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Organizing CommitteeDr. Sarah Borree    Prof. Dr. Rembert HüserStephanie Knuth    Prof. Dr. Carsten RuhlMoritz Röger Presentation We commonly and ubiquitously use architectural metaphors in both  everyday speech as well as various professional contexts. Yet we rarely,  if at all, register this connection when we talk, for example, about  software architects, thought constructs, pillars of society, the  architecture of the brain or the façade a person puts up. At the same  time, metaphors also feature prominently in the fields of architecture  and urbanism, where they are being used for the development of design  concepts and provide useful means to communicate, discuss and evaluate  design features. Examples range from crystalline buildings to the fabric  of a city, but also include Le Corbusier’s infamous description of  houses as ‘machines for living in.’The conference aims to explore  metaphors as productive mediators in processes of knowledge transfer  between the fields of architecture and everyday knowledges and between  architectural and other professional discourses. It thus contributes to a  broader investigation of architecture as a cultural practice of  ordering pursued by the interdisciplinary LOEWE research cluster  Architectures of Order, a collaboration between Goethe University  Frankfurt am Main and the Technical University of Darmstadt, with the  Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History and the Deutsche  Architekturmuseum as associated partners.Metaphors, to us, provide a  lens that allows us to zoom in on and examine the involvement of  architecture in processes of social ordering. The premise of the  conference is that metaphors are not merely explanatory in their  function but instead interfere with epistemological thought and  production processes. Metaphors rely on the incongruity between a  particular term and the context within which it is being deployed,  creating a space of continuous re-interpretation. The meaning of a  metaphor thus oscillates between the body of knowledge from which the  metaphor stems and that within which it is used. Through transferring  aspects of one field’s body of knowledge to another, metaphors  disseminate and thereby consolidate social or disciplinary hierarchies,  norms and protocols inscribed in the original body of knowledge. This  consequently raises questions regarding the ways in which architecture  as a practice of ordering interrelates with societal as well as  disciplinary structures, orders and knowledges. Hence, we are not only  interested in the connection between different fields, but also  different forms of knowledge that metaphors can facilitate and how this  relates to architecture.Issues of interest to us include but are not restricted to the following:What  is the relevance of metaphors in and for knowledge production within  the fields of architecture and urbanism? How do they affect both design  practices as well as theoretical discourses? Which metaphors are of  particular importance in this respect? What is the function of  architectural metaphors in scientific argumentations or the construction  of institutional identities? How, and for what purpose are metaphors  deployed in different disciplines, such as philosophy, law, political  theory, information sciences or natural sciences? Have architectural  metaphors changed over time and in conjunction with developments in  architecture? What images of architecture are being created in  disciplines that heavily draw on architectural metaphors and are they  affecting architectural thinking, designing and making in return?We  welcome proposals from all disciplines, including but not limited to  architectural history and theory, art history, cultural and media  studies, history, sociology and design theory. We strongly encourage  applications from areas in which architectural metaphors feature  prominently, e.g. science and technology studies, ethnology, medicine,  biology or computer and information sciences. We also welcome  submissions from non-academic practitioners and thus perspectives on  experienced-based knowledge, presented, e.g., in the form of work  reports or reflections on common practice.  Application Please submit abstracts of no more than 300 words for 20 minute  presentations together with a short bio (100-200 words) in a PDF format  by 1 June 2020. Proposals should be emailed to: architecture.metaphor@gmail.comWe will contact applicants about the outcome of their submission no later than the end of June.The  conference is scheduled to take place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany on  6-7 November 2020. Given the current Corona-Virus situation we will  monitor the developments closely and consider alternative arrangements  regarding the date or format of the conference as necessary.There is no conference fee. Costs for travel and accommodation of all speakers will be covered.We intend to publish an edited book with revised and expanded papers from the conference.Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or require additional information. 