Days 3 to 5

On days three to five, the focus shifted to selected urban areas in the Ruhr region. In Duisburg, the students explored the newly designed König-Heinrich-Platz, the inner harbor as an example of successful structural change, and the extensive RheinPark. A special highlight was the walk-in landmark Tiger & Turtle.

In Essen, the program included a visit to the Grüne Mitte university park and a guided tour of the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Both locations impressively demonstrated how landscape architecture, urban development, and industrial culture are intertwined. The last day of the seminar was devoted to completing the work and a joint conclusion.

Supervision:                                      Raum – Prof. Dr.-Ing. Birgit Kröniger  Typologie – Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Rainer Sachse                                      Gestalten – Franziska Korn        Vegetation – Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ursula Nothhelfer

Day 1 and 2

This year, the compact seminar took third-semester students to the Ruhr region. The students spent the first two days at Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park, an impressive example of the transformation of industrial facilities into diverse open spaces.

In three areas of work—drawing, plants, and space & typology—they explored the park’s characteristic locations: from blast furnaces and bunkers to water and rail structures to sinter gardens. The park provided an inspiring learning environment in which industrial relics, vegetation, and atmosphere are closely interwoven. This resulted in initial drawing analyses, plant portraits, and spatial studies, which formed the introduction to the week.

Supervision:                                      Raum – Prof. Dr.-Ing. Birgit Kröniger  Typologie – Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Rainer Sachse                                      Gestalten – Franziska Korn        Vegetation – Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ursula Nothhelfer

This year, the 8th semester excursion took students to Copenhagen. 

The focus was on experiencing innovative urban and open space planning in a Scandinavian context – mainly by bicycle or on foot.

The students began by exploring the waterfront and shore areas around Copenhagen Harbor. They then focused on urban districts such as Nørrebro, Østerbro, and the Nordhavnen development area, where topics such as climate adaptation, mobility, and mixed use can be experienced firsthand. On the island of Amager and in Ørestad, projects such as Amager Bakke or “The Mountain” provide insights into experimental architecture and new urban concepts. A day trip took them to the greater Copenhagen area, with the Louisiana Museum in Humlebæk and the classic modern buildings by Arne Jacobsen in Klampenborg. The trip concluded with a half-day tour of central urban areas such as Israels Plads and the Strøget pedestrian zone.

The excursion provided a compact overview of current strategies for urban transformation – between landscape, architecture, and mobility.

Supervision:

Prof. Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. Ludwig SchegkProf. Ingrid Schegk

On the third day of the excursion, the students traveled to Freising early in the morning. After a brief exploration of the city center and the Domberg, the focus shifted to the analysis of historical and current landscape architecture projects. As part of a drawing exercise, model figures were sketched in a real environment to examine spatial relationships. The groups then visited the gardens and perennial display gardens at Weihenstephan University, which provided practical insights into contemporary plant planning.

On the fourth day, the group visited the Olympic Park in Munich. There, they analyzed and documented the urban and landscape planning qualities of the site. This was followed by a short visit to BMW World and a detour to the former Olympic Village, which is now used as student accommodation, among other things. In the afternoon, there were guided tours of the community-oriented housing projects Wagnis 1 and Wagnis 4, as well as the community garden “Stadtacker.” In addition, the urban planning concept for the Ackermannbogen district was presented, with a particular focus on energy concepts, social sustainability, and district management.

On the fifth and final day, the program was adjusted due to weather conditions. Instead of an outdoor excursion, the students visited the Glyptothek, where a sketching session took place. This was followed by the return journey. 

Supervision:

 Typologie                                         Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Rainer Sachse

 Bau- und Gartengeschichte           Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Klaus Meier

 Gestalten                                   Franziska Korn

 Vegetation                                   Norgard Österle

 Ressourceneffizientes Bauen       Prof. Dr. Nicole Pfoser

 Architektursoziologie und   Raummethoden                               Prof. PD. Dr. Dipl.-Ing. Oliver Frey

On the first day of the field trip, the students traveled to Munich. After an introductory lecture, they received thematic input on the English Garden, covering its historical development, design, and urban integration. The park was then explored and analyzed during an on-site tour.

The second day began with another lecture, which served as the basis for the following tasks. In small groups, the students worked on various squares along the axis from Königsplatz to Ludwigstraße. The aim was to capture the spatial structure, composition, and formal and material language of these places and to critically evaluate their uses. Finally, the groups presented their results in a plenary session and discussed them together.

