Active Urban Architecture
Course content
Urban design strengthens the historical qualities of a community through innovations that respond to change, and ready it for the future. Urban design often involves the transformation of industrial and infrastructure installations, through renewable urban plans and ecological understanding in design. Studio participants will understand how a city, as a social, economic and environmental network, can be strengthened through design as a public, enabling and open place, but also as a powerful, self‐sustaining entity in harmony with its region and in keeping with its history. We will design the city of Lindau as a self‐sustaining community. Projects will engage carefully programmed and designed renewable master plans for city, island and surroundings.
Each student will be asked to develop his/her own concept for the hydropolis of Lindau, Lake Constance, as a model and laboratory of future urban design. Students will first embark on exploratory group work focusing on regional and local analyses of the built environment, energy, water, environmental and socio‐economic systems, by using known urban planning methods developed by Lynch, Venturi, Nolli, amongst others. This will be followed by in‐depth studies into urban regeneration, urban ecology and waterfront design. The syntheses of these studies will help students formulate individual bio‐city urban design concepts, shaped into coherent and imaginative master plans.
Learning objectives and outcomes
The studio will help you to:
> develop critical yet practical perspectives on sustainable urban development
> use a range of responsive design steps, controls, mapping tools and implementation techniques
> gain a thorough understanding of the role of form and type in the making of sustainable communities
> understand development potentials, envisioning future design strategies for cities
> advance collaborative planning and design skills, and the ability to communicate in various graphic media
Supportive activities
The lecture classes Renewable City 2, Responsible Property Development 2 and Urban Quality Assessment and Design 2 are companion subjects to the class.
Course requirements
Students must attend all studio sessions, and successfully complete their studio exercises and final projects. Physical attendance is to be accompanied with lively participation and a collaborative class attitude.
Methods of assessment/grades
Grades will range from 3‐6 based on:
> Attendance and timeliness 15%
> Class exercises and participation 15%
> Project development during semester 20%
> Quality, originality and verbal and graphic presentation of the final project 50%
Schedule
Times: 0830‐1200, 1300‐1630 Wednesdays and 0900‐1200 Thursdays
Professor
Prof. DI MAAS Peter Droege
Joint teacher
Anis Radzi BArch MUrbDes
Inspirational support
Hans‐Peter Schmidt, research director, Delinat Institute
Georg Sele, Hans‐Martin Neumann, traffic experts
Stefan Sprenger, Author