Design and Make

Statement

There continues to be a great need for architecture – especially for affordable housing and commercial space in the context of the sustainable city. A rethinking and shift in the resource and energy consumption in construction is urgent and essential.

Consideration of sustainability in design and construction processes has therefore become increasingly important become more and more important. However, the issues are complex and the answers are rarely clear-cut.

How can such goals, which may seem contradictory at first glance, be reconciled in a joint design and coordination process?

Learning content

Students will first develop a solid theoretical foundation on sustainability in building, on design decisions also on an urban scale, on the ecology of construction methods and building materials, and on the reuse of building components.

In the subsequent design studio, students work on a specific building problem and then transform it into a design that can be jointly implemented. Projects in international development cooperation are also considered here.

The subsequent implementation planning is geared towards realistic and rapid feasibility. Preference is given to climate-neutral construction methods and the use of renewable or recycled building materials and components. Subsequently, the selected design will be built in a joint construction process; the essential decisions will be made together in order to also take into account the aspects of participatory, participatory construction. Accompanying this, the previously made assumptions about ecology, sustainable construction and the construction costs are verified. Finally, the Master student goes through the building process in all its complexity: on the basis of the theoretical fundamentals, he experiences all service phases of architecture, partly the view of the client as well as the craft implementation.

Study objectives

Upon completion of their studies, Master’s students will be able to increasingly implement or consciously use sustainable building methods, to bring about cooperative decisions, and to integrate the ideas of future users. The structural implementation of a design triggers craft and construction learning processes that can be integrated into future planning decisions.

Furthermore, the graduates are able to increasingly integrate and promote the cradle-to-cradle principle in a decision-making process.