Rather than viewing architecture solely as a product of individual creativity, the research training group examines buildings as products and catalysts of modern networks, institutions and discourses. The twelve researchers are from the fields of architectural history, social sciences, cultural studies, law and history as well as architecture and urban planning.

“This change of optics enables a new methodological approach, which makes architectural history the subject of an interdisciplinary investigation,” emphasizes Prof. Dr. Alla Vronskaya from the field of expertise of History and Theory of Architecture  at the Department of Architecture Urban Planning Landscape Architecture and Planning at the University of Kassel. In the field of Architectural Humanities – which is dedicated to historical and cultural architectural processes and practices – the research group thus contributes to academic reorientation and internationalization. Locally, it creates a research link between the universities in southern and northern Hesse.

The research training group is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for an initial period of five years from November 1, 2024. The first spokesperson is professor Carsten Ruhl from the Institute of Art History (German: Kunstgeschichtliches Institut) at Goethe University; the deputy spokesperson is Sybille Frank, professor of Urban and Spatial Sociology at the Technical University of Darmstadt.