Profile of the Historical Building Culture Class

The initiators of the Historical Building Culture class have since many years been engaged in the research of the historico-cultural significance of historic architecture from individual buildings to urban sites. Their approach is to reveal the significance of building culture (“Baukultur”) for different periods and cultural backgrounds by a precise analysis of outstanding historical buildings and their cultural significance and impact. However, the term “building culture” isn’t reduced to a simple positivist perception, but applied to any kind of buildings. These may – and must – not only be surveyed for their positive contribution to architecture history, such as their conception qualities or urbanistic effects, but can also provide, by hindsight, unpleasant information about the political, social, and economical development conditions, attitudes of mind, and ideologies of their raisers, as well as the aims and ambitions pursued by the respective architectural projects. The discussion of the social significance of architecture and construction is intended to be intensified by comprising the results of excellent research projects in a multidisciplinary approach. The objective is to define cultural similarities and differences of attitudes to historical buildings, and to discuss the question what architecture contributes to the cultural identity of a society.