Chair of History of Architecture and Urban Development

Chair of History of Architecture and Urban Development

Prof. Kai Kappel (page in German)

The history of architecture has always played an intrinsic role in the research and teaching of art history. While it conveys descriptive methods and terminology, it more importantly serves to communicate historical depths that have become quintessential to the discipline (architectural theory and urbanism from Late Antiquity to our present time related to construction project types, periodization, structural and technical innovations, and institutional rules and policy for urban development). Architectural history creates an awareness of specific methodological approaches that make an examination encompassing aspects of scholarly tradition indispensable. Recent transcultural research along with the challenge of covering Global Art History demand that we critically (re)consider the boundaries of architectural history.
Particular points of departure for this professorship are architectural iconology, material semantics, historical references and collective memories, space and spatial perception, as well as the media and the use of architecture as a medium of communication. In research and teaching, special emphasis will be placed on architecture and architectural sculpture of the Middle Ages in Central Europe and the Mediterranean, Italian art and architecture, architecture around 1900 and 20th century traditionalism, the World Wars, National-Socialist crimes and the politics of remembrance, and also the relationship between image and construction in print and new media.