Studio Bagan
International Exchange, TeachingYTU Yangon and Bagan, Myanmar; BTU Cottbus
Program: Mapping, Architectural Design, Making Heritage
Year: since 2018 Status: Ongoing
Tags: teaching
Website: www.studiobagan.net
Studio Bagan was initiated by Clara Rellensmann together with Luise Rellensmann, Jens Casper, Karen Eisenloffel, J. Miller Stevens, Pwint (†), and Theingi Shwe, between BTU Cottbus and YTU Yangon. It was conceived as an interdisciplinary preservation design studio that fosters applied knowledge transfer in the fields of heritage preservation, urban and regional planning and designing/building/architecture. At the same time, it aims at contributing to the discourse on the preservation of Bagan – Myanmar’s signature tourist destination and since 2020 World Heritage site.
Central to the studios is the idea of heritage-making and preservation as a formative urban and architectural process of engagement and negotiation. Another aim of Studio Bagan is therefore to sensitize future planners, architects and heritage professionals to the multiple perspectives on and social dynamics of value attribution to the built environment.
History
Studio Bagan 2017: Building in Heritage Context
Studio Bagan 2018: Heritage Tourism – Conflicts and Chances
Studio Bagan 2020 funded, cancelled due to Covid-19
Studio Bagan 2021 (Online): Constructing Counter- Narratives
Team Studio Bagan 2021
Clara Rellensmann (lead coordinator), Jens Casper, Luise Rellensmann, Prof. Karen Eisenloeffel, Prof. J. Miller Stevens (BTU Cottbus); Student staff: Shwe Hlaing Win, Kaung Khant Kyaw Swar; Guest Lecturers: Theingi Shwe (YTU Yangon), Johanna Blokker (BTU Cottbus), Katelyn Williams (BTU Cottbus), Nora Wuttke (SOAS University of London), Konrad Frommelt (BTU Cottbus), Felix Girke (Uni Konstanz), Moritz Henning (SEAM Encorunters), with students from YTU Yangon and BTU Cottbus
Team Studio Bagan 2018
Clara Rellensmann (lead coordinator), Jens Casper, Prof. Karen Eisenloeffel, V.-Prof. J. Miller Stevens (BTU Cottbus), Prof. Dr. Pwint†, Dr Wint Tin Htut Latt, Langa Hkawng Zawng (Khaung Zaung), Htet Htet Lwin, Hnin Wint Ye (YTU Yangon); with students from YTU Yangon, BTU Cottbus and TU Berlin, in collaboration with AMA Association of Myanmar Architects, Goethe Institute Yangon, Myanmar, Tourism Transparenc, Yangon Heritage Trust, Myanmar Department of Archaeology , Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (MoHT) Bagan Branc, Alowdawpyi Monastery, Sharky’s Bagan
Contributors
Katelyn Williams, Laura Hernandez, Wint Tin Htut Latt, Aung Zaw Min, Htet Htet Lwin, Hnin Wint Ye, Nandar Linn, Khaung Zaung, U Sun Oo, Rodolfo Luján, Franz Xaver Augustin and Petra Kühl, Nora Wuttke, Rupert Mann, Andrea Valentin, Johanna Blokker, Felix Girke, Moritz Henning, Alexander Römer (Constructlab), Konrad Frommelt, Shwe Hlaing Win, Kaung Khant Kyaw Swar, as well as more than 70 highly motivated and creative students whose names we cannot display here due to data protection laws.
Publication
Clara Rellensmann, Karen Eisenloeffel, Miller Stevens, Jens Casper (ed.):
Studio Bagan: Heritage Tourism - Conflicts and Chances.
Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg,
IKMZ-Universitätsbibliothek, 2019; ISBN:978-3-940471-47-5
Network
Studio Bagan 2017 and 2018 closely collaborated with BTU Cottbus and YTU Yangon, the Association of Myanmar Architects as well as with the Department of Archaeology (Bagan Branch), Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (Bagan Branch), Yangon Heritage Trust, the NGO Tourism Transparency and the Goethe Institute Myanmar. Studio Bagan is supported by DAAD German Academic Exchange Service
Federal Ministry of Research and Education, Germany