I choose Tianjin University for my Master studies because the school’s main foci on parametric design, urban development as well as architecture practice at partner companies.

Since high school I have been enthusiastic about the construction of buildings. In my studies I finally got to learn how supporting structures work in architecture. Not only am I fascinated by the esthetics but also by the variety of construction methods. In my opinion, a good building depends on the visual concept, but more importantly structural analysis determines if a building performs well or not. In my view, using construction as a parameter for designing is a fascinating approach. Tianjin University offers courses in parametric design which is an advanced level of working with structure and algorithm to design digital models. This is a great opportunity to broaden my abilities for structural understanding and software skills. Moreover, I am keen on doing more research on the issues of urbanization and digitalization. I find it quite interesting that these two topics will in the future be strongly interwoven. I participated in lectures from one of my professors in Berlin who specialized himself in smart cities. His talk ‚Dance with the devil – Humans and Robots in the urban context‘s deals with rapid urbanization and with the social question of ‘How much digital dependence in people’s life is too much?‘. On the one hand, we need technology in our daily routine but on the other hand, there is the risk of machines taking control of our lives. The world population in the cities tends to grow sharply. Therefore, a lot of challenges arise, for example the megacity Beijing has to deal with air pollution, long traffic jams and crowded public places. Additionally, high demands for housing is a worldwide major problem in mega cities as well. To me it is very interesting to approach this request with the help of intelligent digitalization. How can we meet the high demands of housing arising in mega cities? Is it feasible to produce high quantity without losing quality of customizing houses for people. My question is whether it is possible to manufacture high quantity at low prices. Tianjin University puts the focus on urban development in the design studios which is a controversial topic I am really interested in doing more research on. Furthermore, what I personally like most about the school is that Tianjin University maintains contact with international partner schools and architecture design companies. Through the close exchange with other universities the teachers can constantly improve teaching methods with other associates and help the school to develop. In my view, it is a great opportunity for the students to experience the working environment in architecture firms. The arrangement of design practice at partner architecture companies is a great assistance of the school for the students.