Architecture, City and Landscape

Subject of this specialization are the connections of urban planning and architectural design concepts as well as the associated flows of energy, material and traffic and their importance to the creation of urban space and living quality. How can design challenges be solved in consideration of architectural aspects with regard to sustainable action?

Consequently, general sustainability criteria such as settlement density and structure, the resulting consumption of resources like energy, air and water are analyzed.
Spatial, structural, material, cultural and social aspects become ever more important. Questions of mobility with regard to individual and public transport as well as alternative traffic concepts are profoundly examined in respect of the potentials of energy and resource saving design. Moreover, aspects of urban planning are evaluated such as separation and mixture of functions in view of quality and quantity of traffic movements and the use of green as regulating element for comfort and urban space quality and their meaning to social life and quality of life in the city.

In consideration of population development in the cities, alternative strategies are demonstrated as how to deal with existing buildings in regions with decreasing population (demolition/recycling); whereas in regions with high population growth a resource-friendly expansion of existing urban structures as well as the design of new settlements is examined following sustainable design principles. Architectural questions of type, topos, tectonics and texture are complemented by aspects of climate and energy.

Mentoring and consulting by the Institute of Energy Efficient and Sustainable Design and Building, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Werner Lang