Architecture between art and science – the education of architects at the Bauakademie in Berlin around 1800

PROF. DR. CHRISTIANE SALGE

The objective of the project is the creation of a comprehensive study concerning the education of architects in Berlin during the second half of the 18th century. The research focusses on one of the most important institutions of architectural education for all German speaking countries around 1800, the “Berliner Bauakademie”, founded in 1799 in the course of tremendous reform efforts. The professional opinions uttered by members of the Academy of Arts and of the Prussian building administration about the structure and the curriculum of the “Bauakademie” were intensively concerned with the question whether architecture should be considered as art or rather science. These statements are a unique, so far unconsidered source for the understanding of architecture around 1800 and will be examined with a detailed look at the European development of the education of architects. By means of archive files, contemporary textbooks and study drawings the educational content and methods of knowledge transfer within the tuition at the “Bauakademie” will be analyzed. At the same time the role of single professors as well as the social background, the selection of courses and careers of the students enrolled at the “Bauakademie” around 1800 will be investigated. In order to work out the particularities of tuition at the “Bauakademie”, the education of architects in Vienna, Munich and Karlsruhe will be compared in three case studies. The influence of the Academy on the building activities in Berlin before the Schinkel era will be examined as well as its functioning as a role model for other academic and polytechnic institutions.