Grotesque Composites
DU Studio
Summer School — Ephemeral Agents
2026
The workshop proposes a playful yet critical approach to creating interventions composed of heterogeneous elements. Rather than seeking coherence, it embraces architecture as an assemblage of fragments, layers and collisions, exploring how new meanings can emerge at the intersections between parts.
Drawing on the notion of the grotesque and techniques such as the cadavre exquis, the process adopts ambiguity, hybridity and juxtaposition as design tools. Through unexpected combinations and collective production, participants will develop ephemeral interventions that operate across material, spatial and affective dimensions.
In Logroño, the workshop engages with the relationship between the city and the Ebro riverscape, understood as two adjacent yet disconnected systems. The aim is to produce “grotesque composites” that activate this threshold, combining elements of both environments and opening new readings of the territory.
DU Studio
DU Studio is a Zurich-based architectural office and spatial practice founded by Steffen Hägele and Tina Küng. Their work operates between building and not building, focusing on architectural detail, constructive efficiency and spatial intensity. Through their projects, they critically examine and redefine the conditions of contemporary architecture, landscape, scenography and infrastructure, working through a collaborative network that combines diverse competencies, critical curiosity and an open attitude.
Alongside their practice, they engage in teaching and research, having taught at institutions such as ETH Zürich, EPFL and Accademia Mendrisio, and leading a Master Studio at Hochschule München in 2026. Their work has been internationally recognised and published in platforms such as archithese, trans or werk, bauen + wohnen.
With the support of
