20th Century Architecture

Designing means marketing. As a Designer the Architect or Interior Architect has to realize and use the potentials of our changing Society. There is no form without design and there is no design without user or client. The connection between the designing and the practical work of an Architect is the most interesting aspect of architecture.

Therefore we want to ask the question about the reasons behind the design. A lecture on the history of the design of Architecture in the 20th century in Europe will introduce some historic guidelines of architectural design. We will take a close look together at what the circumstances of designing Architecture at the turn of the century where like and we will talk about the development of “modern” architecture from the 1920s until today. One of our main interests is the “marketing” behind the buildings, their shape and their appearance. How does the design of the building satisfy the demands of the market at the time of its erection?

In order to get a closer look at the function behind the form of a building we will examine several groups of buildings. These groups are public buildings (churches, art galleries, opera house, market building, train station), industrial and office buildings (production, representative company buildings, bank buildings), sales buildings (shops, department stores, car sales points, bars, clubs), governmental buildings (parliament, city hall, castles), „functional“ buildings (TV tower, research laboratories) and housing.

Each group has its specific function and is designed in a certain way. We will take a quick look and the historic development, the differences and similarities of the buildings in each group, visit an outstanding architectural example in Stuttgart (TV tower, Art Museum, Parliament Building, pubs and clubs tour, Weißenhof Siedlung) and find out about the backgrounds of the design of these buildings. We will realize the whys behind the shape and the appearance of several buildings, their exterior and their interior.

At the end of the class each student should have an opinion about how a building was designed according to its functional, historical and socio-economical aspects. Therefore each student will closely examine a building in Stuttgart by him-/herself. He/She will find out about the historical context and background, about the architect and the client, about the whos and whys and will hold a short lecture, which will be discussed in class. Depending on the size of the class we will visit each of the buildings, examined by the students in order to get a close look with a personal introduction to the design of the building by the students themselves.

Methods

• lectures
• excursions
• discussion of students' papers
• group work

Schedule

8 hours per week from Mondays until Thursdays

ECTS-Credits: 4,0

Exam

Written report to be discussed in class.