GUT_1a Lecture Architectural Theory: “Architecture and Ecology”

Master Lecture

GUT 1a Lecture (1,6 SWS / 1 ECTS)

Language: German

Time: Monday, October 13, 2025, 19:30 – 21:00
The oral module examination will take place in February 2026.

Room: Hörsaal EpHSchinkelstraße 2, 3rd floor. Further dates on Mondays at the same time and place.

Lecturer: Prof. Axel Sowa

Like environmental design, architecture depends on environmental knowledge, which ecology can provide. Ecology highlights dynamic relationships because the balances in the oikos are usually fluid. These balances arise from seasonal fluctuations and the complex relationships between living systems and their environments. Under the conditions of an escalating climate crisis, ecological balances undergo a stress test. This has consequences for how people think and act within the spaces where they plan, produce, and use their dwellings and living environments.

Over the past forty years, architectural theory has become increasingly open to ecological thinking. Highlights of this ongoing development include the research of Frei Otto and Gernot Minke, practical experience from Berlin and Freiburg’s ecological city districts, and studies on reducing energy and resource consumption in construction. Although findings from building ecology are typically acknowledged as engineering achievements, translating them into building practices remains a political challenge. This lecture series and this year’s Monday Evening Talks aim to discuss the scientific and political aspects of environmentally conscious thinking and action. The goal is to redefine the relationship between ecology and architecture for our time. The lecture series is complemented by the Aachen Monday Evening Talks.