This part of the curriculum addresses design work in different areas of architecture and urbanism and integrates the knowledge acquired in previous years. It involves the active participation of specialists from related disciplines (e.g. building structures, landscape architecture, history of art and architecture, monuments conservation etc.).

This part of the curriculum addresses design work in different areas of architecture and urbanism and integrates the knowledge acquired in previous years. It involves the active participation of specialists from related disciplines (e.g. building structures, landscape architecture, history of art and architecture, monuments conservation etc.).

Together with the Block Research Group, our key focus concerns the load-bearing structure, which accounts for around 75% of the gray energy of any high-rise. Equipped with a catalog of building structures in various materials, we will search for efficient, lightweight constructions in order to significantly reduce the gray energy and the CO2 footprint.

We examine the architectural, social, structural, spatial and visual potential of the existing building and question the common practice of densification by replacing new buildings. It's about dealing with what already exists, transforming something that already exists, reusing it and adding it in a meaningful way.

After the last few semesters with design locations in Zurich, we are moving to Rotterdam and trying to apply our findings with a focus on sustainability in the development of the Maashaven.

Under the title Convert - Reuse - Expand, we explore the architectural, social, structural, spatial and pictorial potential stored in the inventory and try to activate it for the project. It's about dealing with the existing building, converting something that already exists, reusing it and expanding it with new buildings in relation to the existing building.

This part of the curriculum addresses design work in different areas of architecture and urbanism and integrates the knowledge acquired in previous years. It involves the active participation of specialists from related disciplines (e.g. building structures, landscape architecture, history of art and architecture, monuments conservation etc.).

The focal work serves the scientifical foundation of an exemplary subject of architecture.