Architecture
Architects do many things: design buildings, create the cities of the future and help reverse climate change. Whether you see yourself more as a creative, a detail-oriented designer, or a planner interested in new building materials: Discover your strengths and interests in our practical architecture degree program.
Your heart beats for...
A Degree Program with a Future
In the Architecture program, you will learn to develop solutions to problems in an application-oriented, practical, and independent way, and then to integrate them into complex planning processes. You can develop your creativity through projects and designs, gaining technical, scientific and drafting competence for the broad-based field of architecture.
You will bring one of the following educational backgrounds:
- General university entrance qualification (Abitur)
- Specialized university entrance qualification
- Advanced technical college certificate (Fachhochschulreife)
- Vocational qualification
For admission to the winter semester 2023/2024, only an eight-week internship is required instead of the basic and specialized internships. This can be completed in the building trade or in construction planning and must be proven at the latest by the time of enrollment in the 5th semester by means of a corresponding confirmation from the practical training center.
1. Semester
- Materials science 1 (building materials)
- Sculptural design principles
- Pictoral design principles
- CAD architecture and interior architecture (creating designs on a PC)
- Fundamental project
2. Semester
- Construction 1
- Structural design
- Advanced representation techniques
- Art and architectural history
- Design project
3. Semester
- Building physics and building services
- History of urban development
- Basic urban planning
- Construction work on existing buildings
- Context project
4. Semester
- Construction 2
- Public building law
- Basic costs and law
- Design project
- Elective subjects
5. Semester
- Construction 3
- Basic building organization
- Architectural theory
- Project design
- Elective subjects
6. Semester
- Academic preliminary project
- Cumulative modules
- Bachelor’s thesis and colloquium
Focus areas/advance courses
- Projects, elective subjects and cumulative modules
- Expertise in drafting, designing, constructing, and carrying out building projects/structural engineering
- Prospects for using buildings/urban areas that are usable or no longer in use
- Strategies for renovating buildings in light of ecological, climate and demographic challenges
- Integration of future technologies into building use and design
- Employee or self-employed in a private architectural firm
- Public municipal administration
- Real estate or project development
- Construction/building materials industry
- Stage/set design for theater and film,
- Specialist journalism, insurance industry
We regularly cooperate on projects with numerous companies in the construction and design sectors.
- Institut für Designstrategien (IDS - Institute for Design Strategies): The IDS conducts research on fundamental interactions between people and spaces. It develops strategies to help achieve a climate-resilient built environment, and takes advantage of the opportunities offered by digitization for innovative approaches and complex analyses.
Research focal areas: Regenerative design, human centered design and data driven design - Institut für Energieforschung (iFE - Institute for Energy Research): Interdisciplinary research institution with members from the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Detmold School of Design, Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, and Business Administration and Economics. The iFE develops technologies and solutions for efficient, networked, and innovative energy systems in the fields of districts, mobility, and industry.
... the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations
- directly to good health and well-being
- directly to clean water and sanitation
- directly to sustainable cities and communities
- directly to life on land
Studying at Creative Campus Detmold

Planning and building in one place. This concept can be found on our Creative Campus. Through both topics, a very special teaching and research location has been created. The internationally renowned Detmold School of Design is located here, as well as the Civil Engineering Department and the Center for Sustainable, Digital Construction, which is currently under construction. Architectural ideas thus cross paths with new thinking in civil engineering, such as sustainable 3D printing. The campus is complemented by media production, which together with the Detmold Academy of Music and the University of Paderborn have created a completely new stage for the transfer between creative science and business in the KreativInstitut.OWL. The campus is also adjacent to the city center, which can thus be reached by foot.
Information
Contact and Counseling
- Our Central Student Advisory Service answers questions about studying at the university
- Offers for study orientation
- Get to know your department!
- Click here to go to the subject-specific student advisory service of the department
- Apply at Hochschulstart (DoSV)!
- Information on the enrollment procedure is available from the Enrollment Office
- Studying abroad? Our International Office is there for you!
Still unanswered questions?
Our Student Service Center will answer all your questions about studying at TH OWL as well as about application and enrollment:
Phone: +49 5261 702 2534
E-mail: studierendenservice(at)th-owl.de
Service hours: Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.