ABOUT
Hei,
![Photo by Sophie Valentin](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/58bdc39c1b6432ca56a8c606fe4f4c210abf5369c196e5a210c7e163a3a71ff1/wallgruenau.jpg)
I am Mara Trübenbach — a reflective practitioner in architecture and scholar, teaching at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the Bauhaus-University Weimar. As an Associated Member of the Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity at the Humboldt-University Berlin, I am part of an interdisciplinary team researching a new culture of materials.
I completed my PhD at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design within the research framework TACK / Communities of Tacit Knowledge, as part of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions within the European Framework Program Horizon 2020, led by ETH Zürich. I am strongly interested in the intersection of craft, material and performativity in architecture. My practice-based PhD research Material Dramaturgy explored non-quantifiable embodied and embedded knowing in architectural design processes through interaction with material using hands-on approach.
︎︎︎ 2020-24 Philosphiae Doctor | Oslo School of Architecture and Design
︎︎︎ 2019 BauhausLAB Residency | Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
︎︎︎ 2016-18 MSc Architecture | Bauhaus-University Weimar
︎︎︎ 2017 Semester Abroad | Technical University Vienna
︎︎︎ 2012-15 BA Architecture | University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf
Photo by Sophie Valentin
︎︎︎ 2020-24 Philosphiae Doctor | Oslo School of Architecture and Design
︎︎︎ 2019 BauhausLAB Residency | Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
︎︎︎ 2016-18 MSc Architecture | Bauhaus-University Weimar
︎︎︎ 2017 Semester Abroad | Technical University Vienna
︎︎︎ 2012-15 BA Architecture | University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf
Photo by Sophie Valentin
.
> OBJECT Hermia
*at Warburg Models
*Architectural Association, London, UK
*01-03/2024
* at Warburg Models
*Warburg Haus, Hamburg, GER
*11/2023
*at Unspoken Knowledge
*ETH Zurich
*06/2023
*at Warburg Models
*Guttormsgaards Arkiv, Blaker, NO
*05-06/2021
> SUMMER SCHOOL Re-enacting Tacit Knowledge
in collaboration with TACK
*Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, NL
*09/2021
> INSTALLATION Motion of Scales
in collaboration with Marianna Czwojdrak
*NORDES21 Conference, Kolding, DK
*08/2021
> MASTER’S THESIS Nets Stretched into the Unknown. Bauhaus women in British Exile with the context of the exhibition Notes on Architecture ‘I’m Here’
*Architekturgalerie, Berlin, GER
*07/2021
*M Books, Weimar, GER
*10/2021
> CURATION & EXHIBITION DESIGN Handle with Care: Unpacking a Bulky Table
in collaboration with BauhausLAB 2019
*Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, GER
*09/2019 - 01/2020
> OBJECT Für Draufsetzer Furniture Design
*Chamber of Crafts, Düsseldorf, GER
*10/2014
*at Warburg Models
*Architectural Association, London, UK
*01-03/2024
* at Warburg Models
*Warburg Haus, Hamburg, GER
*11/2023
*at Unspoken Knowledge
*ETH Zurich
*06/2023
*at Warburg Models
*Guttormsgaards Arkiv, Blaker, NO
*05-06/2021
> SUMMER SCHOOL Re-enacting Tacit Knowledge
in collaboration with TACK
*Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, NL
*09/2021
> INSTALLATION Motion of Scales
in collaboration with Marianna Czwojdrak
*NORDES21 Conference, Kolding, DK
*08/2021
> MASTER’S THESIS Nets Stretched into the Unknown. Bauhaus women in British Exile with the context of the exhibition Notes on Architecture ‘I’m Here’
*Architekturgalerie, Berlin, GER
*07/2021
*M Books, Weimar, GER
*10/2021
> CURATION & EXHIBITION DESIGN Handle with Care: Unpacking a Bulky Table
in collaboration with BauhausLAB 2019
*Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, GER
*09/2019 - 01/2020
> OBJECT Für Draufsetzer Furniture Design
*Chamber of Crafts, Düsseldorf, GER
*10/2014
TALK
.
> ROUNDTABLE Let’s Talk Wild
*Bauhaus-University Weimar
*Weimar, GER
*06/2024
> WORKSHOP Material Complicity in collaboration with fashion artist Alexandra Börner
*University of the Arts Berlin
*Berlin, GER
*05/2024
> LECTURE Performing Material Dramaturgy in Architectural Education: A Demonstration Lecture
*Oslo School of Architecture and Design
*Oslo, NO
*03/2024
> LECTURE Material Dramaturgy: Tracing Trails of Dust in the Architectural Design Process
*Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
*Berlin, GER
*03/2024
> ROUNDTABLE Warburg Models: Buildings as Bilderfahrzeuge
*Architectural Association School of Architecture
*London, UK
*02/2024
> LECTURE Māterial Dramaturgy: Celebrating Tenderness in the Architectural Design Process
*MA Spiel&Objekt at Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch
*Berlin, GER
*01/2024
> CONFERENCE Unpacking Hermia
*Final TACK Conference ‘Tacit Knowledge in Architecture’ at ETH Zurich
*Zurich, CH
*06/2023
> CONFERENCE Associations, memories and trust: Material dramaturgy as constructive criticism for future compositions in architecture
*International Symposium 2022 ‘(BUILDING) NEW PERSPECTIVE through Practice-led Research in Art, Design and Architecture’
*Riga, LAT
*11/2022
> CONFERENCE Sculptural puzzle. A conversation essay about model making, rituals and material literacy in architecture
*International Conference TU Darmstadt 2022 ‘Are You a Model?’
*Darmstadt, GER
*11/2022
> LECTURE Methods of Research
*Pre-diploma Course spring 2022
*Oslo School of Architecture and Design, NO
*02/2022
> CONFERENCE Sculptural puzzle. Model making as a collaborative process in contemporary architectural practice
*Storbykonferansen 2021 ‘Urban Crisis’
*Oslo, NO
*10/2021
> CONFERENCE Motion of Scales
in collaboration with Marianna Cwojdrak
*Nordes Conference 2021 ‘Matters of Scale’
*Kolding, DK
*08/2021
> ROUNDTABLE How to Archive Embodied Knowledge?
*TACK/Communities of Tacit Knowledge & Vlaams Architectuurinstituut & Architekturzentrum Wien
*online
*03/2021
> CONFERENCE Presence, presentation & representation: Between model making and mediation of material in architectural pracitce during Covid-19
*CA2RE+ Conference 2021 ‘Reflection’
*Online/ Hamburg, GER
*03/2021
> LECTURE Bauhaus women, displaced objects and British exile
*From the Archives: The history and theory of Norwegian Architecture 1945-1980
*Oslo School of Architecture and Design, NO
*03/2021
> LECTURE Emigrée – London contexts 1930s
*Collecting Architecture: Waburg Models
*Oslo School of Architecture and Design, NO
*09/2020
> CONFERENCE Handle with care: Unpacking a bulky table
in collaboration with BauhausLAB 2019
*Bauhaus Conference ‘Collecting Bauhaus’
*Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, GER
*12/2019
> CONFERENCE Nets stretched into the unknown. Bauhaus women in British exile.
*Design History Society Annual Conference ‘The Cost of Design’
*Northumbira University, Newcaste-upon-Tyne, UK
*09/2019
> LECTURE Nets stretched into the unknown. Bauhaus women in British exile.
*Isokon Gallery, London, UK
*07/2019
*Bauhaus-University Weimar
*Weimar, GER
*06/2024
> WORKSHOP Material Complicity in collaboration with fashion artist Alexandra Börner
*University of the Arts Berlin
*Berlin, GER
*05/2024
> LECTURE Performing Material Dramaturgy in Architectural Education: A Demonstration Lecture
*Oslo School of Architecture and Design
*Oslo, NO
*03/2024
> LECTURE Material Dramaturgy: Tracing Trails of Dust in the Architectural Design Process
*Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
*Berlin, GER
*03/2024
> ROUNDTABLE Warburg Models: Buildings as Bilderfahrzeuge
*Architectural Association School of Architecture
*London, UK
*02/2024
> LECTURE Māterial Dramaturgy: Celebrating Tenderness in the Architectural Design Process
*MA Spiel&Objekt at Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch
*Berlin, GER
*01/2024
> CONFERENCE Unpacking Hermia
*Final TACK Conference ‘Tacit Knowledge in Architecture’ at ETH Zurich
*Zurich, CH
*06/2023
> CONFERENCE Associations, memories and trust: Material dramaturgy as constructive criticism for future compositions in architecture
*International Symposium 2022 ‘(BUILDING) NEW PERSPECTIVE through Practice-led Research in Art, Design and Architecture’
*Riga, LAT
*11/2022
> CONFERENCE Sculptural puzzle. A conversation essay about model making, rituals and material literacy in architecture
*International Conference TU Darmstadt 2022 ‘Are You a Model?’
*Darmstadt, GER
*11/2022
> LECTURE Methods of Research
*Pre-diploma Course spring 2022
*Oslo School of Architecture and Design, NO
*02/2022
> CONFERENCE Sculptural puzzle. Model making as a collaborative process in contemporary architectural practice
*Storbykonferansen 2021 ‘Urban Crisis’
*Oslo, NO
*10/2021
> CONFERENCE Motion of Scales
in collaboration with Marianna Cwojdrak
*Nordes Conference 2021 ‘Matters of Scale’
*Kolding, DK
*08/2021
> ROUNDTABLE How to Archive Embodied Knowledge?
*TACK/Communities of Tacit Knowledge & Vlaams Architectuurinstituut & Architekturzentrum Wien
*online
*03/2021
> CONFERENCE Presence, presentation & representation: Between model making and mediation of material in architectural pracitce during Covid-19
*CA2RE+ Conference 2021 ‘Reflection’
*Online/ Hamburg, GER
*03/2021
> LECTURE Bauhaus women, displaced objects and British exile
*From the Archives: The history and theory of Norwegian Architecture 1945-1980
*Oslo School of Architecture and Design, NO
*03/2021
> LECTURE Emigrée – London contexts 1930s
*Collecting Architecture: Waburg Models
*Oslo School of Architecture and Design, NO
*09/2020
> CONFERENCE Handle with care: Unpacking a bulky table
in collaboration with BauhausLAB 2019
*Bauhaus Conference ‘Collecting Bauhaus’
*Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, GER
*12/2019
> CONFERENCE Nets stretched into the unknown. Bauhaus women in British exile.
*Design History Society Annual Conference ‘The Cost of Design’
*Northumbira University, Newcaste-upon-Tyne, UK
*09/2019
> LECTURE Nets stretched into the unknown. Bauhaus women in British exile.
*Isokon Gallery, London, UK
*07/2019
RESEARCH
.
> In the preceding research Nets Stretched into the Unknown. Bauhaus Women in British Exile (Master’s thesis 2018, Bauhaus-University Weimar), I examined Bauhaus women in British exile, dealing with the question of what similarities and relevant differences the artists shared in life, how the ideas of the Bauhaus influenced them, and what significance they had for Britain.
This story about women’s (hidden) collective power in the development of the material culture of the Bauhaus, and its dependence on the intimate relationships with textiles that developed in the Bauhaus weaving workshop has lessons for contemporary studies in architecture: How does material become an actor and to what extent does material trigger social action? How does the theory of making serve practice? What creates knowledge about and with material? How does empathy emerge in the making process? How can trust in material be an indication of social fabric in the making?
My practice-based PhD Material Dramaturgy: Tracing Trails of Dust in the Architectural Design Process (completed in 2024 at Arkitektur- og designhøgskolen i Oslo) that emerged from this desire demonstrates the need for understanding materials and their performative potential in architecture today.
Take a look at the trailer of my performance lecture Material Dramaturgy to gain insights into my research methods:
This story about women’s (hidden) collective power in the development of the material culture of the Bauhaus, and its dependence on the intimate relationships with textiles that developed in the Bauhaus weaving workshop has lessons for contemporary studies in architecture: How does material become an actor and to what extent does material trigger social action? How does the theory of making serve practice? What creates knowledge about and with material? How does empathy emerge in the making process? How can trust in material be an indication of social fabric in the making?
My practice-based PhD Material Dramaturgy: Tracing Trails of Dust in the Architectural Design Process (completed in 2024 at Arkitektur- og designhøgskolen i Oslo) that emerged from this desire demonstrates the need for understanding materials and their performative potential in architecture today.
Take a look at the trailer of my performance lecture Material Dramaturgy to gain insights into my research methods:
WRITING
.
> PAPER The (hidden) collective power of Bauhaus women
*2024 In Women Writing Architecture (online)
> PAPER Sculptural Puzzles: A Conversation Essay About Model-Making, Rituals and Material Literacy in Architecture
*2024 In Meister, Anna-Maria, Fankhänel, Teresa, Schubert, Anna Luise, Beißwanger, Lisa, and Dähne, Chris (Eds.). Are You a Model? On an Architectural Medium of Spatial Exploration. Berlin: JOVIS Verlag: Pp. 102–05.
ISBN: 978-3-9861207-2-6
> DOCTORAL THESIS Material Dramaturgy: Tracing Trails of Dust in the Architectural Design Process
*2024 Trübenbach, Mara. PhD Thesis, Oslo School of Architecture and Design.
ISBN: 978-82-547-0368-7
> PAPER The Second Skin: Sensory and Experiential Knowledge in Performing Arts and Fashion Design Practice
*2023 In Jākobsone, Liene, Köring, Dietmar, Sommeregger, Eva, Suhanova, Dina, and Traumane, Māra (Eds.). Publication of symposium proceedings: (Building) New Perspectives through Practice-led Research in Art, Design and Architecture. Symposium Proceedings. LMDA, Art Academy of Riga: Pp. 58–65.
ISBN: 978-9934-630-14-9
> CHAPTER No Body, Never Mind: The Entanglement of How Architects Construct Imagination
*2023 In Avermaete, Tom, Buchert, Margitta, Gosseye, Janina and Havik, Klaske (Eds.). Perspectives on Tacit Knowledge in Architecture. TACK Communities of Tacit Knowledge: Pp. 42–57.
ISBN 978-3-907363-31-7
> ARTICLE Scale in Passing: Re-calibrating Narrowness Through Spatial Interventions
coauthored with Marianna Czwojdrak
*2023 in Artifact: Journal of Design Practice 9 (1-2): Pp. 27.1–27.17.
ISSN 1749-3463
> PAPER Presence, Presentation & Representation: Between Model Making and Mediation of Material in Architectural Practice during Covid-19
* 2021 in Fernández Guardado, Marta, and Ballestrem, Matthias (Ed.) CA²RE / CA²RE+ Hamburg. Conference for Artistic and Architectural Research - Book of Proceedings. HafenCity Universität Hamburg: Pp. 290–299.
ISBN 978-3-947972-30-2
> INTERVIEW with Mara Trübenbach by Verena von Beckerath
*2021 in Verena von Beckerath, Jessica Christoph and Hanna Schlösser (Ed.) Notes on Architecture ‘I’m Here’ NOA 8 Bauhaus-Universität Weimar: Pp. 48–50.
> ARTICLE A Table Design by Marcel Breuer. Tracing the Multifaceted Lives of an Object
coauthored with Bauhaus Lab 2019
* 2019 in Bauhaus Magazine issue 11 - Centenary. Spector Books: Pp. 174–179.
ISBN 978-3-95905-340-2
> CHAPTER Mapping the Crisscross: The Power of Outsider Networks
*2019 in Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau (Ed.). Handle with Care Unpacking a Bulky Table Leipzig: Spector Books: Pp. 44–51.
ISBN 978-3-95905-355-6
*2024 In Women Writing Architecture (online)
> PAPER Sculptural Puzzles: A Conversation Essay About Model-Making, Rituals and Material Literacy in Architecture
*2024 In Meister, Anna-Maria, Fankhänel, Teresa, Schubert, Anna Luise, Beißwanger, Lisa, and Dähne, Chris (Eds.). Are You a Model? On an Architectural Medium of Spatial Exploration. Berlin: JOVIS Verlag: Pp. 102–05.
ISBN: 978-3-9861207-2-6
> DOCTORAL THESIS Material Dramaturgy: Tracing Trails of Dust in the Architectural Design Process
*2024 Trübenbach, Mara. PhD Thesis, Oslo School of Architecture and Design.
ISBN: 978-82-547-0368-7
> PAPER The Second Skin: Sensory and Experiential Knowledge in Performing Arts and Fashion Design Practice
*2023 In Jākobsone, Liene, Köring, Dietmar, Sommeregger, Eva, Suhanova, Dina, and Traumane, Māra (Eds.). Publication of symposium proceedings: (Building) New Perspectives through Practice-led Research in Art, Design and Architecture. Symposium Proceedings. LMDA, Art Academy of Riga: Pp. 58–65.
ISBN: 978-9934-630-14-9
> CHAPTER No Body, Never Mind: The Entanglement of How Architects Construct Imagination
*2023 In Avermaete, Tom, Buchert, Margitta, Gosseye, Janina and Havik, Klaske (Eds.). Perspectives on Tacit Knowledge in Architecture. TACK Communities of Tacit Knowledge: Pp. 42–57.
ISBN 978-3-907363-31-7
> ARTICLE Scale in Passing: Re-calibrating Narrowness Through Spatial Interventions
coauthored with Marianna Czwojdrak
*2023 in Artifact: Journal of Design Practice 9 (1-2): Pp. 27.1–27.17.
ISSN 1749-3463
> PAPER Presence, Presentation & Representation: Between Model Making and Mediation of Material in Architectural Practice during Covid-19
* 2021 in Fernández Guardado, Marta, and Ballestrem, Matthias (Ed.) CA²RE / CA²RE+ Hamburg. Conference for Artistic and Architectural Research - Book of Proceedings. HafenCity Universität Hamburg: Pp. 290–299.
ISBN 978-3-947972-30-2
> INTERVIEW with Mara Trübenbach by Verena von Beckerath
*2021 in Verena von Beckerath, Jessica Christoph and Hanna Schlösser (Ed.) Notes on Architecture ‘I’m Here’ NOA 8 Bauhaus-Universität Weimar: Pp. 48–50.
> ARTICLE A Table Design by Marcel Breuer. Tracing the Multifaceted Lives of an Object
coauthored with Bauhaus Lab 2019
* 2019 in Bauhaus Magazine issue 11 - Centenary. Spector Books: Pp. 174–179.
ISBN 978-3-95905-340-2
> CHAPTER Mapping the Crisscross: The Power of Outsider Networks
*2019 in Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau (Ed.). Handle with Care Unpacking a Bulky Table Leipzig: Spector Books: Pp. 44–51.
ISBN 978-3-95905-355-6