Amelie Bimberg, Jantje Engels: Alphabetical Introductions (2026)

'Alphabetical Introductions' documents a year of architecture education in Siegen: design studios and lecture series from the Design Methodology department, led by acting professors Jantje Engels and Amelie Bimberg. The exhibition does not showcase final results, but rather processes and everyday moments that convey a fragmentary impression of contemporary architectural education.

A one-year acting professorship is short. Too short to settle in, to truly get to know the city, the university, and the faculty, or even to fundamentally question existing structures. But it is long enough to develop a concrete approach for the course “Design Methodology and Design”: informed by teaching experiences at other Schools in Germany and abroad, by curiosity about a previously unknown location, and by an interest in collaboratively testing unconventional formats.
After much consideration of how to structure the transmission of knowledge in a way that is both open and well-founded, the alphabet was chosen. The lecture series “Fundamentals of Design ” thus became “alphabetical introductions,” in which the alphabet serves as a common thread to progressively explore elements, tools, emotions, and strategies in architecture.
This documentation is intended as part of “alphabetical introductions.” It documents not the design courses and their final projects, but rather the images of a year, organized according to activities that shape both academic life and everyday life. It offers a glimpse into the process—less pretentious than one might expect—and precisely for that reason, sincere.