Architecture Students Design Plans for Dortmund, Eindhoven and Naples

They shape the visitor’s first impression of a city: City entrances, such as the area around Schnettker Bridge in Dortmund. During the 10th International Spring Academy organized by TU Dortmund University, architecture students from the host university, Eindhoven University of Technology, Potsdam University of Applied Sciences and the Universitá degli Studi di Napoli Federico II had ten days to develop fresh ideas for city entrances. As part of the anniversary edition, they also worked on areas in Eindhoven and Naples for the first time. On 24 March 2022, the 20 or so students presented their designs at the Baukunstarchiv NRW, North Rhine-Westphalia’s archive for architecture and civil engineering.

“With the theme of this anniversary year, we’re following on from the first Spring Academy ten years ago, which was dedicated to the B1 highway,” says Adjunct Professor Olaf Schmidt, who launched the event format back in 2013 together with Adjunct Professor Michael Schwarz. “This year, the focus lay especially on the area around Schnettker Bridge – and since the topic of city entrances concerns all urban settlements, we extended it for the first time to include Eindhoven and Naples.” “Whereas the purpose of city boundaries in bygone days was to defend against danger, today they mark the junction between the city and its surroundings. In this context, they can assume an important role, especially for the transformation of the transport sector, for example through the establishment of mobility hubs there,” adds Adjunct Professor Michael Schwarz.

Working together in international teams

After the Spring Academy 2021 had to take place in a digital format due to the pandemic, this year the students from Dortmund, Potsdam, Eindhoven and Naples were able to work together again on site in international teams and develop ideas to strengthen the urban and architectural identity of the cities under study. Since the characteristics of the three city entrances are very different – in Naples it is right by the port, in Eindhoven near the university and the central station – the designs also varied greatly. For the area around Schnettker Bridge, for example, which is characterized by large parking lots and an industrial park, the students designed a mixed district of residential and office buildings that extends from Kreuzviertel to Hombruch.

The International Spring Academy offers students an opportunity to exchange ideas with other aspiring architects and to establish long-term international contacts. The cities also profit from the event: They will later receive an overview of the results. Lectures by Professor Wolfgang Sonne of TU Dortmund University and Professor Fritz Neumeyer, Professor Max Dudler and Professor Jan Pieper on the significance of city entrances for European cities kicked off the event.

Spring Academy of TU Dortmund University since 2013

As a local equivalent to the Summer Academy in Venice, which has taken place for over 30 years, the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at TU Dortmund University has staged the International Spring Academy annually since 2013. In the first year, the teams got to grips with Dortmund’s B1 highway. In 2014, the Wallring, the site of the Middle Age ramparts, and in 2015, the Hellweg, an old trading route, was on the agenda. In 2016, the focus was on a number of squares in the city: Alter Markt, Friedensplatz and Hansaplatz. In 2017, the academy turned its attention to Nordstadt, the northern part of Dortmund’s city center, and in 2018 to the former railway station, Südbahnhof. In 2019, the focus lay on the densification of Dortmund’s Unionsviertel and in 2020 on the derelict industrial site of the former Hoesch steelworks. Last year, the subject under consideration was Scharnhorst-Ost. The intention is to hold an International Spring Academy at TU Dortmund University again in 2023.