PhoSa course 2026 - Where Biology meets Architecture, Engineering, and Physics

The junior professorship for Computational Life Science and the Institute for Landscape Architecture launch a new, innovative learning format with the Politechnika Gdańsk (PG; Poland) and the ETH Zürich (Switzerland), following a successful application to the Enhance Testbed Seed Fund initiative.

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our time, particularly as cities face rising temperatures. Green facades offer a promising solution that combines plant science with architectural design.

This interdisciplinary approach is at the core of the master's course PhoSA: Photosynthetic Systems in Architecture. Funded by the Testbed initiative of the Enhance Alliance, the course will include this year scenario-based hackathons in which RWTH students collaborate with peers (engineering and physics) from Politechnika Gdansk and ETH Zürich, who will visit during the summer semester, within a real-world client-consultant (company) framework.

Students from Gdańsk and ETH collaborate with RWTH students to design and build a sensor system, while RWTH students develop and construct a vertical garden. This hands-on exchange strengthens both technical expertise and communication skills.