The Wohncampus+ Munich is positioned along the perimeter edges of the site. Access to the quarter is provided through passages between the individual “residential machines,” which connect interior and exterior spaces. By responding to the alignments and edges of the surrounding buildings, the development integrates into the existing urban fabric.

The concept of the building ensemble follows the idea of a campus. It is characterized by a loose arrangement of individual volumes organized around a shared open space. The exterior landscape thus forms the connective element between the buildings. Instead of clearly defined street spaces, a network of pathways, open areas, and zones of stay emerges. In this way, a coherent ensemble is created that operates as an independent urban unit.

The circulation systems within the buildings are clearly legible from the exterior, allowing people with reduced mobility to quickly understand the spatial structure. Walking distances can be intuitively assessed by seniors through the façade articulation. External walkways provide horizontal access to all residential units, while vertically, clearly positioned stair cores organize circulation. These cores serve not only as circulation elements but also as social interaction zones and storage areas for mobility aids.

The design is based on the question of what kind of urban quarter can be created in which retirees, students, and care staff live together, share everyday life, and inspire one another. The spatial organization responds to the needs of its residents. Wohncampus+ offers assisted living in the form of single apartments, multi-room units, and shared apartments with self-sufficient living models. Flexible spatial configurations allow residents to shape their daily lives independently while having access to care services when needed.

The buildings are oriented toward the central courtyard. The eastern and western volumes contain shared living clusters, divided into small student rooms and larger communal spaces. The northern and southern buildings, by contrast, are composed of individual apartments. These can be expanded through adaptable and switchable spatial systems, responding to changing occupancy and evolving requirements. This allows elderly residents to be more closely integrated into everyday life, while increased opportunities for interaction help foster an active social environment.

A central aspect of the quarter, in addition to housing, is the creation of community. Clearly defined ground-floor areas enable exchange among all residents and encourage shared activities.

Overall, the diverse and flexible housing typologies of Wohncampus+ enable individual lifestyles, provide affordable housing for students, support participation of elderly residents in daily life, and bring different user groups into meaningful contact.

Performative Space
Rethinking a Concrete Monolith: Transformation is the Future

Behind the tree canopy, a striking large-scale structure of board-marked exposed concrete emerges: the main building of the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (HMTMH). Designed in 1973 by Rolf-Dieter Ramcke, the building marks the edge of the city forest and—like many post-war modernist structures—faces significant contemporary challenges.

The rigid structures of the existing building no longer meet the requirements of a changing academic landscape. There is a lack of spaces for new teaching formats, flexible use, and energy-related upgrading.

This master’s thesis explores how the building can be further developed. The aim is to create urgently needed additional space, strengthen the dialogue with the urban community, and use resources sustainably. Avoiding additional land sealing and ensuring a sensitive approach to the existing structure are central priorities.

Design Concept

The starting point is the activation of hidden potentials. The inner courtyard and the opening toward the forest are intended to provide space for performative practices, interdisciplinary exchange, leisure, and inspiration. In contrast to the rigid structure of the existing “supercells,” experimentally usable spaces emerge that enable spontaneous situations and foster unexpected artistic encounters.

A lightweight roof over the courtyard forms a climatically effective buffer space. In addition, a connecting volume is proposed, providing areas for music theory with views into the surrounding greenery. The plasticity, geometry, and meandering spatial sequences of the existing structure are translated into a hexagonal-rhombic system. The volumes open toward the cardinal directions, ensuring summer thermal protection, while cooler forest air can be actively utilized on hot days.

The New HdB

In the free master’s thesis “History as a House | House as History”, excerpts from a sketchbook are used to demonstrate how alternative approaches can be developed to counter the demolition frenzy in major cities. A central role is played by the idea of process-based architecture: How can architecture be understood in terms of temporality? And how can gentrification and investor-driven urban development be countered?

And what place could be more appropriate than the university campus in Bockenheim?

