Design and Theory of Public building types, the long running design studio at Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar, challenges its students to understand the design process as a means to gain insight into an architectural problem through the research into the historical evolution of public buildings and spaces.

The design of buildings is a formal response to a program and a specific environment. Design is understood as a hypothesis rather than an answer, a way of investigating the correctness of a program, the potential of a specific environment and the opportunities inherent in the formal concepts of our time.

The work displayed includes students work across the public functions of Library, Museum, Powerhouse, School and Skyscraper.

The search for the space itself, the precision in the floor plan development and the aesthetic demands on the graphic realisation were the starting point for Schmitz’s career, which began in 1993 as a university teacher in Weimar.

In addition to his work as a teacher, Karl-Heinz designed a series of buildings that testify an intensive examination of urban spaces and the work on existing buildings. In 2005, in collaboration with Hilde Barz-Malfatti, Schmitz completed reconstruction and extension of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library located in the middle of the historic palace and library ensemble. It has naturally become part of the urban tissue, uniting spaces and elements of the old and the new while at the same time developing an exciting fresh autonomy

As well as researching history and theory of public building types, Karl-Heinz worked on a number of publications such as An Archive of Contemporary Art in the Historic Centre of Naples, Literature and the City, Village Textures and Libraries: A Design Manual. From 1999 to 2017 he was responsible for the international design course IAAD (International Advanced Architectural Design) at the Bauhaus University. We are very grateful for his time in collating this exhibition, and allowing us to display his work and methodology here at Custom Lane. For more information about Talks at the Lane, please click here.