Bauhaus Kolleg
The Bauhaus Dessau Urban Studies Program
Since 1999 the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation has offered an international and interdisciplinary post-graduate program, conceived for designers, urban planners, architects and other theorists interested in aspects of urbanism: the Bauhaus Kolleg.
The Bauhaus Kolleg is an extra-mural program, a kind of further training program for professionals whose work involves aspects of urban research and urban design. The one-year program, which focuses each year on a different urban issue, seeks to broaden participants’ knowledge of traditional space-related disciplines by offering specific methodologies and strategies for addressing ‘the city’
Curriculum
The one-year program consists of two semesters: the first is devoted to theory, methodology and research whilst, in the second, projects and strategies are developed and then supplemented by workshops conducted at the locations under enquiry.
The first semester covers theoretical approaches and methods of representation.
Theoretical Program: Lectures and seminars address current discourse in the fields of social geography, sociology and anthropology, which provides a range of conceptual and methodological tools for dealing with the Kolleg’s research topic.
Workshops: The workshops are designed to convey various methods of urban research and its representation. These range from urban ethnographic approaches through to studies of spatial and temporal organization and the methods of visual anthropology. Mapping-workshops facilitate participants’ production of charts and diagrams that illustrate relational representations of space.
The Research Studio facilitates the preparation of subject matter and appropriate methodologies for on-site research.
Excursions are designed for fieldwork at the respective locations under enquiry. The semester concludes with a symposium, at which research findings and any problems that have been identified can be discussed.
The aim of the second semester is to develop urban strategies or artistic concepts based on the research previously undertaken. A series of studio sessions, during which potential scenarios are explored, is intended as a means of ascertaining the validity/ applicability of theses developed for each location. Different tools and strategies are presented, and their relevance to the problems on hand is tested.
On-Site Workshops serve firstly, as an opportunity to discuss one’s own research with local experts. Secondly, parallel to the workshops, urban interventions in public space take place, which serve as test runs for further possible interaction with the location and/ or its inhabitants.
Projects are thus developed on the basis on research, fieldwork and analysis. Projects range from artistic interventions to the development of urban strategies or concepts for activities that address problematic aspects of the locations under investigation whilst also reflecting the overall theme of the program.
The Result
At the end of the Kolleg year, projects are presented to an international jury and discussed in the light of their relevance to the year’s particular theme. Participants with the best projects are given a ‘post-production’ opportunity to further develop or realize them in the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation’s Workshop and in cooperation with local partners. Exhibitions and the Edition Bauhaus’ publication of a book on each year’s particular theme assure that the findings of every Kolleg research team reach an international audience.
