Based on an initiative developed at the Chair of Architectural History the RWTH Aachen University, that department has – over the past years and with the co-operation of the department of Architectural and Urban History at TU Berlin and the FIZ Karlsruhe Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure – developed a detailed concept for a central web portal for Building Archaeology.

Its main goal is the creation of a comprehensive digital platform which would allow all researchers connected to the field of Building Archaeology to store research data as well as different kinds of architectural documentation and information. In addition to that, we aim to collect all architectural survey information published in German-speaking countries and make it available for subsequent study and research. In order to facilitate this, the German Research Foundation (DFG) has recently awarded the three organizations involved in this project a one million euros research grant. After years of planning, concept development and networking with the scientific communities of Building Archaeology and Research Data Management, we were able to hold a kick-off meeting in Berlin in the autumn of 2021, after which the more concrete work on the project could begin.

Of the three partners, RWTH Aachen University takes the overall project control as well as the responsibility for public relations and publicity, communication and relations with potential users, data acquisition and the design of the end-user facing web portal. The team charged with these tasks consists of Anke Naujokat, Felix Martin, Tobias Glitsch, Anina Janich and Sophie Helas, who recently joined the project and whom we would like to welcome to the team.