Operative and Cooperative Mediality. The Planning History of the University Architecture in Regensburg 1962-78

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Julian Jachmann
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 516984258

From the perspective of architectural history, the German university foundations of the 1960s and 1970s can be characterised by a paradox: Their enormous building volume originated without a client, without an architect - and ultimately without a building task. More precisely, the respective institution as well as the building offices and teams of architects only emerged during the planning and building processes themselves. And the definition of a university is the subject of ongoing controversy. The opportunity to examine the history of a design operation that is embedded as well in complex and protracted processes und negotiations between heterogeneous groups of people as in architectural and political discourse, does not often arise. However, such a case exists regarding the first and decisive planning and construction phase of the University of Regensburg 1962-78. Thousands of photographs and documents as well as hundreds of models (documented in photographs) and conceptual drawings have been preserved, especially in the archive of the ‘Staatliches Bauamt Regensburg’. Thus, it is possible to investigate in detail the design process of the architecture of new brutalism and the idea of building systems. More precisely we have to ask, how concepts and forms were developed and communicated, and what roles played the countless protagonists and institutions involved, from architects to university committees and from ministries to the press and research institutions. An international exchange of ideas is documented through correspondence and study trips. The context of the project should be traced in the political and social environment, which was characterised by great dynamism in the years between the Sputnik shock, the ‘Bildungskatastrophe’ and student activism. Regarding the media of architecture, the methodological apparatus has been expanded in recent decades, important categories are operative imagery und operative mediality, the topics range from the significance of images, models and visualisations as tools for design processes to communication, from epistemic procedures to the status of the medium as an actor. New approaches emerge to understand the diverse and hybrid architectural representations that evolved in Regensburg between sketch and concept, diagram and plan, model, photograph and schema. It is necessary to ask about the role that each representation played in design, decision-making and communication: How was it possible to open up possibilities for successive designs without endangering crucial ideas such as the centre or the connection to the historical town centre? How were continuity and coherence guaranteed over a long period of time and including heterogeneous interests? How do design artefacts become operative and finally cooperative media in the fields of architecture, media and politics?

• DFG Programme: Research Grants