Current research projects

egon eiermann digital
Egon Eiermann Digital. A digitisation project for the work archive

The aim of the ‘Egon Eiermann Digital’ project is to systematically digitise archival sources from Egon Eiermann's work archive. The total volume of the collection amounts to over 30,000 archival records.

Mehr

Past research projects

Frei Otto Multihalle
Frei Otto, Carlfried Mutschler - Multihalle

Drawing on materials from the archives of Carlfried Mutschler and Frei Otto that are for the most part unpublished, the book presents the history for the first time of the experimental temporary multipurpose hall built by the two architects in 1975 for the Federal Horticultural Show in Mannheim.

Mehr
Frei Otto Denken in Modellen
Frei Otto - Thinking in models

To mark the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Architecture, the so-called Prizker Prize, to Frei Otto, the largest exhibition to date on his oeuvre ‘Frei Otto - Thinking in Models’ will take place at the ZKM from 5 November to 12 March 2017, a joint project of the Southwest German Archive for Architecture and Civil Engineering (saai) of the KIT and the Wüstenrot Foundation, in cooperation with the ZKM, funded by the Baden-Württemberg Foundation.

Mehr
Gotische Planzeichnungen
Gothic plan views

Although architectural drawing as a medium gained enormous importance as an actual design instrument for the first time in the Gothic period, architectural history research is relatively isolated with regard to this medium. This is the only way to understand why the most recent summary on the subject of medieval architectural drawings merely perpetuates established but untenable clichés with regard to the question of scale and usability for the execution process.

Mehr
Otto Herbert Hajek
Otto Herbert Hajek - Art in architectural space

Otto Herbert Hajek is undoubtedly one of the leading German artistic personalities of the 20th century. Trained as a sculptor at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart from 1947 to 1954, Hajek first attracted widespread attention at the end of the 1950s with his ‘Raumknoten’ and ‘Raumschichtungen’ as well as his large-format bronze sculptures with highly fissured surfaces. From then on, the exploration of space became his major theme, which would accompany him throughout his life.

Mehr
Weinbrenner DFG
Friedrich Weinbrenner - Critical Edition of the Writings

This project is the first edition of the written work of the architecture teacher Friedrich Weinbrenner (1766-1826) and thus provides an important and complete theoretical position for research.

Mehr
Konstruieren als Kulturtechnik
Construction as a cultural technique

Using the estate of Egon Eiermann, the protagonist of German post-war modernism, ‘objects of knowledge’ from the archive will be scrutinised, read, researched and interpreted with a focus on ‘construction as a cultural technique’.

Mehr
Olympia München 1972
Munich Olympics 1972

The Munich Olympic facilities of 1972 are one of the most important highlights of post-war modernism in the Federal Republic of Germany, with which Germany was able to join the ranks of the leading architectural nations.

Mehr
Günter Behnisch
Günter Behnisch - Architect of the FRG

The saai ‘Günter Behnisch und Partner’ collection comprises around 66,000 plans, 60,000 photos, 140 models, 65 shelf metres of document publications and 1,000 shelf metres of construction files. In addition to these materials from the architectural practice, the estate also contains private documents such as travel slides and teaching materials from Günter Behnisch.

Mehr
Atombilder Rolf Lederbogen
Rolf Lederbogen - Atomic images

The research seminar is a co-operation between the Department of Architectural Theory and the saai. Based on material from Rolf Lederbogen's work archive, the seminar will focus on contemporary and historical theories, images and issues relating to the cultural history of nuclear energy in architecture, art, science and technology.

Mehr