Team

Baerbel Mueller is an architect, researcher, and curator based in Austria and Ghana, whose spatial practice is informed by contextual approaches, shaped by an interest in translating these into new typologies and contemporary responses. She was the dean (2021-2025) and is an associate professor at the Institute of Architecture (I oA) at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Die Angewandte), and founder and head of [Applied] Foreign Affairs ( 2012-), a lab investigating spatial, environmental, and cultural phenomena in rural and urban Sub‐Saharan Africa. She is the principal of her studio nav_s baerbel mueller [navigations in the field of architecture and urban research within diverse cultural contexts], focusing on projects located on the African continent since 2000. Her work spans architecture, urban research, installations, scenography, and curatorial projects, and has been showcased at the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art Tamale (2025), Rotterdam Architecture Biennial (2024), Chicago Architecture Biennial (2023), Nuku Center for Photographic Research and Practice, Tamale (2022), Vienna Biennale for Change (2021), Architekturmuseum Munich (2013), Marrakesh Biennial (2016), Venice Architecture Biennale (2006), Kunsthalle Exnergasse (2007), Az W (2005; 2014), among others. She received the Austrian Ars Docendi State Award for excellence in teaching in 2015, edited [applied] Foreign Affairs – Investigating Spatial Phenomena in Rural and Urban Sub‐Saharan Africa (Birkhäuser, 2017) and Structures of Displacement (Birkhäuser, 2020), designed Nubuke Extended, an arts campus and gallery in Accra (with Juergen Strohmayer, 2019), and co‐curated the 2021 Vienna Biennale exhibition, Ecologies & Politics of the Living (with Ibrahim Mahama and Elisabeth Falkensteiner). She has been co‐editor of forA on the Urban (2021‐2024).

Abdul-Rauf Issahaque, MArch, is a Ghanaian architect and urban researcher practicing between Ghana and Austria. Born in Wa in the Upper West Region of Ghana, he trained as an architect at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). In 2024, he was inducted into the Architects Registration Council of Ghana and registered as a member of the Ghana Institute of Architects.

His approach to architectural projects is inspired by ecological and contextual concepts, considering the potential of harmonizing built space with nature. His pursuit of clarity in design and ambition for environmental sustainability is reflected in work that emphasizes elegance in simplicity and the authentic aesthetics of materials. He founded Praxiss Practice, a Ghana-based architecture studio specializing in research-led design and heritage integration.

Abdul-Rauf’s interest in urban research focuses on a critical engagement with the multifaceted complexities between socio-cultural and environmental qualities of urban contexts. In 2018, he joined [Applied] Foreign Affairs at the University of Applied Arts Vienna as a researcher and currently teaches in the lab. He also gained curatorial experience at the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (2021–2022) and contributed to the pilot phase and publication of the Heritage Place Lab by ICCROM.

In 2023, he was selected as one of the early-career academics and emerging professionals to participate in the inaugural Biennale College Architecture program in Venice, led by Prof. Lesley Lokko. As a practitioner, he continues to expand his work in urbanism and heritage integration through architecture and design.

Philipp Reinsberg is an architect, researcher, and lecturer. He studied architecture and industrial design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and completed his master carpenter qualification (Holzbau-Meister) in 2025. He gained international experience through various interdisciplinary projects and regularly develops social interventions and experimental wooden structures in collaborative constellations.

He was a key member of the [A]FA Labs between 2012 and 2014, during which he co-designed the internationally awarded Haduwa Apata project in Apam, Ghana. Since 2016, he has been working with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as an international expert in design and wood technology. He was part of the Conceptual Joining research team funded by the PEEK program of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and also served as a co-editor of the book Conceptual Joining (Birkhäuser, edition Angewandte, 2022).

Since 2022, he has been teaching within the [A]FA team. He also teaches at the Institute of Art Sciences and Art Education (DAE/DEX) at the Angewandte, where he leads the course Studio Holz, focusing on design, experimentation, and fabrication with solid wood and wood-based materials.

Daniil Zhiltsov is an architect and researcher based in Vienna, Austria. He is currently conducting research at the [Applied] Foreign Affairs Lab at the Institute of Architecture (IoA), University of Applied Arts Vienna (Die Angewandte), while working in parallel on architectural projects. He received his master’s degree in architecture from the University of Applied Arts Vienna (studio díazmoreno garcíagrinda) in 2022, following his bachelor’s degree from the Moscow Architectural Institute.

