On the occasion of the awarding of the Hermann Billing Prize 2019 for outstanding dissertations, a public ceremony with musical accompaniment took place on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, at 6:00 p.m. in the Egon-Eiermann Lecture Hall of the Department of Architecture at KIT. The prize donated by the "CFC Hermann-Billing-Preis e.V." was awarded to:

Dr. phil. Anna Krüger
for her dissertation: Alexander Camaro (1901-1992). Life and Work.

Artists also had a special social task in the post-war period: the manageable number of artists living in Germany after 1945 were involved in the ideological and political re-education of the people. This monographic study focuses on one of them: the draughtsman, painter and scenic designer Alexander Camaro (1901 Breslau - 1992 Berlin). Today almost forgotten, he is one of the most important representatives of this period. The source study therefore provides a fundamental art-historical classification. An extensive catalogue raisonné of the paintings, with over 1000 entries, also documents paintings that have been lost or thought to be lost. Access to the artistic estate made it possible to present personal problems and values on the basis of primary sources, as well as to provide insights into the creative process - from finding the picture to coloring and titling. In addition, the reception of the artist and his work is critically evaluated, taking into account contemporary historical statements - also against the background of the special situation of the post-war years.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Martin Papenbrock
Co-referent: Prof. Dr. Oliver Jehle

Mrs. Dr.-Ing. Janna Hohn
for her dissertation: Urban backsides - The connective tissue of the city.

Cities are in a constant process of transformation. After filling up the large urban brownfields, the existing urban structure is now being redensified. Often this redensification hits places with a low structural density and quality, but with great functionality for the urban organism. These are the last inner-city places where noisy and dirty activities, low-cost services in close connection with neighbourhoods and creative business start-ups can take place. These functional places of work are diminishing at a rapid pace as they cannot withstand the pressure from higher value uses.
In order to better examine these places and their uses, the concept of "urban backsides" was introduced. By examining case studies in London, Hamburg and Berlin, it became clear that in order to control the displacement process of low-cost workspace from the inner city, conventional planning instruments are often insufficient and need to be supplemented by alternative, user-driven strategies.

Speaker: Professor Markus Neppl
Co-speaker: Professor Hilde Barz-Malfatti (Bauhaus University Weimar)

The award winners will present their theses in short lectures following greetings from Dean Prof. Dr. Georg Vrachliotis and Building Mayor Daniel Fluhrer. The introduction of the prize winners was done by Dipl.-Ing. Arne Petersohn, chairman of the sponsoring association. The presentations were followed by a discussion between the dean and the prize winners.

The award ceremony took place during the event "Research at the Faculty of Architecture".

From left to right: Daniel Fluhrer, Dr. Janna Hohn, Arne Petersohn, Dr. Anna Krüger, Dr. Georg Vrachliotis (Photo: Bernd Seeland)