„Strategies des Entwerfens“ imparts the thoughts, tools, methods, and theories of design. The course introduces ways of generating ideas and concepts, along with their theoretical and practical applications in urban and architectural design. Various approaches to design are explored within the broader contexts of land, city, and architecture, and these approaches are applied by students using a city description from Italo Calvino.

In the design component students apply an analyzed design strategy to make one of Calvino’s fifty-five fictional cities from „Invisible Cities“ visible through their design work.

Alongside my team I explored a design methos that is based on the experiences of architect Urs Füssler and the resulting Carambole Principle. The design strategies that Urs Füssler breaks down first explain what design means to him and what it is made up of.

For Füssler, motives are a key element in interpretive design. Every design action consists of individual design acts that the designer must identify, which are unique and diverse for each project. The goal when designing new structures within an urban context is always to create a transformation from the current state to a city as it could be. This process should not be driven by a sense of duty, but rather by language, activity, and the motivation to change the status quo. The beauty of design, according to Füssler, lies in „thinking oneself into it“ and „speculating.“ What we see must be continuously reinterpreted and expanded through our personal imagination. What is the story, and how could it continue? It is also about involving others, ensuring that the design’s success is not solely the responsibility of the designer.

Transformation processes are always subject to new possibilities for transformation.