The next issue of the Faculty Yearbook will be published in July 2022. In addition to the documentation of the professorships and teaching areas, an essential component is the Discourse section. In this section, a thematic focus will be used to take a look at current discussions and positions within and outside the faculty. We are also looking for proposals for the picture essay. The picture essay is a 16-page picture series. This should also deal with the topic of the call.

All faculty members, students and staff, are invited to submit contributions to the discourse and the image essay.

BestandTeile (Components)

When we think about and design architecture, we always come back to the question of what constitutes architecture. These are its physical components, such as columns, walls, roofs, windows and portals, but also the implications and micronarratives discursively associated with it.  Throughout the history of architecture and up to the present day, these components have changed in their nature, their design, their material composition, and their meaning.
It is also possible to think about components of an urban scale; townhouses, churches and even infrastructural pieces like train stations , harbors, bridges could be a part of an urban catalog as well.
New elements are created over time, and new tools to design and to think through them are in constant development. From a Greek marble capital to a 3D-printed façade piece, technical innovations and cultural context condition the architectural work even in its smallest units, whether abstract or physical.
With the discourse theme "Components", we propose to vision and develop new components of architecture due to contemporary, historical and future changes in social conditions and technical innovations, as well as to reflect and rethink the discussions about what conditions architecture and the relationship of the discipline to its component parts at any scale.

Possible connection points:

• Materials and elements – relationships between form, function, construction, meaning and matter.
• Design by catalog. Design strategies and prefabricated components.
• Reduce, reuse, recycle – circularity in  architectural elements.
• Micronarratives. The history of architectural elements and the levels of meaning in architecture.
• Reutilzation and re-semantization in architectural history.
• Urban mining. Sustainable strategies and “as found” aesthetics of the circular economy.
• Spolia. From building material to historical legitimacy and preservation.
• Readymade. Prefabricated, mass production and new joints.
• Improvisation & Bricolage. Reutilization in Architecture and Urbanism.
• Digital tools in architecture. Blending, morphing and hibridization of architectural elements.
• Digital practices and architectural elements. From BIM to individual production.
• The future of elements. New materials, new functions.

Your submission

If you would like to participate in the Discourse section of the Yearbook, please send an abstract of your paper to Frank Metzger by 10:00 am on Wednesday, February 23, 2022.

Length of the abstract for the discourse:
Max. 200 words plus visual material
Format: PDF or Word document
Please indicate the expected length of the prepared contribution. It should not exceed 10,000 characters (including spaces).

Scope of the proposal for the image essay:
Max. six images and a short description
Format: PDF
Please indicate the expected length of the picture essay. It should not exceed 16 pages.

Selection of contributions

From the incoming abstracts and proposals, the editorial board will select the contributions on February 24 and ask for their elaboration. Depending on their length, seven to ten Discourse contributions will find their way into the Yearbook. We also require a short English abstract and a short biography for the elaborated contributions.
The deadline for submissions is April 20, 2022.

The editors look forward to receiving your submissions:
Academic Staff: Fanny Kranz, Nina Rind
Students: Leon Hülsenbeck
Professors: Inge Hinterwaldner, Riklef Rambow, Renzo Vallebuona
Technical assistants: Christoph Engel
Representatives of the Dean's Office: Dorothee Egger, Frank Metzger, Judith Reeh

Karlsruhe, February 02, 2022

More information about the yearbook