Programmed for Hope: Architectural Experiments at the HfG Ulm
In collaboration with TU Darmstadt and Goethe University Frankfurt, the HfG-Archiv / Museum Ulm is presenting an exhibition that focuses for the first time on the pioneering architectural teaching at the Ulm School of Design (HfG). Founded in 1953 as the successor to the legendary Bauhaus, the HfG aimed to promote a sustainable material culture and at the same time strengthen the young democracy and the newly won freedom in Germany.
Initially headed by the founding rector and Bauhaus student Max Bill (1908-1994), the architecture department under Konrad Wachsmann and Herbert Ohl quickly developed into a hotspot of ‘industrialised building’. With a scientific and international network, forward-looking concepts for building in an increasingly technologised world were developed together with the construction industry. In addition to prominent representatives of architecture such as Richard Buckminster Fuller, Ray and Charles Eames, Frei Otto and Yona Friedman, leading minds from the humanities, natural sciences and engineering also shaped the teaching programme. Cutting-edge disciplines such as cybernetics, mathematical operations analysis and philosophy of science, represented by pioneers such as Norbert Wiener, Max Bense and Horst Rittel, became an integral part of the ambitious teaching programme. The aim was to develop architecture – as a kind of ‘programmed hope’ – in a scientific, interdisciplinary and socially responsible way.
This approach inspired the students to create architectural experiments such as modular residential and school complexes, semi-automated shopping malls and serialised bar structures. These works are notable for their blend of precise craftsmanship and advanced theoretical and technical expertise, where early algorithmic design methods are already evident.
The exhibition presents numerous architectural models, dozens of original plans, drawings, photographs and other material. The exhibits are exclusively from the HfG Archive/Museum Ulm and the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin. They are being publicly displayed for the first time.
The catalogue Programmed for Hope. Architectural Experimentation at the HfG Ulm Building Department will be published by av edition, Stuttgart, 400 pages, price approx. 40,- €
The exhibition and catalogue are sponsored by the Wüstenrot Foundation, the LOEWE focus ‘Architectures of Order’, the HfG Ulm School of Design Foundation, Freunde des Ulmer Museums e.V., and Matthäus Schmidt GmbH und Co. KG
We would also like to thank HQ Print and Harder Logistics GmbH & Co. KG for their support.
open and download exhibition flyer (in German): HfG Ulm_PH_Folder_241219
