Architects and civil train together at the faculty under the Dortmund model. The model is unique in Germany and represents a teaching concept that, in addition to the fundamental training in the chosen discipline, aims to give students interdisciplinary collaboration in a team with other engineers involved in construction. Projects involving joint work in a team of Architecture and Civil Engineering students take on a key role for the learning about this collaboration.

Architects and civil train together at the faculty under the Dortmund model. The model is unique in Germany and represents a teaching concept that, in addition to the fundamental training in the chosen discipline, aims to give students interdisciplinary collaboration in a team with other engineers involved in construction. Projects involving joint work in a team of Architecture and Civil Engineering students take on a key role for the learning about this collaboration.

There are two annual academies at the faculty – the Ruhr International Spring Academy and the Venice Summer Academy. In the two-week workshops for these, students work together with students from the partners from Venice, Turin, Eindhoven, Düsseldorf, Munich etc. on various design tasks in mixed international teams and talk about their results in the final discussion groups with international visiting professors.

The faculty has a modelling workshop with CNC machines, 3D printers, laser cutters, a CIP cluster, a departmental library, a media laboratory and an institute for construction research and is part of the North Rhine-Westphalia building archives (Baukunstarchiv NRW). There is access to several publications and journals (digital) and the DIN standards via the main library of TU Dortmund University. The building services (TGA) laboratory supports practice-oriented teaching and research in plant engineering. The materials archive links the sensory experience of materials, which is essential for education and training.

A key research area of the department is permanent structures. The aim is in-depth analysis and clarification of the issue of how buildings and civil engineering structures need to be designed and constructed to give them a life span that is appropriate for their purpose and resource usage. In line with the principle of resource-efficient building, this area is concerned with effectively increasing the life span of architectural structures using new extended planning and design concepts while taking into account the requirements in the lifecycle.

The entire department works on digital and sustainable topics that are crucial in the building and construction industry and its development. Each course incorporates these aspects.