COURSE IN URBAN DESIGN (URBANISTICS)

of the competition had academic practice in Germany and the youngpedagogues of the chair visited Germany each year for workshops andinternships.In addition to these activities, the Chair of Urbanistics systematicallyholds 3rd and 4th year course project and other goal oriented studentcompetitions.In 1997, by the initiative of the Georgian Technical University and theGerman Academy for Town and Land Planning (Deutsche Akademiefur Stadtebau und Landsplanung – DASL) began the realization of thejoint urban project, that aimed at putting forward proposals for social,functional and architectural renewal of Avlabari - historic district ofTbilisi. This collaboration lasted nearly six years. The coordinators ofthe project were: from German side, professor Yost Schramm, memberof DASL and from Georgian side, Vladimir Vardosanidze, professor atthe chair of Urbanistics.The choice of the Avlabari district was motivated by the deplorablephysical condition of majority of buildings and by the necessity of urbandevelopment of the whole district.The Avlabari project was included in the curriculum of fourth academicyear. The work progressed in two stages. Following the academicprogram of “Urban reconstruction” the students conducted researchactivities in the first semester; it included: studying the selected siteof the district, historic, functional, visual study, making photographicdocumentation, architectural surveys and sketches, fixation of existingtransport network, sociological survey of the inhabitants with the helpof prepared questionnaire. The project task was formulated based onthe analysis of the gathered materials.The second semester was dedicated to design; it was carried out byseveral competing groups, that included 4-5 students each and guidedby the leading pedagogue architects, interns and Ph.D. students of thechair.Later, the Faculty of Architecture of the Kaiserslautern TechnicalUniversity joined the project; hence, with participation of students fromGermany, the competition acquired international status.University had a working visit to Germany; the group participatedin German-Georgian project “Cautious reconstruction of the city”.Together with students from Germany and GTU, the students fromTbilisi State Academy of Arts were also involved in the project.At the end of September 2007, as the students from Germany visitedTbilisi, the site for the project was chosen; it included the districtsneighboring the prospect of David Aghmashenebeli. The studentsfrom the three universities independently elaborated their vision for thedevelopment of this part of the city and during the whole semester theycompleted an urban project, that reflected three different hierarchicalstages of urban development.The project proposed by the German side represented theoreticalproposals in the field of cautious reconstruction. The work of thestudents from GTU provided a direct and well defined answer to theproject demand of urban reconstruction. Concrete and detailed historic,social and functional research, upon which the project proposal wasbased, done by our students made an immense impression.Hence, this project was an exemplary demonstration of what can bedone within the limits of existing legal, administrative, institutional andfinancial framework.The exhibition and presentation of the project, together with other 11projects completed by the German side, took place on 13-14 February2008.With great pleasure and sense of honor, we say that the jury, thatincluded renowned specialist in the field of protection of urbanmonuments, Professor Gabi Dolff-Bonekaemper, granted to thementioned joint project first place award and an international diploma.The project supervisors from the Faculty of Architecture, Urbanisticsand Design were professors Giorgi Shaishmelashvili and GiorgiSulaberidze. The student group included: Temur Ninua, SophoPaksashvili, Ludmila Chikovani, Ia Bartaia, Sopho Ninidze, ShalvaKikabidze, Mamuka Kapanadze and Magda Lekishvili.The competition projects were evaluated by the competent jury, thechairmen of which were professors Giorgi Shaishmelashvili, YostSchramm and Karl Ziegler. The result of the competitions includessignificant analytical and design materials on topic of Outer Avlabarireconstruction;The illustrated albums reviewing the German-Georgian competitionwinning projects for “Cautious reconstruction of outer Avlabari” wereperiodically published (editors: professors Giorgi Salukvadze, TengizMakharashvili).In February 2008, with an invitation from Faculty of Town Planningof Berlin Technical University, a group of students of the Faculty ofArchitecture, Urban Planning and Design of Georgian Technical164