M123: DefHeat – The Climate City of Tomorrow

Heated discussions through time and space in Freising and Munich

Semester Project M.A. Landscape Architecture, Summer Semester 2026

Topic
Where Munich’s Altstadtring is busy with traffic today, water still flowed through the city in the 19th century. And anyone parking their car at Freising station today would have found themselves surrounded by woodland back then. Our cities and landscapes are never static – they are constantly changing. Over time, our expectations of open spaces also evolve. As the climate crisis continues to intensify, the development of ecologically effective and climate-adapted urban landscapes becomes increasingly important. At the same time, the dimension of time challenges us, because the plans we design today often unfold their full impact only decades later.How can open spaces be designed and communicated with this long time horizon in mind? What ideas and approaches existed in the past? How can they inspire bold visions for the future, and which impulses should we set here and now?

Task
The studio is organised in three phases through which students explore Freising and Munich both on site and in the studio. The first phase focuses on analysis. Working in groups, students investigate selected areas at a large scale, trace their development over several decades and reflect on key events and planning ideas that shaped these places. The results are presented and discussed in the design studio.
Building on this knowledge, students formulate a future vision. Within their research area they select a specific focus site, relate it to its historical development and examine its present situation. Based on this, they develop a bold long-term vision and identify key impulses as well as the conditions needed to make this vision possible.
The final phase translates these ideas into action. Students develop a performance or spatial intervention in the urban environment that makes the insights of the semester project tangible in the present. The performance is conceived as a contribution to the Weihenstephan Forum 2026 “DefHeat”, which is organised each year by a different chair and which this year also celebrates the 70th anniversary of the landscape architecture programme at TUM.

Dates
regular supervision days Thursdays 13:30 - 18:00h in O5
Mon. 13.04. Short presentation of the project (Room O5)
Thu. 16.04., 13:30h Kick-off event
Fri. - Sat. 30.04. – 01.05. Excursion to ???
Thu. 16.07. Final presentation

Supervision
Prof. Regine Keller, M.A. Julia Treichel, M.A. Daniel Wolfram, Prof. Dr. Iris Reuther

Registration
max. 20 students, registration for „Master Project Landscape Architecture I + II + III“ via TUM Online until Monday, 13.04.2026 18:00h
Please be sure to indicate your preferred order for the offered projects (priority 1 = first choice, priority 2 = second choice, etc.)!