Graduation ceremony in the Department of Architecture

On October 8, 2025, 18 students successfully completed the Master's degree course "Planning and Building in Existing Contexts" and received their certificates. Afterwards, the prizes for the best theses were awarded in a festive ceremony. The best theses in the Department of Architecture are determined in a secret ballot among the teaching staff and donated by the Friends of Architecture and Construction of the University of Siegen. This semester, the prizes were presented by Stephan Almasi, the first chairman. The second prize went to Rumeysa Cantürk for her work "Extended learning and living spaces at Rosterberg" (laudator: Prof. Dr. Thorsten Erl). The prize for the best work went to Benjamin Kegler and Florian Schönauer for their work "Siegen umbauen - Eine Industriebrache wird zum Zukunftsquartier". The laudatory speech was given by Prof. Dr. Thorsten Weimar.

The award from the BDA Siegen-Olpe-Wittgenstein was then awaited with particular excitement. The members of the BDA (Association of German Architects) assessed the works at their own discretion and awarded two equal prizes without ranking. One was awarded to Emily Langer for her work on the documentation center at Baakenhafen, which deals with Hamburg's colonial heritage, while the other also went to Benjamin Kegler and Florian Schönauer.

The third prize of the evening, which is awarded by the Alumni Association for commitment and participation in the self-governing bodies of the University of Siegen and was presented by Prof. Dr. Mathias Wirths, went to Jana Steuer.