Maintenance and Repair ON SITE: Heritage-Led Integrated Architectural Design Studio

This project integrates the teaching of heritage preservation, construction and sustainability with architectural design. A design studio on building within the existing context, an elective on heritage preservation and an on-site design-build seminar week are aligned to offer a focus semester on repair and maintenance in architecture. Students carefully survey selected objects, design creative repair strategies and maintenance measures, apply these on-site (seminar week), and reflect on their learnings and failures. These are accompanied by inputs on the theory and practice of heritage preservation, and self-reflection by students on the repairability of their design projects. Students will develop an attitude toward prolonging the lifespan of buildings first, and designing new second.

The curriculum revision at D-ARCH which envisions integrated design studios to enable interdisciplinary teaching and foster innovative thinking. A strong motivation for this project was its role to serve as a mock-up for the upcoming revision. Another strong motivation is developing a didactic approach for the younger generation of architects, who are also ’sustainable natives›, and can tackle challenges posed by the climate crisis, resource scarcity, and the rapid transformation of our built environment.

The two-year project integrated teaching, research, and hands-on experience across two fall semesters (FS23 and FS24), with spring semesters dedicated to preparation and coordination.

In the first year, a collaboration was established between the Chair of Construction Heritage and Preservation (Prof. Langenberg) and the Chair of Architecture and Construction (Studio Tom Emerson). Together, they developed a “heritage-based design studio” that combined an elective course and a design-build seminar week. The semester began with lectures on preservation and continued with the “Repair” elective, focusing on a case study building, the historical Hotel Schatzalp in Davos. This course also served as the foundation for the on-site seminar week held in Davos.

The design-build workshop brought together students, teaching staff, and experts from RapLab and the Institute for Building Materials (D-BAUG), along with external collaborators and sponsors. Participants worked hands-on to renovate parts of the hotel, fostering interdisciplinary knowledge exchange through discussions and informal interactions. Students later documented their experiences and presented their design studio projects. The semester concluded with a feedback session involving the Educational Developer (Dr. Vera Kaps) at D-ARCH.

In the second year, a new collaboration was formed with the visiting design studio led by Anja Beer and David Merz. This studio focused more explicitly on preservation in architecture, enhancing synergies with the “Repair” course and the on-site design-build workshop. The semester followed a similar structure as the previous one, with improved theoretical input and preparation for the seminar week. Once again, the Schatzalp Hotel hosted the workshop, where students and experts engaged in intensive collaborative work. The semester concluded with documentation and final presentations.

Over the two years, five students also pursued in-depth focus works exploring themes of repair and preservation in architecture.

The teaching project on integrating monument preservation, sustainability, and architectural design has largely achieved its goals. The close connection between theory, design, and practical implementation allowed students to engage in-depth with the topic of building in an existing context. The mix of design studio, elective course, and hands-on seminar week proved to be particularly effective.

A key insight is the high motivation of the students. Many showed a personal interest in the subject and developed a sense of responsibility towards the architectural heritage. The practical work on site not only promoted craftsmanship skills, but also respectful teamwork, improvisation skills and critical thinking. A similar result applies to the teaching team.

The impact on student learning is particularly visible through reflections. In written and graphic documentation, students expressed a deeper understanding of the complexity of preservation strategies and the ethical dimension of architectural practices. Many formulated a changed attitude towards new construction and emphasized the design relevance of repair and maintenance. Unexpectedly positive was also the realization that engaging with the existing building stock was not perceived as a restriction, but as a creative challenge. This led to innovative and context-sensitive solutions.

This project was also a catalyst for collaboration and the exchange of knowledge and expertise between various professorships at the D-ARCH, specialists in restoration, timber construction, craftsmanship, electrical engineering and other industrial partners (see imprint in appendix) In this respect, the coordination effort was significantly higher than for a conventional teaching project. However, this was necessary in order to be able to work under the complex real-world conditions and at the same time ensure effective teaching.

The experience gained from the project can be easily transferred to other contexts. The modular structure with three different teaching formats allows flexible adaptation to different content that is part of the architecture course. Implementation is also conceivable with larger numbers of students.