The Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH Aachen University) was founded in 1870. Today it is the largest technical university in Germany and consists of 260 institutes spread over 9 faculties.
Around 45,000 students are enrolled in 157 different degree programmes and are taught by more than 540 professors and 5,300 scientists. Nearly 10,000 students from 131 different countries as well as numerous formalised cooperations with over 100 universities worldwide prove the high international reputation of the university.
The RWTH Aachen is one of only 11 universities in Germany to receive additional funding from the Federal Government's Excellence Initiative.
At the chair of Spatial Design of the Faculty of Architecture Prof. Uwe Schröder and 4 scientific assistants are annually teaching more than 110 students of the Bachelor and about 60 from the Master Program in architectural design from the basics up to the thesis projects. The conception of architectural teaching represented here follows the "sentence of identity" of the art historian August Schmarsow (1853-1936): Architecture is Spatial Design, for that Spatial Design determines the essence of architecture. It not only asks about the manifold relations between material, colour, proportion etc. and the sensitivities of the human being in space, but also raises the question that has yet to be posed in advance: What is space?
As the design of architectural spaces refers equally to the inner structure of the house and that of the city, the idea of the city itself then is the key to a conceptual and descriptive notion of architectural spaces. This leads from theory to practice, from the conception of a Spatial Design Theory to the design of an architecture of spaces...
Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Uwe Schröder, *1964 in Bonn, Germany; 1986-1992 studies in architecture at the RWTH Aachen University, work in the architectural practice of Prof. O. M. Ungers (1988-1990); 1992 Diplom in architecture with Prof. W. Döring, Aachen; 1992-1995 postgraduate studies in architecture at Düsseldorf Art Academy, 1995 master scholar with Prof. L. Ortner; 1993ff. founds independent architectural office in Bonn; 2000-2002 lectureship in the fundamentals of design at the Bochum University of Applied Sciences; 2003-2004 visiting professor of design and architectural theory at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences; 2004-2008 accepts an appointment as professor of design and architectural theory at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences; 2006 scholarship from the Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo; 2008ff. accepts an appointment in the Department of Spatial Design with the Faculty of Architecture, RWTH Aachen University; 2009-2010 guest professorship at the Università di Bologna, Italy; 2016 guest professorship at the Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II," guest professorship at the Politecnico di Bari, Italy; 2018 guest professorship at the Universtà degli Studi di Catania, Italy; 2019 guest professorship at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
M.Sc. Jana Ring, *1991 in Viersen, Germany; 2010-2018 studies in architecture at the RWTH Aachen University; student assistant at the Department of Spatial Design and collaborator at Johannes Götz Architekt, Cologne; 2015 Young Talent Award of the Federal State North Rhine-Westphalia; 2016-2017 collaboration with Prof. Renato Rizzi at the IUAV University of Venice, Italy; 2018 graduation with honours: master thesis "Arrivare a Venezia“ with Prof. Uwe Schröder and Prof. Anne-Julchen Berhardt; first prize of the bilateral BDA-SARP-Award and nomination for the 28th EAP Euregional Prize for Architecture 2018 collaborator at C4C, office for competition and procedure management, Berlin; since 2018 teaching and research assistant at the Department for Spatial Design at the RWTH Aachen University.
Dipl.-Ing. Susanne Rupprecht-Reinke, *1958 in Kiel, Germany; 1979-1981 studies in interior design at the University of Wuppertal; 1981-1987 studies in architecture at the RWTH Aachen University; 1987 Diplom in architecture with Prof. Volkwin Marg; 1987 collaborator at Ulrich Coersmeier Architekt, Cologne 1988 collaborator at Gottfried Böhm Architekt, Cologne; since 1990-1997 teaching and research assistant at the Department of Urban Planning at the RWTH Aachen University and collaborator at gmp Architekten, Prof. Volkwin Marg; since 2006 teaching and research assistant at the Department for Spatial Design at the RWTH Aachen University; since 2015 head of office at the faculty’s international office.
M.Sc. Ilaria Zedda, *1990 in Cagliari, Italy; 2009-2012 Bachelor cum Laude in architecture at the University of Cagliari; 2011-2012 Erasmus at the ETSAC- Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura de La Coruña, Spain; 2013-2015 Master cum Laude in architecture at the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy; master thesis "Back to the Block- Rethinking the urban tissue in Vanchiglia district" with Prof. Silvia Malcovati (Polytechnic University of Turin) and Prof. Christian Rapp (TU Eindhoven, Netherlands); 2015-2016 internship at Uwe Schröder Architekt, Bonn, Germany; since 2017 PhD student and lecturer at the Department for Spatial Design, supervised by Univ.-Prof. Dipl-Ing. Uwe Schröder; since 2018 PhD cotutelle with the University of Bologna, Italy; since 2018 employee at Axel Steudel Architekten, Cologne, Germany.
M.Sc. Timo Steinmann, *1987 in Bonn, Germany; 2008-2015 studies in architecture at the RWTH Aachen University; 2013-2014 student collaborator at Max Dudler, Berlin; 2015 master thesis "Insula in medio – Ein Haus für Alle" with Prof. Uwe Schröder and Prof. em. Mirko Baum; 2015-2016 collaborator at Usarch, Bonn; 2016-2019 collaborator at meyerschmitzmorkramer, since 2019 caspar.schmitzmorkramer, Köln; since 2019 collaborator at Usarch, Bonn; since 2016 lecturer at the Department for Spatial Design at the RWTH Aachen University.
M.Sc. Felix Mayer, *1992 in Tübingen, Germany; 2011-2012 voluntary social year in Santiago de Chile; 2012-2017 studies in architecture at HTWG Konstanz and E.T.S.A. Sevilla; 2014 student collaborator at MGF Architekten, Stuttgart; 2017 graduation with honours: Bachelor of Arts in architecture; 2017-2019 studies in architecture at the RWTH Aachen University; 2019 graduation with honours: master thesis „documentation centre flight, expulsion, loss of homeland“ with Prof. Uwe Schröder and Prof. Anke Naujokat; first prize of the wa-award „Palimpsest“; and nomination for the 29th EAP Euregional Prize for Architecture; 2019-2020 collaborator at gernot schulz architektur in Cologne; since 2020 collaborator at MGF Architekten, Stuttgart; since 2020 teaching and research assistant at the Department for Spatial Design at the RWTH Aachen University.