In June 2026, the saai in Karlsruhe will launch the second round of its international residency program on the history of architectural education. Researchers are sought who will use archival materials to investigate how "schools" emerge, are passed down, and are reinterpreted. The Residency is a cooperation with the Wüstenrot Foundation.
Residents will be expected to work on site in the saai, to present their work in progress in a workshop with students and researchers, and to write a short report on their stay accompanied by visual material .

2026 Theme: What Schools Should We Build? Tracing Architecture Teaching in the Archive.

This year the call addresses scholars with projects or case studies that investigate the question of concepts of "schools" or architectural education as processes, tools, materials and networks that lay the foundations for architectural knowledge. The history and holdings of the saai archive as well as the legacy of the KIT (formerly Polytechnische Schule, Technische Hochschule) is often defined by influential teachers such as Friedrich Weinbrenner or Egon Eiermann. But how do such "schools" get defined? How can one analyze them historically through the layers of self-historization, hearsay and erasures? How does the dominance of the teacher figures complicate histories of both students and colleagues with different approaches?
Beyond the question of the school at its configuration and canonization, we are interested in the methodological questions of architectural teaching: How does a (seemingly) shared architectural language get solidified, homogenized or built? Which tools are used to build common references or skills?
This year, we want to investigate processes of pedagogical experimentation, disciplinary canonization, the interrogation of "legacy" and "schools"; both what architecture teaching is as well as who performed it and how is at the focus of the investigations. Through saai holdings for example of several students of Friedrich Weinbrenner or Egon Eiermann, but also through materials such as sketchbooks, book or slide collections, or, alternatively, by tracing missing protagonists, alternative schools and approaches through oral histories, we hope to complicate and illuminate what has been told—and what has not yet—as the histories of architecture schools and their tools.

What we offer.
– A residency that will take place between June 22 and July 31 in Karlsruhe
– The saai archive with its (partially still unprocessed) archival materials
– A workplace in the saai
–Length of Stay between 4 to 6 weeks (please indicate your preferred duration in the cover letter, the start date is mandatory)
– Accommodation in the Gastdozentenhaus of the KIT
– Travel costs to and from Karlsruhe
– Modest compensation for increased cost of living

What you submit:
– Letter of motivation explaining how a stay at saai would benefit your research project and your preferred dates for your time in Karlsruhe (max. 1 page)
– Project Abstract that demonstrates the connection to the 2026 theme (max. 500 words)
– CV (max. 3 pages)

Important Dates:
Call: 20 February 2026
Deadline for Application: 20 March 2026
Notification of Acceptance: 3 April 2026
Acceptance/Declining of Offer: 24 April 2026
Residency: 22 June – 31 July 2026 (4-6 weeks)
Public Workshop: 16 or 17 July 2026

Contact
Information about the program
Prof. Dr. Anna-Maria Meister
Dr. Doris Hallama

Send Submissions to
Kevin Schleifer kevin schleifer∂kit edu