After successful completion of the course, students are able to work on a design task by using the concept of space and the understanding of spatial correlations as the starting point of the problem of architectural design. They will learn to critically deal with basic questions of museum space, in particular by comprehending a specific context and the resulting questions about how to deal with the space, the inventory, and the history of culture and urban construction. They will be able to derive appropriate design principles through scientifically and methodically based research on historical and contemporary exhibition spaces and to adopt them for their own design work. They will be able to comprehensively present and represent their project concepts in the form of draft designs and detailed plans.
“This house is from the roadside pavilion-like, and its garden runs down to a small lake with a public park beyond. A setting of pastoral quiet within a city, complete with fisherman in a moored punt and the obligatory weeping willows.” Alison & Peter Smithson, 1967
The last building Mies van der Rohe completed before his emigration to the USA was built in 1932 for the Lemke couple on the outskirts of East Berlin. The single-storey house with an L-shaped floor plan is a massive brick building with a flat roof and large glazing on a double plot of land on the Obersee. The house can be understood, on the one hand, as a small country house and a fragment of a brick courtyard house design from the 1930s, and, on the other hand, as a forerunner of the low-rise buildings in Lafayette Park that Mies realised in Detroit in 1955 together with Ludwig Hilberseimer. It thus represents a link between Mies's work in Berlin and Chicago, which can provide interesting impetus for research. Together with the Villa Tugendhat, Haus Esters, and Haus Lange, as well as Farnsworth House, it is one of Mies’s publicly accessible residential buildings.
Today, as the so-called Mies van der Rohe Haus, it is a small exhibition hall in which events and exhibitions thematically related to Mies van der Rohe's work take place. In order to preserve the building, to open it to the public as an exhibit, and to simultaneously develop, frame, use, and manage it, spaces are required that suggest an accessory building. At the same time, for reasons of historic preservation, great care must be taken with regard to the existing structure and the open space. The class project is, therefore, the planning of a museum facility for the preservation, development, and viewing of the Mies van der Rohe House. In doing so, reference is to be made to Mies van der Rohe's architecture, its thematic elaboration and research, as well as its exhibitability.
Theoretical foundations and analyses of selected historical and contemporary examples form the beginning of the design exercise. Working individually or in pairs, students will develop their draft designs exclusively on the basis of physical working models and sketches. The working model will be used as a design tool with which to examine and develop various design topics.
Due to the current situation and the official requirements regarding COVID-19, most of the course will be handled digitally through distance learning. Selected individual appointments may take place face-to-face on university premises in compliance with specified security precautions.
Introduction Friday, 5 March 2021 10:00 a.m. at https://tuwien.zoom.us/j/93764489745
DATES
Introduction Friday, 5 March 2021
Concept critique Friday, 26 March 2021
Intermediate critique Friday, 14 May 2021
Final presentation Friday, 25 June 2021
The design discussions take place on Fridays between 9:00 and 16:00.
Participation is required for the design discussions.
Registrations with a portfolio are preferred.
Dates are subject to change.
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If, due to the requirements of the Federal Government or the TU Wien, it becomes impossible to hold the class, the examination, and/or the class meetings on site, the class will move online. If this happens, the announced dates for the class lectures and examinations (part performances) may change. If the class moves online, the following methods and modes will apply:
Method when moving online:
The course will be held online via Zoom or GoToMeeting.
Exam mode when moving online:
Evaluation will be continuous even if the class moves online. The final presentation will be carried out on Zoom. Student work will be submitted in both analogue and digital form.
Assessment model for the online exam: both analogue and digital submissions and presentations will be assessed.
Required technical equipment for participation in the course and examination: stable internet access, Zoom or GoToMeeting.
