Modules SS 2015

Each building, even the most innovative, is built in a context, is an adaptation of a topography, a transformation of an existing spatiality and culture. Architecture is always made as addition to something, the tabula rasa remains a fascinating metaphor. However, each new intervention transforms the given context and culture and makes a new one. So, what is domestic and what foreign in architecture? What common grounds are possible? Which role play conventions, expectations and cultural exchanges in architecture?

During your studies you are mostly preoccupied with the design phase for new buildings. However in this early phase of a project you only set the framework, in which the building has to evolve over the next decades or even centuries. What makes some buildings last, what makes others die? We need to understand what implications our design decisions have in terms of environmental impact, cost as well as usability and adaptability over the whole building life cycle. Exploring different models of our building helps us to project our design options into the future. We can then analyze the projected results and steer our design in the “right direction”.

During an intensive weekly workshop it enables students to further deepen their knowledge of an issue addressed in the project studios and/ or conduct excursions to places and sites addressed in their design project.

During an intensive weekly workshop it enables students to further deepen their knowledge of an issue addressed in the project studios and/ or conduct excursions to places and sites addressed in their design project.

During an intensive weekly workshop it enables students to further deepen their knowledge of an issue addressed in the project studios and/ or conduct excursions to places and sites addressed in their design project.

The design studio engages students with architecture as a responsible practice on a variety of scales applying a multitude of design- and research methods, preparing them for the demands of the broad field of architecture and planning. Architectural and urban design is practiced in the context of projects of varying complexity, ranging from constructive building details and structures, to devising groups of structures and entire settlements and habitats. Design projects are represented in drawings, models, images, and by using all other available media. Teamwork is conducted with particular attention to the internal organization and workings of the teams.

The design studio engages students with architecture as a responsible practice on a variety of scales applying a multitude of design- and research methods, preparing them for the demands of the broad field of architecture and planning. Architectural and urban design is practiced in the context of projects of varying complexity, ranging from constructive building details and structures, to devising groups of structures and entire settlements and habitats. Design projects are represented in drawings, models, images, and by using all other available media. Teamwork is conducted with particular attention to the internal organization and workings of the teams.

The design studio engages students with architecture as a responsible practice on a variety of scales applying a multitude of design- and research methods, preparing them for the demands of the broad field of architecture and planning. Architectural and urban design is practiced in the context of projects of varying complexity, ranging from constructive building details and structures, to devising groups of structures and entire settlements and habitats. Design projects are represented in drawings, models, images, and by using all other available media. Teamwork is conducted with particular attention to the internal organization and workings of the teams.

This Module deals with the basic elements of digital image making and visualization. This course explores how digital technologies are used to evoke and produce particular feelings or moods of places as architectural visualizations and images. This semester provides students with the necessary tools to successfully visualise their designs, including a multitude of techniques like 3D modeling, digital photography, montage, collage and rendering among others.

Students will be able to develop relevant techniques to translate original architectural ambitions and ideas into forms of illustrated atmospheres. During the course students will take part in workshops and lectures to develop skills for digital image making and visualization in a practical way. Students will be able to use specific tools to translate their architectonical ambitions and create visualized atmospheres for the communication of ideas in the practice of Architecture .

Today, major urban areas in developed regions are, without doubt, economic giants. Only 600 urban centers generate about 60 percent of global GDP. The urban world is shifting. Scholarly journals have published thousands of articles about urban economies. Among the questions we frequently find: Why do some cities grow faster than others? Why do some generate more wealth? Why do some decline? How do cities generate wealth, how do they apportion their wealth to further social and environmental goals?
Cities are first and foremost places—agglomerations of people—rather than economic and political units. Also, cities’ power to make economic policy is limited. While cities aren’t like nations, which can leap from rags to riches within a generation, they do have the policy apparatus to influence their economic destiny. A city’s initial size and location will largely determine which classes of economic activity are likely to succeed there and which are likely to fail.

The course will introduce you to the world of the economy of the built environment, urban and city economies, the role of private and public property, infrastructure and the build environment. The main focus is to understand the micro- and macro -economics and to endow your architectural and urban design skills with knowledge about the dynamics and responsibilities of building assets and their political, social and historical aspects. The financing, marketing and management of cities and our build environment is driven by the larger economy and related political issues: these are core drivers for most architectural design commissions and outcomes. Within this you will begin to understand the built environment as value structure, of real property interests and dynamics that determine design briefs and, together with public policy directions and planning objectives, set the stage for the design and planning profession to unfold and excel within. Familiarity with the conceptual frameworks, practical tools and language of the world of the 'built economy' and the appurtenant property market is an important asset, since, when inadequately understood and applied, development frameworks can constrain creativity and design quality - and lead to practices that can be regarded as socially, environmentally and economically unsuccessful.

The subject hence has a twin objective: to not only bestow an understanding of economy, but to do so in a manner that is applied in a political and social development framework. You will encounter the growing domain of economy in the build environment that seeks to influence our architectural excellence and the objective to interact with the drivers and champions of urban change and the involved social groups and solicit participation: taking into account that often the projects have multiple decision makers, accomplishers and reference social groups in addition to the community considered overall.

The module “Emerging Technologies in Architecture” introduces state‐of‐the‐art technologies emerging from research or industries, from within and outside architecture, to be applied in architecture in the near future. It assesses aims at building awareness and critical appraisal of these technologies and identifies how they might transform architectural practice and thus the role of the architect.

The master's thesis consists of an analysis that investigates the context within which a project is set, identifying its challenges, the formulation of one or more working hypotheses and research questions which form the basis for the design proposal and the written thesis. A developed hypothesis is verified (or falsified) within the context of a given or freely chosen project, developing it into a designed architectural proposal and/ or into an in-depth theoretical or historical-theoretical investigation.

This module investigates and identifies the various forms and methods used to successfully mediate architecture and urban design, with particular attention paid to communication processes during the design phase of a project. Communication strategies aimed for variety of stakeholders are being discussed and the role of architectural mediation in the successful implementation of a project defined. Through the presentations of architecture mediation projects, a set of best/bad practice case-studies will be studied and analysed.

This module offers an overview of the interplay and dependencies of settlement, resource use, resilience, sufficiency, climate change and architecture, urban design and the formation of man-made landscapes. Additionally, it demonstrates the potential of an integrated approach to design sustainable, regenerative environments. Investigating and assessing recently designed and realized projects (considering topics as habitation, commercial, mixed-use, infrastructure, mobility, renewable energy production and supply, agriculture, forestry, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, water resource management, etc.), students will understand to what extent their future practice as architects and urban designers can contribute to more sustainable and regenerative environments.

"Sustainable Construction Processes" identifies key parameters and factors to be considered to guarantee a sustainable construction process. Resources, sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, assembly and materiality are among the themes to be explored and to be put into relation to one another.

This module allows students to compose an exposé for their Master's thesis to be undertaken in the fourth semester. The exposé contains a research question that forms the basis for an in-depth investigation and analysis of a particular issue or problem identified within the given context of the design studio topic. A literature review and a schedule of production are further essential elements to be included.