What Can Planning A Bank Robbery Teach An Architect?

People’s relationship to banks is complex. Countless stories in popular culture frame them as a necessary evil, portraying bank robberies heroically and celebrating the suave masterminds that orchestrate them.

Acknowledging the storytelling power of bank robberies, Armin Blasbichler asked his 21 architecture students at the University of Innsbruck to select a bank in Innsbruck, Austria, research it, identify its weaknesses and develop a plan to rob it. The project was approved by the university, and in an interview, the interdisciplinary designer defended the task by noting that the students’ task

was not to steal but to examine and exploit the weak points for their purposes to provide feasible emergency plans. The objectives ranged from assets like time, space, image, future clients, electric power, etc.

The 21 plans and ideas developed by the students are available in a publication called “Blasbichler’s Twenty One”, available on Amazon.

While controversial, the work does help students look at architecture not simply as building design, but as a profession deeply engaged with the human psyche, capable of enriching the imagination, and having a qualitatively unique narrative for people as they experience various structures.

Armin Blasbichler

[via We Make Money Not Art]