For the seventh time, students from the Faculties of Architecture and Design at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts and the Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU) met to learn together - internationally, interdisciplinary and always in search of a new perspective.
Twelve students from Dortmund and just as many guests from MSU Denver's Faculty of Industrial Design worked together for a week on small and large wire constructions at Spring School 2024. The structures increased their effect even more in combination with light, when shadows created an additional layer to the real construction.
"Architecture has a lot to do with interpretation and changing perspectives," explains Prof. Dr. Helmut Hachul. He runs the Spring School together with Prof. Martin Middelhauve from the Faculty of Design and Prof. David Klein from MSU Denver. The exchange project, which was launched in 2015, took place in Fachhochschule Dortmund for the third time, and Fachhochschule Dortmund students have already traveled to Denver four times for the Spring School.
"The international perspective is an enrichment for our students," says Helmut Hachul. This applies both professionally and culturally. In addition to the daily work in the large foyer of the architecture building (Emil-Figge-Straße 40), the program included excursions to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Zeche Zollverein in Essen and the Center for International Light Art in Unna. According to Professor Hachul, the Spring School also strengthens cooperation between architecture and design at Fachhochschule Dortmund. The exchange project with MSU Denver is financially supported by Fachhochschule Dortmund's own funding programme for the "Internationalization of Studies and Teaching".
The small and large wire constructions of the project teams were created without any content specifications. The team led by UAS students Blerina Elshani and Marzena Henschel, for example, artistically translated the experiences of the exchange into a self-portrait construction. Other teams addressed differences between Germany and the USA or dealt with the topic of diversity.
However, the Spring School was also about "having a good time and a good dialog with each other," says Helmut Hachul. It helped that the guests from Denver were accommodated in the new "Basecamp" in the middle of Fachhochschule Dortmund's city center and were able to immerse themselves in the city together with the Fachhochschule Dortmund students.
