Teaching at the IMDR understands design and representation as practices of knowledge production. It combines the introduction of methodological foundations with the advanced investigation of spatial ordering in architectural design.
In the Bachelor’s programme, the conditions are established under which architecture can emerge as an object of perception, thought, and design. In Foundations of Design, perception is not assumed but systematically cultivated. Irritation is treated as a productive starting point for uncovering latent structures. Design arises from the precise analysis of what is given and develops its internal logic in the act of doing.
The module Introduction to Drawing establishes drawing as an epistemic instrument of architecture. From freehand sketches to constructed perspectives and precise sections and plans, drawing techniques are progressively developed and differentiated. Drawing serves both precision and knowledge: it does not merely depict, but renders spatial relations visible, articulates atmospheres, and structures complex constellations.
In the Master’s programme, the emphasis shifts from introduction to the investigation of complex spatial configurations. Space is not understood as an isolated object, but as a configuration of transitions, sequences, and hierarchies. Design studios analyse how thresholds, levels, sightlines, and paths generate order, how bodies are guided and publics are staged. Design becomes an instrument of transformation: it examines existing structures, reconfigures them, and develops new spatial constellations.
Seminars with specialists from related disciplines, as well as drawing, photographic, and print-based practices, extend this inquiry. Representation is not treated as illustration, but as an autonomous mode of architectural thinking.