Inhalt
Faculty Profile
Studying architecture at RWTH Aachen involves much more than acquiring technical skills. We require our students to utilise their creativity and the knowledge they have gained to come up with their own approaches to building, planning and urban development problems, to subject their analytic insights to critical evaluation, and practice socially responsible architecture.
Several academic concentrations have been established in response to the demand for greater specialisation in the field: urban planning and development, urban design and regional planning, landscape ecology and landscape architecture, and open space planning. These focuses demonstrate our understanding of architecture as an important force for shaping society that goes beyond simply putting up solitary buildings. Thus Aachen has repeatedly served as a base for renowned architects who have made a significant impact on contemporary architecture, such as Hans Schwippert, Gottfried Böhm, Volkwin Marg, Peter Kulka, and Klaus Kada.
The faculty’s subdivisions for the history of architecture, monument conservation and urban history are actively involved in a project sponsored by the German Research Foundation to document the city of Sabbioneta, one of the best examples of the ideal city as advocated during the Italian Renaissance, and in a number of projects at UNESCO world heritage sites in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Oman.
The Faculty of Architecture also boasts an unusual location – it is housed in a museum named after the renowned Aachen professor and history painter Franz Reiff. An additional building was constructed in 2002 to provide seminar rooms and more work space for students, allowing more direct interaction between students and instructors.
Students of architecture have numerous opportunities to apply what they learn by getting involved in the construction phase of relevant projects. The faculty actively pursues the aim of working with partners outside of Germany to implement projects for the socially disadvantaged. Past projects have included a hospital and a winter school in the Himalayas, as well as a preschool and a school in southern Johannesburg, all of which were funded by donations.