Experiments with clay

Elective Course

(1,5 SWS / 3 ECTS)

Language:       German 

Time:                Introduction: Thursday 11 April 2024, 10 am

                          1st construction phase: 30 May – 2 June. 2024

                          2nd construction phase: 30 July – 2.8. 2024

Room:              Lehmbaugarten Seffent, Schurzelterstr. 35

Lecturers:       Prof. Axel Sowa mit Prof. em Dr.-Ing. Manfred Speidel und Tatsuya Tokura

Next to the RWTH’s shock wave laboratory, there has been a park for 40 years where students have been building clay domes and half-timbered pavilions by hand and foot without machines. These are improvisations that arise from the joint work of four students at a time. Building: The task is to construct a small half-timbered building, which will be filled with wicker rods and covered with clay. Clay raw walls are created, which must dry before the next step. Plastering: In a second part of the seminar, the raw walls are given different surfaces with clay, lime and mixed plasters; they can be coarse or fine, matt or glossy, monochrome or multi-coloured. The main models are Japanese plasters. They are produced with Japanese trowels. A Japanese master craftsman will once again guide the work this year.