Professor, architect, and “experiential designer”

President of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

BIOGRAPHY

Peter Benz studied Architecture at the TU Kaiserslautern and Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. After his graduation in 1998, he worked as a freelance exhibition designer until he was invited to teach at Bauhaus-Universtät Weimar’s Faculty of Media in 2001. In 2006, he received professorial position at Hong Kong Baptist University and helped establishing the newly founded Academy of Visual Arts in a variety of functional positions. In March 2023 he returned to Germany to take up the position of President of his alma mater, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
Academically, Benz considers himself an »experiential designer«, focussed on researching and developing »experiences« as a creative medium. He is also interested in the design potential of everyday objects and of un-designed spaces. More recently, his projects also re-focused on issues of creative livelihoods, gender integration in the creative arts and the development of digital tools for teaching in art and design.

Houston, we have a Problem

An introductory case study into the field of experimental design, followed by some developments, considering how the direction of a university as a design task that results in an aesthetic experience of the university.