50 years of architecture - urban planning - landscape planning

In 1973, the new Comprehensive University of Kassel initiated the reform courses of study in architecture, urban planning and landscape planning. The "Kassel Model" challenged outdated pedagogical concepts, institutional structures and subject content. It pursued a strong social agenda and rethought the relationship between science, planning and society. The appointment of young, innovative university teachers also underpinned the spirit of departure in terms of personnel. Kassel distinguished itself in the German higher education landscape as a radical educational experiment, from which numerous professional innovations emanated in the following years that had a lasting influence on the disciplines. Even then, many topics were initiated that have taken on a new urgency today in light of climate change and the Anthropocene.

"We are all still proud today that interdisciplinary collaboration between architecture, urban planning and landscape planning has been a living practice at our department ever since. But the day-to-day nature of research and teaching has changed far and wide in recent decades. Our anniversary is a great opportunity for us to trace our roots and ask how we should reposition ourselves in the next 50 years," says the dean of the department, Prof. Dr. Uwe Altrock.

The ten anniversary exhibitions present the history and profile of the department and map the focus of teaching, learning and research in the three institutes of architecture, urban development, and landscape architecture and planning. They are organized by various departments in collaboration with students. The first exhibition starting in December 2022 is dedicated to the pioneers of ecological building at the Gesamthochschule Kassel Lucius Burckhardt, Thomas Herzog and Gernot Minke.

To mark the anniversary, the department is initiating a new online magazine on its digital platform Rein(r-ein.de). A separate magazine issue will be dedicated to the theme of each exhibition.

Tues. Dec. 13, 2022, 6 p.m., ASL New Building, Lecture Hall 0106.

Opening of the exhibition series with keynote address by Tom Holert (Harun Farocki Institute, Berlin): Communicating Curricula: documenta 5, Hessian Framework Guidelines, and the Founding Phase of the GhK.

When the Gesamthochschule Kassel (GhK) was founded in 1971 and the Hochschule der Künste was integrated into it, documenta 5 went through a crucial stage in its conceptual and logistical preparation. Was there a relationship between these developments?

Further information on the exhibitions, their accompanying events and other anniversary activities: http://www.uni-kassel.de/go/jubilaeumASL