Conference Programm and further Informations
Karlsruhe, 06.–08.11.2025
6th International Meeting “The Architect’s Journeys”
Architects and Engineers: Journeys in the Polytechnic Culture Networks, Media, and New Destinations Since 1794
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, KIT-Fakultät für Architektur, Englerstr. 7, 76131 Karlsruhe, Building 20.40, Grüne Grotte (first floor)
November 6–8, 2025
Programme
Thursday, November 6
10:00 Presentation by Antonio Brucculeri (ENSA Paris-La Villette) and Massimiliano Savorra (Università di Pavia)
10:15 Opening Remaks by Joaquín Medina Warmburg (KIT, Karlsruhe)
10:30 Opening Lecture by Andrea Maglio (Università di Napoli Federico II):
“The German polytechnical tradition and the cultural legacy of architects’ journey to Italy”
11:30 Coffee Break
Session 1: The Polytechnical Turn
Moderator: Inge Hinterwaldner (KIT)
12:00 Peter Bohnert (Universität Vechta), Zwischen Bildung und Technologietransfer: Reisende Wasserbauingenieure und Architekten um 1800
12:25 Chiara Baglione (Politecnico di Milano), Modernity in Motion: Milanese Architects Journeys and Polytechnic Culture between Education and Cosmopolitanism
12:50 Giovanna D'Amia (Politecnico di Milano), I viaggi di studio degli allievi architetti del Politecnico di Milano nei primi decenni del Novecento
13:15 Maria Harnack (Verein Architektur Archive Bern), Die Reise als Bestandteil der theoretisch-praktischen Aus- und Weiterbildung von Bautechnikern am Beispiel des Thuner Architekten Alfred Lanzrein (1879–1933)
13:40 Panel Discussion
14:00 [Lunch Break]
Session 2: Transfers and Dialogues between Engineering and Architecture
Moderator: tba
15:30 Antonio Burgos Núñez (University of Granada), Lucio del Valle's 1859 travel to England and the spread of iron construction in Spain / El viaje de Lucio del Valle a Inglaterra en 1859 y la difusión de la construcción metálica en España
15:55 Marco Silvestri (KIT Karlsruhe), A Five Month Voyage Through European Polytechnical Culture: Juan Monteverde’s 1892 Tour of Europe and the Reform of Architectural Education in Uruguay
16:20 Akio Sassa (ENSA Strasbourg), Hisanori NUMATA’s unique dam and bridge designs inspired by his journey across the U.S. and the U.K.
16:45 Panel Discussion
18:00 Exhibition Opening: “Baukasten Karlsruhe: 200 Years of Polytechnical Architecture” (KIT)
19:30 Dinner at BAG Library, KIT
Friday, November 7
Session 3: Modernity, Modernism, Modernization
Moderator: Oliver Sukrow (TU Darmstadt)
10:00 Phoebus Panigyrakis (Athens), Arthur Staal and the Search for Modernism’s Origins
10:25 Francesca Usai (IUAV University of Venice), Alternative Geographies: Atypical forms of mobility in the polytechnic culture of the Swiss exile (1943-1945)
10:50 Thibaud Toussaint (École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris La Villette), Circulation and internationalization of technical-scientific knowledge: Marius Duriez's travels between 1949 and 1964
11:15 Panel Discussion
11:45 Coffee Break
Session 4: Evolving Technologies in the Postwar World
Moderator: Alexandra Axtmann (KIT)
12:15 David Mesa-Cedillo (UPC, Barcelona/KIT Karlsruhe), Im Dienste der Serie: Polytechnische Reisen der DDR-Architekten nach Moskau im Zeichen des industriellen Bauens (1957-1959)
12:40 Christian Vöhringer (Universität Regensburg), Collegial Travels to England and Denmark. The Polytechnical Search for New Universities in the 1960s
13:05 Isabel Soto Antúnez (Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées – Institut Polytechnique de Paris), Hybrid Figures and the Celebration of Technical Artifacts in Late 20th-Century French Architecture
13:30 Panel Discussion
14:00 Lunch Break at BAG Library, KIT
15:00 Closing Lecture by Christiane Salge (Technische Universität Darmstadt):
“Institution and Exchange: Architectural Education at the Polytechnic School in Karlsruhe in a Transnational Context”
16:00 City Tour “Baukasten Karlsruhe”
20:00 Dinner in Karlsruhe Downtown
Saturday, November 8:
9:00-19:00 Optional Trip to Baden-Baden: “Architecture, Engineering and Tourism - City Tour”
The event is open to the public and registration is required via: bag ∂does-not-exist.ikb kit edu
Organizing Institution:
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
Fakultät für Architektur
Institut für Kunst- und Baugeschichte (IKB)
Englerstr. 7
76131 Karlsruhe
Germany
Contact: bag ∂does-not-exist.ikb kit edu
Scientific Coordination Committee:
Alexandra Axtmann (KIT)
Inge Hinterwaldner (KIT)
Oliver Jehle (KIT)
Joaquín Medina Warmburg (KIT)
Oliver Sukrow (TU Darmstadt)
Organizing Committee at IKB-Professur Bau- und Architekturgeschichte
