Expressed Reform

The University of Konstanz is an impressive monument to the fusion of art and architecture on the campus. It is a finely constructed example of the reform movement in tertiary education in the post-war era. To mark the 50th anniversary of this successful university, the architecture and building art are presented in text and large-format, contemporary photographs. The University of Konstanz was founded in 1966 as a Reform university; it moved to the campus on the Gießberg in 1972. It is unique in German history in that it is the only consistent architectural implementation of the Reform movement, which is expressed in unusual space design with areas for encounters and in dispensing with the strict serial structures which were usual in new university buildings at that time. The building art formed an integral part of the buildings from the planning phase onwards, especially in Otto Pienes coloured, pyramid-shaped acrylic glass roofing for the foyer dating from 1972. The volume provides comprehensive information about the foundation of the Reform university, its development and its outstanding artistic amenities.