Today’s Faculty of Human Sciences is housed in a building dating from the 1950s. Architect Hans Schumacher won the competition for the overall design of the University Campus North in 1954. His design envisaged six buildings. From the 1950s onwards, one of these buildings housed the Academy of Education (now the Faculty of Human Sciences), which impressed with its architectural modernity, known as ‘Freiheitsmoderne’ (freedom modernism): light-flooded workspaces and foyer, non-hierarchical room layout, an aesthetically light staircase, colourful building materials and clear room axes. Built with a preference for brick, glass and light-reflecting tiles, and connected to its green surroundings by large panoramic windows, it is an example of the still underrated architecture of the 1950s.
When Heidi Helmhold was appointed to this faculty in 2001, not much of this modernity remained: the foyer was cluttered – advertisements on the coloured tiled walls, tall plants at the windows, crude furniture and an overrepresentation of rubbish bins (approx. 25). In collaboration with artists, architects, cultural scientists, a sociologist, an educational scientist and with the support of the university management, the dean’s office and the building department, the three-month project ‘Zurück auf Los’ (Back to Square One) was launched in 2009.
The foyer was cleared out and thus aesthetically restored to its original state. There were artistic actions, two symposia, a publication, faculty tours and performances. The contributions were published in 2012 by jovis Verlag: ‘Abreißen oder gebrauchen. Nutzerperspektiven einer 50er-Jahre Architektur’ (Tear down or use. User perspectives on 1950s architecture).