FR | Monastic Architecture

  View from the cloister into the courtyard of the Abbey St. Benedictusberg in Vaals © P. van Galen / Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed  

Monastic Architecture – 3 Research Fields for the Preparation of a Publication

 

In the past summer semester, 10 students looked at 30 monastery architectures from the 20th and 21st centuries and, by writing catalogue articles about them, laid the foundation for a first overview of this topic.
In a total of three two-semester research fields, each with a different focus, the aim is now to unify the contributions, some of which still need uniformity, in the sense of a planned overall publication:

 

1. "Monastic Architecture – Preparing the Publication 1: Scientific Work, Text and Language"

Extensive bibliographies have been researched on all monasteries, which have already been formatted by the students in a relatively uniform way. In a first step, all bibliographies should be carefully checked for adherence to the prescribed form and adapted if necessary. In a second step, all footnote references should then be checked for the literature abbreviations defined in the bibliographies and adjusted if necessary.
Once these formalities have been fulfilled, the research field turns to the area of "text and language". For example, short biographies have been written on all the architects, but the content of some of them still differs somewhat too much. The short biographies will therefore be compared directly and, if necessary, adapted. This work will also be used to compile the register of architects, which will be printed in the appendix of the book. Depending on the intensity and duration of the work, other similar tasks will follow after consultation.
Prerequisites for participation in the research field are an accurate way of working as well as a secure and confident handling of spelling, punctuation and grammar of the German language.

 

 

2. "Monastic Architecture – Preparing the Publication 2: List of illustrations, illustration credits and acquisition of image rights"

The aim of this research field is, in a first step, to create a list of illustrations as a table in Excel, which includes all illustrations of the entire book. The table serves to standardise all figure references according to a predefined scheme as well as to provide an overview of the image rights.
Once the table has been completed and the corresponding image folders have been created, the research field leads to the request and acquisition of image rights. In this context or subsequently, fundraising tasks are also envisaged.
Preconditions for participation in the research field are an accurate way of working and communication skills.

3. "Monastic Architecture – Preparing the Publication 3: Graphics, Layout, Typography"

There is a site plan for each monastery that illustrates the location of the monastery in its rural or urban surroundings. The students created the site plans individually in the course of the last seminar without precise design specifications. The first task is therefore to create site plans for all monasteries that follow a uniform design.
In a further step, a uniform colour spectrum is to be determined, according to which the various floor plans can be given a uniform colouring of different functional areas. In addition, a world map is to be created to locate all the monasteries presented.
Finally, the layout, which has only been defined in its most basic features for the seminar, is to be expanded and refined, for example by developing a sophisticated document and baseline grid as well as corresponding paragraph and character formats.
Prerequisites for participation in the research field are an accurate way of working, experience in dealing with layout programmes and generally a lot of joy and interest in design tasks.

 
 

Module

Field of Research
M.Sc. | 1st to 3rd semester
Over the course of two semesters, 6 CPs

Dates

Introduction: CV 41, day and time to be arranged individually
Project meeting: by arrangement, via Zoom and in the Library of the Chair of Architectural History
Submission: Friday, July 1, 2022

Lecturer

Dr.-Ing. Caroline Helmenstein