Hessen:ISU High Impact Environments

This intensive design studio explores the creation of high-impact environments through integrated strategies spanning urban design, landscape architecture, and building construction.

Offered in a block format, the course includes morning, afternoon, and evening sessions. The program features a series of curated excursions with diverse formats: on-site observation and sketching, expert interviews, and hands-on workshops.

The studio focuses on the design of climate-responsive neighborhoods and buildings. Students will investigate intervention strategies at multiple scales, from landscape systems to architectural detail, developing a holistic understanding of environmental performance.

Structured as an international design charrette, the course brings together visiting students traveling to Frankfurt and graduate students from the FRA-UAS Advanced Architecture program. The design challenge centers on a site in or near Frankfurt, featuring a listed industrial monument or another complex existing structure.

The charrette is supported by lectures from FRA-UAS and UWM faculty on environmental performance, timber construction, and landscape design. Site visits to exemplary projects and leading offices in and around Frankfurt provide additional professional insight.

Online sessions before and after the in-person intensive will examine relevant precedents and culminate in the production of a polished publication documenting the design work and research developed throughout the course.

By the end of the program, students will have strengthened their ability to critically analyze, conceptualize, and design high-impact, climate-conscious environments across scales.

Course Method

Intensive block-format design charrette combining studio work, site visits, lectures, workshops, and collaborative international teamwork, supported by online preparatory and follow-up sessions.

Assessment

Evaluation based on active participation, quality of the design proposal and research integration, final presentation, and contribution to the published course documentation.

Sunday, 24 May 2026 - Saturday, 6 June 2026

Accommodation Check-In on Sunday, 25 May 2026. Schedule subject to change.

Students studying architecture or related fields, such as landscape architecture, urban planning, and construction, are welcome to apply. The course has a maximum capacity of 20 participants, as international students will be integrated into a regular semester module within the Advanced Architecture (M.Sc.) program at Frankfurt UAS.

This course is offered through Hessen:ISU (International Summer Universities), and students from the Hessen:Queensland, Hessen:Massachusetts, and Hessen:Wisconsin exchange programs are especially encouraged to apply.

Students can earn a total of 6 ECTS points for the completion of the course. 

The course has a total of 75 in-class contact hours during the on-campus summer program. A single ECTS point is defined as the equivalent of 25-30 hours of student workload, which includes class hours, readings, preparation for class activities, as well as an assessment measure.

Costs

The program fee is 680€.

What is included in the program fee?

• 2 weeks of academic courses 
• Course materials
• Public transportation within Frankfurt for the duration of the program
• Opening and Closing Events

Accommodation is not included in the program fee. Costs and information can be found under Housing. 

Registration

Apply now

Students under the Hessen:Queensland, Hessen:Massachusetts, and Hessen:Wisconsin Exchange Programs should apply directly through the International Office at their home university.