Supervision:

 Typologie                                         Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Rainer Sachse

 Bau- und Gartengeschichte           Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Klaus Meier

 Gestalten                                   Franziska Korn

 Vegetation                                   Norgard Österle

 Ressourceneffizientes Bauen       Prof. Dr. Nicole Pfoser

 Architektursoziologie und   Raummethoden                               Prof. PD. Dr. Dipl.-Ing. Oliver Frey

For the seminar “Solving complex design tasks”, the 6th semester LAE traveled to Barcelona to explore the planning area for the Lenné Prize at the Forum and to get to know the exciting open spaces, architecture and urban design of Barcelona.

Supervision:

Prof. Dipl-Ing Rainer Sachse

Kerstin Winandi
Björn Hinners

In the Landscape Design module of the 7th semester LAE, the students analysed the conditions in Schorndorf and designed measures for what sustainable development in Schorndorf could look like.

Supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Henning Krug

Together with students from Pennsylvania State University, we explored Venice through drawing. On the first day we explored the city, on the second day we visited the Architecture Biennale and sketched various projects. The last two days were spent sketching ideas for new open spaces in Venice.

> Impressions Venice Workshop

Supervision:
Prof. Rainer Sachse (HFWU)
David Welters (AIB / PennState)

For this year’s cooperation project with Pennsylvania State University, we traveled to Venice for a week!  We visited the architecture Biemanle, analyzed the city, made impromptu designs and enjoyed a great time together in the lagoon city. Here are some impressions of our “Venice Design Charette”…

Supervision:
Prof. Rainer Sachse (HFWU)
David Welters (AIB / PennState)

Photos:
Jens Abele, Florian Königs, Rainer Sachse, Ronja Sahler, David Welters

The interdisciplinary master’s program City Landscape Transformation went to the Netherlands for a week to examine best practice projects in the fields of landscape architecture, urban planning and landscape design. In the process, the contrasting planning approaches of the cities of Amsterdam and Roterdam offered interesting added value.

Sponsorship by:
Constituted Student Body HfWU

Supervision:
Prof .Dr.-Ing Henning Krug
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ilka Mecklenbrauck

The second semester of the landscape architecture course had the opportunity this year to spend a week in Verbania on the Lago.

Maggiore. Many historical sites like the Isola Madre or the botanical gardens of the Villa

Taranto were visited. A visit to the Parco Dora in Turin was also on the agenda. The highlight, however, was the Fiat Museum, which has converted the factory’s own racetrack on the roof into a roof garden with flower beds. 

Not only drawing skills were improved, but also the team spirit as a semester.

Supervisors:
Prof. Dr. -Ing., Nicole Pfoser
Prof.  Annegret Stöcker
Franziska Korn

The eighth semester spent a week in the Netherlands for the final excursion. Impressive places and parks were visited and many great lectures were given. In the best weather, they biked through Amsterdam and relaxed over coffee in Utrecht.

Supervision:
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Sigurd Henne
Prof. Rainer Sachse

After a stopover in Munich to see a roof garden on a building belonging to the Wagnis 4 housing cooperative, the trip continued to Krems, Austria. Here, the students took a look at the university grounds. On the other excursion days, there were exciting guided tours through the Austrian city and an interesting workshop in the Czech Bruntal with Herbert Dreiseitl on the project of the design specialization.

Supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Ing. Nicole Pfoser
Prof. Herbert Dreiseitl

Tübingen is a very innovative city and focused on a sustainable town planning. They developed diverse and lively town districts with pretty high standards of living and identification.

The 4th semester visited the Mühlenviertel, the Lorettoviertel and the Alte Weberei.

Supervisor:

Prof. Rainer Sachse

Photos: O. Bégué, T. Wunderle

A number of great fascinating ecological parks have been created in Paris, we had to check them out! The eighth semester left for the Seine to check out the latest trends in landscape architecture and also to visit Versailles and see the Grand Projects of the 90s. A great experience!

Supervisor:
Prof. Rainer Sachse
Prof. Ludwig Schegk

Photos: R. Sachse

The Olympic Stadium, Munich’s landmark, is located in the 85 hectare Olympic Park. This complex was built on the occasion of the 1972 Olympic Games and is still used for numerous sports and music events. This time, the second semester was able to marvel and gain instructive impressions.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Birgit Kröninger

Photos: M. Haak

In the 3rd semester we have the big Mainau project coming up. For further inspiration we went to the Netherlands for four days. There we visited many interesting projects in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Maastricht, all in terms of landscape architecture and urban development!

Supervisors:
Prof. Dr. Cornelia Bott
Prof. Dr. Sigurd Hen
Prof. Dr. Rainer Sachse

Photos: L. Bader, H. Both

In no other city is currently more happening in landscape architecture than in Hamburg – so we had to go there! Practically, our semester project also took place in Hamburg. For four days we explored exciting places of Hamburg by water and by land…