Winter 2024/25
500 YEAR BUILDING
E1 Design Studio WS 2024/25
In this design course we will deal with the conception of an architectural intervention that is able to last 500 years or 15 generations.
The semester will begin with analyses of architectural interventions that have already lasted 500 years (excluding castles and churches). We will explore what makes these buildings and structures special and successful and under what conditions this has been achieved.
Is it the materialization, the location, the adaptability, the resilience or something else? How could these characteristics of a building be transferred to a structure that is designed at the beginning of the 21st century with the technology available today and can survive into the 24th century?
Our focus is on the development of an architectural intervention that is able to outlast 500 years as an extreme form of sustainable structure.
VARIATIONS ON AIR
M1 Design Studio WS 2024/25
“Air belongs to a constellation of concepts such as atmosphere, climate, gases, and clouds, whose shapes are constantly shifting in relation to scientific knowledge and technological practices.”
Anne Sophie Witzke, Dehlia Hannah
Air is the most essential element of life. In the final installment of the trilogy on the topics of “Water, Food, Air”, which started in the winter semester 2023/24, we will focus on a material with elusive and invisible properties and its performative potential. Through workshops, the investigation of research results and our own experiments, we aim to develop an architectural concept that can be translated into a meaningful architectural intervention/infrastructure or building. In any case, the aim is to respond to the challenging climate and social changes.
TERRITORIAL STRATEGIES AND SUSTAINABILITY
SE Seminar WS 2024/25
The seminar on Territorial Strategies as part of Integrative Design with a focus on 'extremes' is an exploration of the pressing challenges of our time: climate and social crises. The seminar will engage with a thought-provoking selection of texts from “The Parliament of Things”, “World Risk Society”, excerpts from “Ecologies of Inception” and selected works by Dehlia Hannah, Timothy Morton and other influential authors.
The seminar will be run like a book club. Reading selected texts and discussing them together will encourage the exchange of formulated thoughts, which will be reinforced with self-researched, appropriate reference texts. Speaking freely and argumentation are trained in the process. This is supplemented by an artistic exercise. This overlapping of discourse and artistic expression offers an integrative perspective that aims to encourage participants to approach today's challenges of shaping an environment from different perspectives. The acquired knowledge is expressed in the final symposium ZUKUNFT architektur 2, in which all participants actively take part in a panel discussion on relevant topics arising from the researched content.
3F: FUNGI FOCUSED FABRICATION
SE Seminar WS 2024/25
Welcome to 3F: Fungi-Focused Fabrication, an advanced architectural seminar where you'll embark on a journey into the groundbreaking potential of mycelium—nature’s own sustainable building material. This course offers a unique blend of theory and practice, providing you with a deep understanding of mycelium’s biological, physical, and chemical properties. You’ll explore the science behind this living material, studying how its natural growth processes can be harnessed and manipulated for innovative architectural design. Through hands-on cultivation and experimentation, you’ll translate theoretical knowledge into practical applications, creating eco-friendly prototypes that challenge conventional construction methods. This seminar not only equips you with the technical skills to work with mycelium but also encourages you to think critically about the future of architecture, where buildings can be grown organically, reducing environmental impact and fostering sustainability. By the end of the course, you’ll have developed a comprehensive understanding of how to integrate cutting-edge mycelium research into visionary design practices, preparing you to lead in the field of sustainable architecture.
The seminar will be supplemented with workshops and cinema visits.
STORY SEMINAR 01: The Permanently Temporary
SE Seminar WS 2024/25
Buildings and cities tell stories of time, embodying a complex spectrum of permanence and change.
“…time flows in an extraordinarily complex, unexpected, complicated way…; it folds or twists; it is as various as the dance of flames in a brazier—here interrupted, there vertical, there mobile and unexpected.”
— Serres and Latour, Conversations, p. 58
In this seminar, we will explore the notion of time in architecture through storytelling.
By investigating enduring buildings using various storytelling techniques and formats, we will develop new insights into how material compositions encapsulate and narrate the passage of time.
The seminar is divided into three parts:
1. Analysis: Exploration and research of long-lasting (500-year-old) buildings.
2. Expert Interview: Examination of different storytelling techniques (film, animation, collage, blog, etc.).
3. Story Development and Presentation: Sequential presentations discussing findings.
The seminar will be supplemented with workshops, readings, and cinema visits.