Advanced methods for documentation and analysis of built environments

This course explores the built environment as a multilayered living environment and resource with economic, social, and cultural potential, where preservation and transformation require a deep understanding and critical analysis of its properties, uses, and values. <br> The course aims to equip students with knowledge and practical skills in various methods for the documentation and analysis of the built environment. Emphasis is placed on providing students with the tools to collect and analyse data on complex material, structural, and spatial properties at different scales. The course prepares students to develop well-founded knowledge bases for the conservation and sensitive transformation of the built environment, considering its historical, contemporary, and potential future contributions to sustainable societal development. The course includes measurement and drawing, scanner- and image-based 3D documentation, digital visualisation techniques, and scientific analyses of materials, craftsmanship, structures, and built environments. It introduces methods within heritage planning for site analysis and value assessment. <br> Open to students from diverse backgrounds, the course focuses on developing analytical competence through interdisciplinary integration of various subject areas. Students engage with real-world cases, where they work both individually and in groups to practise documentation and analysis methods and learn from specialists in the field. Fieldwork is combined with lectures, seminars, workshops, laboratory exercises, and study visits. The course includes two project assignments, resulting in an exhibition and a conservation plan.