Who we are
The Research Lab for Concrete Utopias (RLCU) is an emerging, design-led research environment dedicated to developing a transformative academic architectural praxis grounded in situated, plural and socially engaged spatial practices. Rooted in the ongoing research trajectory at Studio_2, Faculty of Architecture, University of Innsbruck, the Lab investigates how architectural design can operate as an epistemic, critical and politically attentive mode of producing space. RLCU brings together researchers, students, practitioners and community partners who engage with spatial questions through experimental methods, critical pedagogies and collaborative forms of knowledge production.
CONCEPTUAL ORIENTATION
RLCU is grounded in a conceptual triad that defines its structure, its epistemic openness and its way of working: #autogestion, #différence and #utopie. These three elements form the organising principles of the Lab and guide how it positions itself within academic, social and spatial contexts.
#AUTOGESTION — Collective and Self-Determined Structure
RLCU operates through collective agency, shared authorship and self-organisation. As an emerging, independent research platform, the Lab seeks to cultivate autonomy in its agendas, collaborations and experimental practices. #Autogestion expresses the Lab’s commitment to non-hierarchical processes, distributed responsibility and collaborative modes of producing spatial knowledge.
#DIFFÉRENCE — Plural, Situated and Embodied Knowledge
The Lab centres epistemic plurality and the significance of lived experience, situated perspectives and everyday practices. #Différence shapes RLCU’s openness to inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration and its commitment to decolonising and diversifying architectural knowledge. It defines the Lab as a space where multiple voices, positions and forms of expertise are brought into relation.
#UTOPIE — Experimental and Forward-Oriented Praxis
RLCU works through imaginative, speculative and materially grounded forms of design praxis. #Utopie describes an operative mode that moves between experimental utopias—temporary, provisional and exploratory spatial situations—and concrete utopias—tangible propositions developed through collective processes and 1:1 experimentation. This iterative practice allows the Lab to test, reflect on and materialise alternative spatial futures.
Institutional Context
RLCU is situated within the Institut für Gestaltung/Studio_2 at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Innsbruck. Embedded in a pedagogical environment that values experimentation, critical reflection and diverse design approaches, the Lab functions as a research-driven extension of the spatial and conceptual investigations developed within the studio context.
While rooted in this academic setting, RLCU positions itself as an outward-oriented and networked platform. It connects architectural design with insights from the social sciences, environmental studies, feminist theory, artistic research and community-based practices. This institutional framework enables the Lab to operate across disciplinary boundaries and to engage with international researchers, institutions and partners who inform and expand its situated, plural and experimental approach to spatial production.
People
RLCU emerges from a series of design-led research and teaching projects developed and led by Xotil Natke across several years within Studio_2. These projects form the foundational basis of the Lab’s methodological and pedagogical orientation.
Throughout these projects, different colleagues contributed at various stages as collaborators, co-teachers, supervisors, critical interlocutors or project partners. Their involvement supported and enriched specific phases of the work, and their perspectives have influenced the broader studio environment in which RLCU is taking shape. Their contributions, together with the participation of tutors and students in design-build experiments, seminars and spatial investigations, form a constellation of people who have been part of the projects from which RLCU originates.