Then we take Berlin …

Each year, Faculty of Architecture students participate in studio courses throughout the term, in which they combine their technical, theoretical and practical, on-site knowledge and experience.

Dean of the faculty Ralph Stern was part of a team that took studio students to Berlin earlier this school year.

Co-taught by Stern and Kim Wiese, an instructor in the faculty — both of whom have extensive experience with Berlin — the Berlin Studio was an interdisciplinary studio focused on riverfront development in an area once occupied by the former Wall in Berlin. The unique studio course presented an opportunity for students to gain in-depth knowledge of one of the preeminent urban centres of the twenty-first century, says Stern.

“The studio was an important experiment in allowing students from across the Environmental Design 4 Options (architecture, interior environments, landscape + urbanism) to work together in teams, sharing their disciplinary expertise to develop projects of remarkable sophistication within the short period of a semester,” he explains.

Stern: ‘The issues addressed were historical, cultural, social, environmental, structural, and material; development was predicated on the first-hand experience of spending eight intensive days in Berlin this past January.’

“The issues addressed were historical, cultural, social, environmental, structural, and material; development was predicated on the first-hand experience of spending eight intensive days in Berlin this past January.

“The opportunity for students to work across disciplinary boundaries is one sought by many students — and the cooperative nature of the undertaking more accurately mirrors and prepares for real professional experience.

“In addition to learning technical skills as applied to complex environments, the students also learned many necessary social skills of tact, and flexibility in negotiating the different disciplinary perspectives of their teammates. As a Faculty we are committed to providing students the opportunities that will best prepare them for the complex futures they will encounter.”

>>  Scroll down for more images from the Berlin Studio.

Faculty of Architecture students and instructors at the riverfront site in Berlin.

The riverfront in Berlin.

Berlin.

Participants in the Faculty of Architecture’s Berlin Studio in Berlin.

Berlin.

Faculty of Architecture instructor Kim Wiese was one of the instructors of the Berlin Studio.

Dean of the Faculty of Architecture Ralph Stern speaks with architecture students in a courtyard in Berlin.

Shots from the Berlin Studio.

Shots from the Berlin Studio.

Berlin, looking a bit like Manitoba.