Joaquín Medina Warmburg
Anette Busse
Federico Garrido
Marco Silvestri
Gudrun Schütz
Scientific Coordination of the International Meetings Cycle:
Antonio Brucculeri, AHTTEP/AUSser, ENSA Paris-La Villette (FR)
Massimiliano Savorra, Università di Pavia (IT)
Scientific Committee of the International Meetings Cycle
Paola Barbera, Università di Catania (IT)
Antonio Brucculeri, AHTTEP/AUSser, ENSA Paris-La Villette (FR)
Juan Calatrava, Universidad de Granada (ES)
Vassilis Colonas, University of Thessaly (GR)
Cristina Cuneo, Politecnico di Torino (IT)
Marie Gaimard, ATE, ENSA de Normandie (FR)
Marilena Kourniati, AHTTEP/AUSser, ENSA Paris-La Villette (FR)
Fabio Mangone, Università di Napoli Federico II (IT)
Caroline Maniaque, ATE, ENSA de Normandie (FR)
Joaquín Medina Warmburg, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (D)
Nabila Oulebsir, Université de Poitiers (FR)
Sergio Pace, Politecnico di Torino (IT)
Carlos Plaza, Universidad de Sevilla (ES)
Massimiliano Savorra, Università di Pavia (IT)
Call for Papers
6.–8. November 2025
6th International Meeting “The Architect’s Journeys”
Architects and Engineers: Journeys in the Polytechnic Culture
Networks, Media, and New Destinations Since 1794
Networks, Media, and New Destinations Since 1794
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
November 6–8, 2025
Two centuries ago, engineer Johann Gottfried Tulla and architect Friedrich Weinbrenner played pivotal roles in establishing the Polytechnische Schule in Karlsruhe. Their efforts were preceded by Tulla’s official study tour to France between 1801 and 1803, during which he observed state infrastructure projects in water management, dike construction, and lock engineering. Most influential, however, was his time as a student at the École Polytechnique in Paris—founded in 1794—where he gained lasting insights that would profoundly shape the curriculum and methods at the new Karlsruhe Institute.
It was at this intersection that the distinct travel traditions of Tulla’s Ingenieurschule
(engineering school) and Weinbrenner’s Bauschule (architecture school) converged. During aperiod of profound societal transformation, scientific and technological revolutions also redefined the nature of travel culture. The aristocratic Grand Tour rapidly evolved into bourgeois tourism, spurred by the expansion of the European railroad network and the advent of steam navigation. As Orlando Figes explores in The Europeans (2019), this shift contributed to the emergence of new cosmopolitan identities within the framework of increasingly global nation-states. These identities were reflected in the architecture of elite travel destinations such as Baden-Baden, which became hubs of cultural innovation. In an age of political, social, and technological upheaval, the newly compact travel guidebooks offered a normative educational canon that inspired the reform of cultural institutions across Europe—including schools of architecture andengineering. Polytechnic universities were deeply embedded in this cultural transformation. The rise of cosmopolitan identities influenced the development of architecture and engineering as both scientific and artistic disciplines.
Over the broad span of time from the late eighteenth century to the late twentieth century, how did the gaze of architects and engineers trained at polytechnic schools evolve through travel? What were the points of convergence and divergence between architects and engineers in observing the material, technical, and structural aspects of buildings or infrastructures? And what types of travel were involved? Beyond educational journeys, architects and engineers trained at polytechnic institutions often undertook professional travels—among them, missions commissioned by private clients or public bodies.
On the occasion of the bicentenary of the Karlsruhe Polytechnic School (now the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) the conference invites participants to explore the evolution of the polytechnic travel culture through international case studies, focusing on the role of travel as a dynamic cultural practice. Since 1794, architect’s and engineer’s journeys have helped to shape polytechnic culture in the midst of tensions between revolution and tradition, nationality and cosmopolitanism, technology and art, as well as general education and vocational training.
Deadline Extension Notice
We are pleased to announce that the submission deadline has been extended by two weeks. The new deadline is 15th of June 14:00 h (GMT+1). We look forward to receiving your contributions.