Trans-Atlantic Engagements: The Contribution and Impact of German Educators to US Architectural Education

The pedagogical experiments of the Bauhaus, imported by Gropius, Mies, Hilberseimer and others to the US system, challenged traditional Beaux-Arts thinking and played a crucial role in shaping modern architectural education. Historically, the German architectural training has been different from the Franco-Italian model. New interdisciplinary and technology-focused modes of teaching architecture and design had a long-lasting impact, however, are now again transformed by German-trained educators currently active in reshaping curricula. The conversations reveal the critical and independent thinking of this group of educators, and how they make a meaningful contribution to the discourse of architectural education appropriate to the 21st century. The book provides insight into the ways in which these German-born educators influence architectural and design education in the United States to this day.

Dr. Steffen Lehmann is a full-time professor of Architecture and immediate past Director of the School of Architecture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He is Director of the Future Cities Leadership Institute. As Head of School in Australia, he was responsible for over 3,000 students and 150 academic, professional and casual staff, with offshore programs in Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Dr. Alexander Eisenschmidt is an architectural theorist and associate professor of the School of Architecture, at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Peter Bosselmann is a professor of the Graduate School in Architecture, City and Regional Planning, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design at the College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley.