Architecture Speaks! Helga Blocksdorf
Wed 27, January 2027, at 1.15–2.30 pm (Finnish time UTC+2)
The online lecture will be held on Zoom, and registration is required.
In the twelfth season of the Architecture Speaks! lecture series, organized jointly by Aalto University and the Architecture & Design Museum, Professor and Head of Department Jenni Reuter invites seven speakers to share insights into their design processes and their roles in the world of architecture. The theme of this season is Local Memory.
Buildings carry memory through their materials, construction techniques, traces of use, and relationship to place. By reusing and adapting existing buildings, fragments, local materials, and techniques, architecture can continue rather than erase history, allowing different time periods to coexist. This approach can preserve and strengthen the social, ecological, and cultural values of the built environment while revealing its hidden potential. Architecture thus becomes an expression of collective responsibility and ecological awareness, connecting past, present, and future.
Helga Blocksdorf
After graduating from the University of the Arts Berlin in 2001, Helga Blocksdorf acquired in-depth experience in construction management, execution planning and competitions at Staab Architekten (2002–2007), Berlin. Between 2001 and 2013 she was part of the artist collective après-nous, which held international exhibitions and staged installations in cities such as Copenhagen, Berlin and New York. From 2007 to 2102 she held the position of guest professor of constructive design at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and worked as a research assistant in the team headed by Prof. Ute Frank at the TU Berlin. Since 2013 she founded the office Helga Blocksdorf/Architektur in Berlin. In 2021 she was appointed professor and head of the Institute for Construction at the TU Braunschweig. In 2025 she obtained her doctorate as part of the Programme for Design-Based Doctorates (Programm Entwurfsbasierte Promotion, PEP) at the TU Berlin.
“I invited Helga Blocksdorf because I am interested in learning more about the research underlying her book Constructive Disobedience. I would also like to explore how place-specific layers of time and materials are articulated in her work.” – Jenni Reuter
How to participate
Registration is now open
The online lecture will be held on Zoom Webinar platform. Registration is required, and the registration is open until the lecture is finished. Participation link and instructions for participation are sent in a separate email after registration.
Accessibility and safer space
The online lecture is free of charge and organized in English. Automatic live captioning is available on Zoom. Interpretation or translations are not provided. Technical instructions are on display at the beginning of the lecture.
Architecture & Design Museum has safer space guidelines, to which we are committed in all the museum’s activities. We want everyone to have the opportunity to participate as themselves, without fear of discrimination or harassment. You can find more information about the guidelines in the link below.
Lecture recording
A recording of the event will be available for a period of two weeks after the lecture on the museum website, under the Explore section.
Hero photo: WEIMAR Foto © Simon Menges
More information
-
Kaura Raudaskoski
Curator of Learing & Engagement