Daniil's interest has a strong focus on ecological, infrastructural and social qualities of urban environments. Daniil was a key participant of the [A]FA Tamale Territories labs between 2020 and 2023 which were focused on inner-urban ecologies and led to the ongoing realization of the Tamale Old Airfield project, including the 1st tree transplantation phase completed in 2025. His research works and artistic contributions have been shown at Postsparkasse kleine Kassenhalle (2025), 14th São Paulo Architecture Biennial (2025), IABR International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam (2024), Chicago Architecture Biennial (2023), and AiL Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab (2024, 2021).

Yunxi Wu is a nomadic spatial practitioner currently based in Vienna, pursuing a Master’s degree in Architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. He has worked in London and Madrid across the continuum of architecture and landscape. Alongside spatial practice, Yunxi engages in art and artistic research. His recent research has been exhibited within [Applied] Foreign Affairs at Postsparkasse Vienna, Austria, and Nuku Studio Tamale, Ghana. He has been a participant of [A]FA since November 2024.

Magdalena Pietryszyn is an architect and material researcher based in Warsaw. She graduated with her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. She is currently teaching at the Institute of Architecture, Vienna, and works as a visiting lecturer at several universities, such as ETH Zurich. She gained professional experience working for international offices. She teaches at [Applied] Foreign Affairs since 2021, where she co-designed the widely celebrated New Guabuliga Market. She leads her own practice- modelsoffbeauty. moffb is a design practice focused on designing future fossils of the Anthropocene and spaces that fuse deep geological time and current consumerism. She is also co-developing the innovative material lab Foil&Soil Mishmash, which pioneers the development of new post-plastic materials, enabling unforeseen organic and non-organic entities to manifest in surprising configurations.

Juergen Benson-Strohmayer is an architect based in Accra, Ghana, and Vienna, Austria. His work is informed by practice, research, and teaching, conducted in collaborative settings. After working with architectural offices in London, Los Angeles, Vienna, and Abidjan, Strohmayer is developing his independent practice. He recently completed the widely-published project Nubuke Extended, an art gallery and campus in Accra in collaboration with nav_s baerbel mueller. Strohmayer lectured at the Ethiopian Institute for Architecture, Building Construction, and City Development (EiABC) and the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where he graduated in 2015. He has exhibited at Acadia in LA (2014), Goethe Institut Addis Ababa (2016), and the Marrakech Biennale (2016). He is a recipient of the Tische Scholarship and Austrian state grants. In 2019 he co-edited the publication [a]FA East Legon Past Forward.

Frida Robles is a Mexican artist and curator. She situates her practice within the philosophy of the essay with a focus on site specificity. Her artistic practice ranges from public art installations to performances to textual work. In 2015, she received the FONCA Young Creators scholarship in Mexico. Since 2014, she has participated in different artistic residencies in the USA, Portugal, Germany, Austria, India, Senegal and Sweden. She has collaborated as a co-teacher, co-curator and co-editor with [APPLIED] FOREIGN AFFAIRS since 2017. She is currently a PhD candidate in the art history department at University of Applied Arts Vienna (with support from the JUMEX Contemporary Art Foundation).

Gregorio Lubroth is an architect living and practicing in Vienna, Austria. He received a bachelor's degree in history and fine arts from Wesleyan University in 2000 and a master's degree in architecture from Yale University in 2007. In 2000 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in Turkey, Syria, and Central Asia to study medieval caravan stops. After a year in the Near East, he returned to New York City to work in the fields of architecture, urban design, and fine arts. In 2007 he co-founded Tzou Lubroth Architekten. Over the past ten years, the practice has established itself as a strong voice among a new generation of Viennese design. Its awards include two German Design Awards, an iF Award for interior design, two Big SEE awards, two Creative Club Austria awards, and three nominations for the National Design Prize. In 2016 he co-founded the urban design collaborative Team Wien, which investigates the future of communal life in cities through alternative ways of activating public space.

Apoorva Thapa, born and raised in Nepal, is pursuing a master's degree in architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna under Sam Chermayeff. He previously studied architecture at the University of Florida. Apoorva is interested in how affordability, emerging technologies, and non-conventional methods of representation can reshape architectural thinking and practice.

Margit Applegate is received her master’s degree in architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She previously studied architecture at Virginia Tech in the US and TU Braunschweig in Germany. Margit has been involved in the Tamale Territories Design [A]FA Lab since 2022 and became the student assistant in the fall of 2023.