Platform Austria

One of the most explosive phenomena in the architecture of the young 21st century is the spread of a new kind of platform urbanism: true to the spirit of disruptive innovation, digital platforms such as Airbnb, Uber, WeWork or Amazon are penetrating more and more areas of our lives – living, working, leisure, health, education, transport – and are beginning to dissolve old orders in the process. Architecture is affected by this development in two ways. On the one hand, because the shift from human interaction to digital platforms is overtaking the built environment as the dominant force in the structuring of societies; and on the other, because the communicative, logistical and operational potential of platforms goes hand in hand with new aesthetics that are also radically changing the design of architecture.