BDA Study Award

The BDA Kassel is offering a new thematic study award for students at the University of Kassel for 2025. From now on, this will take place every two years in the summer semester. The topics combine questions of architectural design with current social discourses and motivate a position on the major discourses shaping the present, such as climate change and the demand for an ecological transformation and - in contrast - right-wing populist demands for identity that aim for social homogeneity. The theme for the year 2025 is:

The roof is a battleground in architectural discourse. Ideologically charged, there was a fundamental dispute between flat and pitched roofs in Germany around 1930. While some right-wing populists are trying to revive this form of polarization, a diverse approach to the roof has long since become common practice in the construction industry. However, the roof remains a conflict zone - in a technical, legal and cultural sense. With regard to the design of the roof, the theme "Newly reconsidered" explores contemporary counter-positions to both neo-traditional and image-fixated "urban beautification" and an unreflected flat roof automatism. Roof shapes shape the character and silhouette of buildings, their formal design contributes significantly to the appearance of neighborhoods.

It is not without reason that they are an important element of design statutes. No part of a building is as exposed to the weather, both good and bad, as the roof. The roof should protect against its adversities and benefit from its blessings. Here, sun and rainwater can be harvested, a wide view can be enjoyed. The roof is legally contestable can offer usable space and yet is not considered a "full floor" under planning law. A wide range of roof shapes try to make use of this, whereby it becomes apparent how much design qualities are subordinated to an interest in utilization.

The BDA Study Award Kassel 2025 invites you to develop contemporary architectural approaches that examine the aesthetic, technical and social possibilities of the design of the roof zone. The topic asks about the formal content of contemporary architecture that rethinks modernism. Projects can examine this question on various scales, ranging from business parks to individual residential buildings, from refurbishment to new planning. Entries are invited that consider the question of the shape of the roof from an urban design, construction, energy, use-oriented or construction industry perspective and formulate a contemporary architectural expression from this perspective.

All students of the University of Kassel are eligible to participate. Work created after the call for entries can be submitted. The submission of final theses and project work is just as possible as the submission of free designs. The work submitted does not have to be limited to the theme of the competition, but must deal with it in depth.

The competition entries must be presented on a maximum of two DIN A0 plans in portrait format and with a model with the maximum base plate size of DIN A0. The plans should include a site plan, floor plans, sections and elevations, at least one spatial representation, diagrams to explain the concept and an explanatory text of no more than 3,000 characters. The submission is to be written anonymously and marked with a six-digit, self-chosen code number. An author's declaration must be submitted in a sealed envelope. The plans must also be submitted as a PDF file, the explanatory report as a text file and photos of the model on Moodle/ or to a web address.

The jury members, prize money and dates of the competition, award ceremony and exhibition will be announced at the beginning of 2025.