BACHELOR

Bachelor Thesis: Death in the Age of Immortality

As a product of the Enlightenment, accompanied by developing hygiene regulations, new cemeteries have been established outside the cities. For centuries, death was thus banished from the urban consciousness. Recently, the idea of death has become more present in our everyday lives. Daily death statistics and media reports are emblematic of our powerlessness in the face of it. Nevertheless, and perhaps precisely against this backdrop, humanity is embarking on its "next great project”: immortality, as historian Yuval Harari, among others, argues. Thanks to advances in biotechnology and artificial intelligence, Homo sapiens could advance to become the god-like Homo deus.

The studio has therefore set the goal of examining the ambivalent relationship between death and immortality at a time when the dialectic between the two has reached peak intensity. Somewhere between the scientific/medical, the logistical and the ritual lies an unexplored space for architectural intervention.

We will design an institution for the dead and the immortal along these three strands. In countermovement to Enlightenment urban distancing, it positions itself with an appropriate urban presence.

Regular meetings: Wed-Thurs 2 – 6 pm, Zoom
First Meeting: 31.03.2021, Zoom
Interim Pin-Ups: 05.05.2021, 02.06.2021
(Excursion: if available)
Submission/Presentation: 30.06.2021/07.07.2021
Languages: German, English

Extension - Bachelor Thesis 

Accompanying event for the bachelor's design in Studio Frohn. The theoretical and analytical basis for the design is created on the basis of texts and reference objects.
Allocation only in connection with a Bachelor's design in Studio Frohn.

MASTER

Design Studio: Script As Method

In a large number of German cities, a new typology emerges in the post-war decades. The department store of the 60s and 70s. Behind closed facades are hidden inner worlds of consumption, which stand for the fulfillment of seemingly all desires of the middle class society of the post-war period.
However, not least due to competition from online shopping, department stores have largely lost their imaginative potential - their decline seems inevitable. In the near future, therefore, enormous building volumes will be available for new use in prime inner-city locations.
In the perspective of a sustainable use of resources and a great demand for living space in the central locations of cities, it makes sense to reprogram these vacant building masses with residential uses.
In this context, the specific requirements of housing in terms of organization, circulation and lighting initially conflict with the extreme floor depths and lack of references to the surrounding city of the department store structures.
To resolve the contradiction between contemporary living and the black box, a methodical approach is required.
In the studio, the script is used as a design tool in a way that the typology of housing can be projected onto the structural framework of the department store. 
For this purpose, the structural DNA of selected residential buildings is extracted and translated into a parametric script. By reducing it to the essential structural relations, the genetic code of the reference can be transferred to another structure.
How can the qualities of a reference building be used without copying it? 
What new ways of living emerge from the controlled collision of the two structures? 

Meetings:  Consultations Thursday by appointment
1st Meeting: 08.04.21, 11:00
Submission/Examination: 29.07.21 
Number of participants: max. 15 students
Languages: German / English

Seminar: Script As Method

The seminar Script As Method deals with the script as a design tool.
From a selection of residential buildings, each participant will analyze a reference building with a focus to its essential structural characteristics. The internal organization, lighting and circulation system of the reference will then be translated into a parametric script.  
The goal of the seminar is to transfer the essential structural relations of the reference building to other structures through the script.
This seminar is related to the Master Studio "Script As Method“. It can only be chosen in connection with the studio and is mandatory for it.

Appointment:  Consultations Thursday by arrangement
1st meeting: 08.04.21, 11:00
Submission/Examination: 29.07.21 
Number of participants: max. 15 students
Languages: German / English

Research Seminar: Forms of Architectural Practice

The seminar explores the question of where and how architecture is practiced. The focus will be on physical space, the organizational structure of architects, and methodological principles of architectural production.

Our research will be conducted in three phases focusing on three historical periods: speculation on pre-modern architects; archival research on modern and postmodern architects; and finally interviews with emerging contemporary offices.

Each phase will conclude with a set of graphic outputs, including plan drawings, organizational charts, and found footage. In addition to regular course meetings, students will support one another in small research groups. The final output will be published in a zine.

Regular meetings: Thurs 10.00-13.00 am, Zoom
First Meeting: 08.04.2021,10:00 am, Zoom
Pin-Up: 29.04.2021, 10.06.2021
Submission/Exam: 05.08.2021
Number of Participants: 15
Languages: German, English