Curt Siegel. In seiner Bedeutung für die statisch-konstruktive Architekturlehre

The duality of architecture in the field of tension between art and science poses special challenges for the study of architecture. Creative work and scientific knowledge and methods must complement each other symbiotically. This necessity crystallizes in particular in construction. The structural teaching for architects is therefore of particular importance for their core competence – designing. In current university teaching, there is not much evidence of this importance. On the contrary, the efforts of civil engineers to clearly assign the design of structures to the competence of civil engineers are intensifying. Architects who are intensively involved in the discourse on structural engineering are rare.
Curt Siegel, as an architect and university lecturer of the second Stuttgart School, fundamentally reformed the static-constructive teaching for architects. His insights and methods are important for the current discourse beyond the historical. Despite the enormous achievement of this extraordinary architect of the post-war period, knowledge about him is scarce. This study of Curt Siegel aims to fill this desideratum. With the focus on his importance for the static-constructive teaching of architects, it encourages to question current trends in teaching and especially to bring the perspective of the designing architect into the discourse.