Technische Universität Dresden

Technische Universität Dresden

The Technical University of Dresden (TU Dresden) has its origins in the Technische Bildungsanstalt Dresden, founded in 1828. It has had university status since 1890. Today, it is a university with a very broad scope, including engineering and natural sciences, as well as humanities, cultural and social sciences and medicine.

A special feature of the Faculty of Architecture is that the architecture and landscape design study programmes are combined in one faculty with 1,200 students. This has been a tradition in Dresden since the 1950s and shapes the profile of the faculty, as does the balance between a theoretical-scientific, technical and creative orientation of the training. In addition to the classical training in architecture, which is the focus of the diploma course in architecture, new points of focus are also offered in studies and research in the current field of tension between sustainability and innovation, e.g. building in existing contexts and sustainable urban development, reuse of brownfield sites, environmentally friendly building and renovation, visionary scenarios for the future of living and working.

The Institut für Baugeschichte, Architekturtheorie und Denkmalpflege (IBAD), with its three professorships, fosters a transdisciplinary approach to teaching and research that is in the tradition of European intellectual history and takes into account current phenomena in architectural culture, with their opportunities and risks. Theoretical and practical issues are tackled from the perspective of building history, which can include concrete observation, cultural studies, as well as planning implementation. Concerning present-day issues, the Chair of Historic Preservation focuses on the cultural memory of society and the contemporary and sustainable treatment of historically valuable architectural heritage. Architectural theory completes this from the point of view of a hermeneutic discipline that looks at the fundamental relationship between architecture and society and opens a visionary perspective for the future by asking what kind of built environment we want to live in.

In addition, the Institute provides an important and necessary bridge between architecture as a scientific practice, which encompasses its own research areas, and the cultural or social sciences in general. Thus, in a collegial combination of theoretical, historical and design- oriented teaching and research areas, IBAD seeks to achieve a transdisciplinary working method that characterises the study and professional field of architecture in a special way.

For further information: https://tu-dresden.de/bu/architektur/ibad