From left to right: Hanna Sartorius, award winner Silvi Kociu, Vincent Witt, Alexander Rapp, Jonathan Heid, Dr. Ursula Baus and Prof. Ludwig Wappner.

On November 15, 2023, the Schelling Study Prize of the Schelling Architecture Foundation was awarded for the fifth time at the KIT Department of Architecture. Since 2015, this prize has been awarded every two years to the best final theses by students of the faculty. A total of eight Master's theses were nominated. The Schelling Study Prize is the student counterpart to the renowned Schelling Architecture Prizes for Architectural Theory and Architecture, with which the foundation has been honoring pioneering developments in architecture and outstanding achievements in architectural theory since 1992.

The jury for the study prize always includes the last winner of the architecture prize. This time it was the French architect Sophie Delhay, who was awarded the Schelling Architecture Prize in 2022. The jury also included KIT graduate Clara Süssmann, who was awarded the study prize in 2021, as well as three members of the Schelling Architecture Foundation's electoral board: the Director of the German Architecture Museum in Frankfurt/Main Peter Cachola Schmal, the architect Jette Hoop (Snøhetta, Oslo) and the Viennese architecture theorist Angelika Fitz.
Prof. Ludwig Wappner, Head of the Chair of Design and Building Construction, introduced the event. The laudatory speech was read by Dr. Ursula Baus from the Board of Trustees of the Schelling Architecture Foundation.

Silvi Kociu received the main prize of 2,000 euros for her master's thesis "Sand disposal in Hamburg's Spreehafen".
In her work, Silvi Kociu shows how the maintenance work in Hamburg's shipping canals can be used to create a new landscape for animals and plants. She uses the sand dredged from the canals to maintain navigation to create a cohabitative ecosystem consisting of a habitat for animals and a natural leisure pool.
The work skillfully spans a broad cultural arc from the beginnings of human land occupation to Kociu's call for human withdrawal from strategically selected areas. The architectural objects she proposes are variations on typical port infrastructures such as crane runways and conveyor belts.
The work was supervised by Prof. Simon Hartmann and Prof. Christian Inderbitzin.

Image: Silvi Kociu

In addition, three prizes of 500 euros each were awarded:
One went to Jonathan Heid for his design "Building Consciousness - A Center for the New European Bauhaus" (supervised by Prof. Ludwig Wappner and Prof. Dirk Hebel).
In his master's thesis, Jonathan Heid developed a scenario for the conversion of four vacant buildings on the KIT Campus South against the backdrop of climate change and resource scarcity. Through their systemic and sustainable conversion, Heid demonstrates the potential of comparable research and teaching buildings from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s for urban revitalization.

A second award went to Alexander Rapp for his work "Region. Architecture. Identity _ Structural Development through Architectural Intervention" (supervised by Prof. Ludwig Wappner / Prof. Dr. Riklef Rambow).
Alexander Rapp's master's thesis takes a very pointed look at the structural change processes in the small Saxon town of Glashütte in the Ore Mountains. He proposes a watchmaking school with training workshops as a new anchor point for the small town, which is characterized by a declining population, vacancies and buildings in need of renovation. In addition to an urban redevelopment of the town center, this intervention also offers the opportunity to anchor the watchmaking trade more firmly in the consciousness of the region and beyond by means of expressive architecture.

The third award went to Vincent Johannes Witt for his work "Forschungszentrum Zukunftsbau - Wie bauen wir die Zukunft?"
(Supervised by TT-Prof. Moritz Dörstelmann / Prof. Dirk E. Hebel)
In an era characterized by climate change, shortage of skilled workers and scarcity of raw materials, Vincent Witt's master's design sees itself as a catalyst for a paradigm shift in architecture in favor of sustainable building technologies. As a large-scale research infrastructure on the West Campus of KIT, the design creates space for interdisciplinary collaboration, enables the development of new building technologies and positions KIT as a pioneer in sustainable building research.

The projects were also nominated:

Marie Kamp
Occhio Espansivo - Utopia in productive exile
Supervised by Prof. Meinrad Morger / Prof. Dr. Oliver Jehle

Sebastian Krumm
European EnergyLAB _ An innovation center for the energy transition of the 21st century
Supervised by Prof. Ludwig Wappner / Prof. Andreas Wagner

Benjamin Weber
Sustainable neighborhood development in rural areas
Supervised by Prof. Dirk Hebel / Prof. Andreas Wagner

Hanna Sartorius
Protective spaces _ Mannheim's hidden treasures
Supervised by Prof. Ludwig Wappner / Prof. Henri Bava

Congratulations to all!

To the website of the Schelling Architecture Foundation