Principles of a Geometry Program for Architecture | Experiences, Examples, and Evaluations

Geometryisabasicscienceforarchitecture. Duringthepastcenturies therewerevariousevaluationsoftheroleofgeometryforarchitecture. Especially inthelastdecadestheimportanceofdescriptivegeometrywaspushedbackmore or less in most countries. Some countries try to keep the traditional descriptive geometry discipline, others replace it by training CAD-systems. Both ways have someunderstandable reasons,but both letmissingimportantpointsofanactual geometryeducation. Ontheonehanditisnotenoughtokeeponlythetraditional discipline, on the other hand geometricalknowledgeis still a necessary condition forarchitecture,and this geometricalbasis is not reachedonly by training CAD- systems. Asresponsiblesfortheeducationofthestudentsofarchitecturewehave to react to the challenges of our times and we have to be aware of the new, but alsotheremainingrequestsofteachinggeometryforarchitecture. In this paper the principles of such a geometry program will be presented and explainedbyexamplesfromthepastteachingexperiencesatUniversityofKaisers- lautern in Germany. The concept is exposed in a textbook and exercise material