The students know the most important current discourses in urban planning, architectural history and construction history. They know relevant connections and backgrounds and understand the effects of these discourses on global and regional developments.

BAUGESCHICHTEN – HISTORIES OF ARCHITECTURE

Architectural history can be told in countless ways: as the legend of the first house; as praise of great masters and their masterpieces; as the triumphant march of modern rationality; as circulation of models and materials; and so on.

In the summer term 2026, we focus on the central questions around which these historical narratives revolve: the question of the nature of architecture itself; the continually renewed attempts to define space; the ecological concerns that have accompanied architecture and urbanism since antiquity; the applicability of concepts and methods drawn from the natural sciences; and the significance of materiality and its transformations. We will discuss the new fields, geographies, and tasks of architectural historiography in light of the profound metamorphoses of our time.

Will be discussed in the first lesson.