The focus is the former canteen, also known as the social center—a brutalist building from the 1970s by Heinrich Nitschke. With its strong presence in the urban space and generous floor areas, the building holds significant potential, even though its demolition is currently planned—resulting in the loss of approximately 4,500 tons of embodied CO₂.

The aim is therefore to design a House of the Public and a transformation forum that respects and further develops the existing structure. The progression from sketchbook to the project’s “diary” illustrates an approach that understands the building as a material bank. The New HdB relies on few, but highly deliberate interventions. Its motto: no ideology, only raw honesty.

The design reduces the building to its exposed structure and reveals materials in their unaltered state. The building itself becomes a carrier of memory and the starting point of its own transformation—with a clear focus on processes of adaptation. A collapsed ceiling slab becomes the substructure of a new staircase, while former flooring material is reused as a defining façade element. At the same time, necessary additions are made legible: new structural elements in green, spatial components in wood and glass that introduce light and openness.

This creates a flexible framework of past and future, allowing the building to continuously evolve. In doing so, the HdB responds to the changing needs and ideas of its users. A progressive, transformative, and honest building—a constructed invitation to participation and to a conscious engagement with resources.

CONVITE – SUPER, MARKET!

Imagine the supermarket—this self-evident everyday place—no longer seen merely as a provider of goods, but as a fundamental building block of the city. Today, only 15% of products are sourced regionally, 53% of CO₂ emissions are attributed to last-mile logistics, and one in four adults in Germany experiences loneliness. While supermarkets occupy and seal vast areas of urban land, their urban potential remains largely untapped.

Our question: how can a place visited daily finally give something back to the city?

CONVITE—derived from the Portuguese word for “invitation”—responds with a new typology of urban supply. The former Galeria Kaufhof in Neuss serves as a case study: no longer an isolated department store, but a permeable, green infrastructure that integrates movement, encounter, and production.

The building becomes a double helix of supply and city: on the ground floor, a market hall with regional produce; above it, teaching kitchens, administration, social services, gastronomy, and research. Rooftop gardens, urban farming, and housing extend everyday life vertically—creating a day-and-night place of constant activity and social density.

Logistics remain invisible yet fully integrated: electric, consolidated, and efficient. The former retail floor is transformed into public space, while a green corridor connects the city center and the harbor—forming a new urban metabolic cycle.

CONVITE understands supply as a social fabric: you can shop, stay, talk, learn, and celebrate. Not because you have to, but because the city once again invites you to stay longer than your receipt requires.

DORF. CENTER. NOW.

Rural areas, and in particular the historic centers of small municipalities, are facing significant challenges. Demographic change, shifting social and economic structures, and new residential developments on the urban fringe are leading in many places to vacancy, loss of function, and declining quality of public space.

In Rockenberg as well, the municipality continues to expand outward, while the village center is gradually emptying. The neglect of inner-core development potential in favor of new peripheral housing areas reinforces the so-called donut effect, in which the village center loses its significance. At the same time, regional building culture and local traditions are increasingly disappearing. Yet existing buildings, open spaces, and vacant plots offer considerable potential for sustainable development.

The project follows the approach of village acupuncture. Small, targeted interventions at strategic locations generate impulses for the entire village. Buildings, open spaces, and landscape areas are activated and interconnected to create new places of encounter and shared use. The local community plays a central role, particularly in implementation and further development. The aim is to strengthen the village center as a vibrant everyday hub and to make use of existing potentials in a sustainable way.

Existing buildings and open spaces are repurposed and further developed. Community structures, local value creation, and the cultural landscape are reinforced, while regional building culture is reinterpreted in a contemporary way. Short distances, traffic calming, and upgraded street spaces connect central locations. Shared meeting spaces encourage interaction and use within the village core.

The revitalization of rural regions can only succeed through collective action. The key lies in making potentials visible and opening up spaces that encourage people to become actively involved and initiate further projects themselves.