Alex Lehnerer, an architect and urban designer, currently holds a position as assistant professor at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. He is Co-principle Investigator of 'Tourism and Cultural Heritage: A Case Study on the Explorer Franz Junghuhn.' Prior to that he was based in Chicago, where he was a professor at the University of Illinois, School of Architecture. He received his PhD from ETH Zurich, his MArch from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), is partner of the firm Kaisersrot in Zurich, and founded the Department of Urban Speculation (DeptUS) in Chicago. His Zurich based architectural practice CIRIACIDISLEHNERER ARCHITEKTEN tries to understand architecture as cultural practice by relentlessly exploring urban and architectural conditions—their forms, ingredients, and rules.