R:31 | Winter Semester 2024/ 2025

Each Rundgang is more than just a collection of materializations of the projects created during the semester (be it models, designs or excursion reports), but also an exhibition in its own right. But what exactly does that mean?

For R:31, we would like to invite you to explore questions of exhibiting, displaying and communicating concepts developed at our faculty.

Especially after 30 editions, it is worth reflecting on how our thematic priorities have been exhibited at faculty 06 over the last 15 years: What exhibition patterns and habits have become established in the process and how can we critically interrogate them? How do the initial ideas of the lecturers that they propose as a project, the specific teaching content and the individual implementations of the students “spatialize” themselves in the Rundgang? How can such a process be mediated? And what spatial experience does result from this? By referring to spatial experiences, we ultimately want to raise awareness of how the combination of learned knowledge and established patterns of perception “produces” space, with the aim of reflecting on one's own perception of space, spatial design and spatial communication.

The future of Elisabeth Church - Architecture and Use After the Collapse

Department Design and Building Construction

Deputy Professor Dr.-Ing. Christoph Palmen

On November 6, 2023, the roof of Kassel's St. Elisabeth Church on Friedrichsplatz collapsed. The glued laminated beams failed from the middle until the roof structure collapsed over the entire length of the ridge into the church interior. The only person present was able to escape to safety in a niche in the church. The Elisabethkirche on Friedrichsplatz was built in 1959-1960 to replace its war-damaged predecessor, which was located on the site of today's Staatstheater. Over the past 15 years, the church has also been used as a venue for music events and art installations. An emergency roof is now temporarily protecting the damaged church interior. But what is to become of the listed building in the future? Questions arise about the future use concept, possible architectural solutions and how to deal with the existing building. The aim of this master's project was to determine possible usage scenarios and, based on this, to develop a design down to the last constructive detail. This is not only a contribution to the future of the Elisabethkirche, but also an examination of the topic of church conversions on the way to a new culture of conversion.

Kulturpalastkassel - The rooms for those who need them!

DepartmentSustainable Cities and Communities

Guest Professor Dagmar Pelger

We interpret the shopping hybrids in Kassel's city center that have been abandoned by the real estate industry as space reserves for sociocultural palaces in socialized ownership. Within the framework of a public welfare-oriented Soz-K-ZEP for Kassel, we have translated the space requirements of socio-cultural initiatives into conversion, operating and financing models in order to make them conceptually plannable and imaginable in terms of urban space - as places of solidary self-sufficiency.

Department Architecture City Economy I Construction Industry I Project Development

Prof. Gabu Heindl

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of Neues Frankfurt, a project that was realized based on the vision of a future where new technologies, typologies but also social economies would provide for adequate housing for the many. We examined such mass housing concepts as a phenomenon of the 20th century, their shortcomings, but also their benefits, architectural expression, tools such as repetition and standardization, and projected critically into the future: What offers itself as "new" in housing today with regards to the social and the ecological crisis at the same time? What are the contemporary architectural and economic tools with which we can re-design affordable housing for the many? The students' work will be exhibited as part of "Yes, we care! Das Neue Frankfurt und die Frage nach dem Gemeinwohl", on the occasion of 100 Years of Neues Frankfurt at Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt. Opening: 8.5.2025.

Inclusive Spaces and Region - Future Care + Farm

Department ofDesign and Building Theory

Prof. Mag. arch. Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs

The demographic development in rural areas, especially in small villages, is characterized by population decline and an ageing population. Economic bottlenecks, especially on smaller farms, as well as the lack of prospects for symbiotic concepts for the next generation are leading to the closure of farms or the conversion of farms for purely residential purposes. The conversion of farms to social farming is a forward-looking concept with the potential to reactivate smaller farms and rural areas. Using a farm in the Werra-Meißner district as an example, the design project aims to combine the use of the farm with assisted living for 12 residents in order to explore the synergies and potential of care and the farm. The aim is to develop forward-looking projects with an impact in terms of space, program and design for all those living on the farm and for the surrounding area.

The Recapture of the Ring

DepartmentUrban Design I Prof. Stefan Rettich

Landscape Architecture I Design Department I Prof. Ariane Röntz

Department Designing in Urban Contexts I Prof. Dr.-Ing. Verena Brehm

The SDG+ Lab is dedicated to the transformation of the city and region in 2025. Both spatial levels and their traffic meet on the Kassel ring road - with overflowing areas for cars. The project focuses on the entire ring road in order to develop a joint vision for its transformation: How can places with a human scale be developed at Holländischer Platz, Lutherplatz or Ständeplatz - away from the car-friendly city and towards a traffic and climate-friendly city?