Alexander Rapp
Appreciation Student Award
The master’s thesis ‘Region. Architecture. Identity _ Structural Development through Architectural Intervention’ by Alexander Rapp deals with the well-known phenomenon of structural change in rural regions in a very subtle and pointed manner in its theoretical and practical elaboration. He chooses the small Saxon town of Glashütte in the Ore Mountains as an example. The town’s demonstrable population decline, the vacancy rate and need for refurbishment of its existing buildings and its still existing tradition of watchmaking provided a suitable starting point for reviving the tradition of an old craft tradition in connection with a new watchmaking school and training workshops in addition to social changes by means of architectural interventions. This new anchor point, which is close at hand for the region and creates a sense of identity, offers not only an urban redevelopment of the city centre but also the opportunity to anchor the watchmaking trade and watch manufacturers more firmly in the consciousness of the region and beyond by means of expressive architecture.
The project was supervised by Prof Ludwig Wappner and Prof Riklef Rambow.