Architecture

This project focuses on exploring Berlin through analog hand drawing, and then using drawing and model making methods to design and construct a small building project. The course offers participants an in-depth knowledge of the design professional's important tool of hand drawing, a skill that equips them for their studies and later professional work. It begins with the basics of hand drawing to establish a foundation and then moves on to apply drawing to observe, analyze and design the environment. Students learn drawing forms such as perspective, isometry, section, pictogram, and others. The subject of analysis is the city of Berlin, the city fabric, micro urban situations, and the Design-Build project site. The Design-Build part of the project focuses on the realization of a small building project for a special community in Berlin. The students develop an idea from the design stage to the built project. An examination of the context and discussions with the clients and users form the basis for the final design. In a competitive design workshop, the best and most feasible solution(s) are selected and developed. In collaboration with the users and under the guidance of a craftsman, the design is built and inaugurated. The community is the client for this Design-Build project. They actively participate in guiding the project from the design phase to on-site construction. This project is carried out in an academic environment, engaging in interdisciplinary collaboration between students of various disciplines and the community. Through designing and building together, the students gain insights into the world that the people they are designing for are facing, with the goal of making students more sensitive to the social, cultural and ecological implications of their work. The challenge is to integrate "low-cost" and "high efficiency" requirements with considerations for sustainability, aesthetics, appropriateness, participation, and education. In order to profit from the high potential of these small-scale projects, the focus has to be the quality of the space that is created. This course primarily takes place off campus, with the drawing sessions happening throughout Berlin and the construction activities conducted on-site.