Design and Construction Workshop Gohrisch: Material, Joining, House
The research and teaching project "Design and Building Workshop Gohrisch - Material, Joining, Landscape" examines the question of how contemporary architecture in rural areas can respond to landscape, climate, community and local building culture. The starting point is the municipality of Gohrisch in Saxon Switzerland - a place characterised by its special topographical location, its cultural history and its landscape identity.
Schöna Castle (Henry Nold, Jens Seidel, Ansgar Rieger)
Architekturbüro Kunze (Uwe Kunze)
Between table mountains, hiking trails and historic summer houses, Gohrisch opens up a spatial and atmospheric environment that sees architecture not as an isolated object, but as part of a larger landscape order.
In the winter semester 2025/2026, the students developed urban development strategies for the careful expansion of the village. The focus was on questions of sustainable forms of coexistence, communal living and settlement models as well as the use of local resources and traditional building typologies. Research, site visits, excursions and discussions with regional stakeholders were used to analyse the location. The landscape was understood not just as a backdrop, but as an active design space that influences scale, materiality and spatial organisation.
In the summer semester 2026, the approaches developed will be transferred to the architectural scale of the building. Houses or small groups of buildings will be designed that fit precisely into the landscape context and at the same time test new forms of living and living together. Spatial structure, supporting structure, material and construction are understood as inseparable components of a common architectural concept. The design process combines spatial ideas with constructive logic and examines how architecture can be developed from materials and joints.
Special emphasis is placed on architectural elaboration on a detailed scale. Using selected components - such as walls, roofs, openings or transitions to the terrain - students examine the relationship between construction, materiality and atmosphere. Drawings, models and detailed studies serve not only as illustrations, but also as instruments for research and design. The workshop understands architecture as a process of precise assembly: of materials, spaces, landscapes and social relationships.
The "Design and Building Workshop Gohrisch" thus combines design, research and practical analysis into an experimental teaching platform. The project sees rural areas as a laboratory for new architectural strategies in dealing with sustainability, regional identity and contemporary building culture. The aim is to develop architecture that emerges from the location and at the same time opens up sustainable perspectives for building in landscapes.
