecture education, eschewing heroic narratives and individuals in favor of multivocal accounts of design pedagogy. Elke Couchez (ULB), Isabelle Doucet (University of Sheffield), and Setareh Noorani (Nieuwe Instituut) will discuss the challenges of developing polyvocal methods. Which voices were included—and excluded—within ILAUD? By looking beyond the laboratory’s own archives and histories, the speakers will explore how multiple perspectives can be narrated, reconsidering grey areas of authorship in architectural education. Copies are available here: https://verlag.gta.arch.ethz.ch/en/gta:book_176a7359-f328-44b8-9c20-aa9ab49bba12.