Stefanie Reuss was invited as a guest critic to the final presentation yesterday, Wednesday, 09.07.2025. Eight groups from the international master's program Dessau Institute for Architecture DIA presented their high-rise designs. The topic of the studio was:
"High rise buildings are a controversial typology, in part under the perspective of ecological sustainability. They reach deep into the ground, their structures require big amounts of massive materials and they rely heavily on mechanical systems – not only on elevators that made this typology possible in the first place, but also for ventilation, heating and cooling, security, sun shading etc. etc. Thus, tall buildings use up enormous amounts of energy for their operation. On the other hand they create a lot of space with little footprint and are often seen as the more sustainable alternative when it comes to urban densification versus urban sprawl.....
Up to the final design the studio will comprise the analysis of case studies, climate assessment of the given site and programmatic requirements toward comfort, the development of architectural and structural variations on a chosen theme to develop an understanding on how structural design choices impact environmental sustainability, comfort and energy efficiency in tall buildings.
The goal is to develop robust high-rise design concepts that deliver a variation of answers to the question whether a tall building can be a sustainable building by balancing structural integrity, flexibility, and climate responsiveness."
Responsible:
Ariane Wiegner, Dipl.-Ing. Architektin BDA
Visiting Professor for Design and Sustainable Building
Program director BA Architecture at the Vietnamese German University
Hochschule Anhalt Fachbereich 3
Dessau Institute for Architecture and Facility Management