In an effort to expand the pedagogy of traditional architecture across Europe, in conjunction with the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, Dean Stefanos Polyzoides convened the first conference with European partners in Berlin on May 11-13.
Seventy architects and professors of architecture from 16 European countries met at the historic Parochialkirche, where participants debated the formation of a European School of Traditional Architecture. The architecturally significant church and its location are adjacent to the site that School of Architecture students will be focused on during a 4th-year studio in Berlin beginning May 14.
The conference served as a platform for a broad discussion regarding the founding of a new European school that will be dedicated to traditional architecture and urbanism.
Presenters included Samir Younes, associate dean of faculty affairs and curriculum, Richard Economakis, professor at the School of Architecture, Marianne Cusato, director of the Housing & Community Regeneration Initiative at Notre Dame, Jonathan Weatherill, associate professor at the School of Architecture in Rome, Thomas Albrecht, partner at Hilmer and Satter, Berlin, and professor at the School of Architecture in Rome, Markus Tubbesing, professor of architectural design and historic preservation at the University of Applied Sciences, Potsdam, and professor at the School of Architecture in Rome, professor of the practice professor at the School of Architecture in Rome, Ettore Mazzola, John Simpson, principal of practice and founder of John Simpson Architects, UK, Alejandro Garcia Hermida, executive director of the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation, Spain, Branko Mitrovic, professor in the Department of Architecture and Technology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, and Polyzoides.
Gathering during this conference, Polyzoides said the School of Architecture leadership aims to explore fundamental questions about a new European school, such as the curriculum structure, the best location, if a private or a public institution is most advantageous to students, and how to best engage European political support for it.
The conference team will bring back to Notre Dame the strategies and ideas generated from the conference and its thought leaders for further examination and determination of next steps, Polyzoides said.