SUMMER SEMESTER 2025

As part of this year’s theme, “Inclusive Spaces and Region_for the Guest,” we are exploring nature as a space for recreation.

Learning from nature—not taking, but giving—these are the principles of sustainable tourism that we are striving for in this project. Nature is a living organism. If we do not understand and value nature and its cycles, we will not be able to protect it. Therefore, it is important to make nature accessible as a recreational space for people, but we must develop new tourism concepts that are sustainable for nature. Nature is not a consumer product; rather, it must be nurtured and preserved. In this studio, we will develop concepts for sustainable tourism—in terms of both space and program—that engage with nature’s cycles. A space of possibilities: for insight, recreation, exchange, and participation.

We will explore and visit a former quarry nestled amid the picturesque hilly landscape of the Sauerland—a site shaped by decades of quarrying, now overgrown and holding great potential to be used as a recreational space and destination for day trips.

The goal is to develop new forms of infrastructure—whether radical or subtle, experimental or pragmatic—that value the site and its qualities and build upon them. To this end, the students will design an expanded spatial program—starting with a snack station—based on an analysis of the region and supplemented by a short on-site excursion.

The focus is on developing forward-looking concepts in space, program, and form; creating atmosphere; spatial storytelling; building models; and the three-dimensional development of concepts. “Inventing spaces” here means: spaces that do not yet exist but become conceivable—for guests who do not merely consume but linger.

Faculty: Prof. Mag. Arch. Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs, M.Sc. Harun Faizi
Tutors: B.Sc. Jonas Baumann, Julius Wadsack

Experiencing nature as a place of relaxation is important for us humans, especially so that we don’t lose our connection to nature.

We can only advocate with conviction for things we know, understand, and therefore value. Nature conservation and climate change are issues that require an understanding of nature’s cycles and their interconnections.

Developing tourism concepts that combine relaxation and insight for visitors is therefore a significant challenge.

Last year, a comprehensive exhibition on the topic of tourism opened at the Architekturzentrum Wien (AZW), posing the question:

How can we envision a form of tourism that no longer destroys the very things it depends on?

We want to develop hotel concepts for sustainable tourism in the Alpine region.

The focus is on reducing land use, infrastructure (roads, utilities, etc.), impact on the natural environment, and impact on local culture.

We work with every means at our disposal—algorithms and straws, analog and digitally fabricated models, images, films, 3D scans, sounds, and language—

to design sustainable ideas in terms of space, program, and form.

The project is eligible for submission to the 2025 BDA Prize “Neu überdacht” (Rethought).

Instructors: Prof. Mag. Arch. Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs, M. Arch. Sarah Blahut

Many thanks for the generous support of our sponsors: Udo Wendland (Hugenottenhaus), Matthias Tunnemann & Team (Sprengwerk Architekten), Mirko Zapp, Christof Lutz (Boreal – Schlachthof Kassel Cultural Center), Bodo Schellhorn & Team (Werkhütte Kassel), the Study Commission (University of Kassel), as well as our supporters: Jordan (JOKA, Kassel), Lars Meeß-Olsohn (HELIX Screw Foundations), Julian Lienhard, Georgia Margarita (TWE/University of Kassel), and Guido Brinkmann (EDEK/Brandthaus/University of Kassel)