For four decades, the German Architects’ Foundation (SDA) has been promoting architectural education in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia through scholarships, awards and workshops for emerging architects. The foundation was established in 1985 as a charitable organisation by the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Architects. On 13 March 2026, the SDA’s 40th anniversary will be celebrated with a ceremony at the Chamber of Architects of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf’s Medienhafen. The foundation’s work is primarily aimed at supporting young planners from North Rhine-Westphalia and inspiring them on their path to a career in the profession. Among other things, it offers scholarship programmes as well as various regional and international projects. Here, specific architectural tasks are addressed – and realised – by the next generation of architects through both theoretical and practical means: for example, through exciting ‘think-on’ and ‘hands-on’ projects in Italy and Thailand.

The ceremony on 13 March is intended to provide an insight into the Foundation’s work and to present research findings and projects realised over the past 40 years: featuring contributions from long-standing associates and young participants in Foundation projects, as well as an opportunity for a get-together. Future developments and directions for the Foundation’s work will also be presented. Speakers will include the Chairman of the Board of the Foundation of German Architects, Ernst Uhing; the Managing Director of the Foundation of German Architects, Markus Lehrmann; as well as Prof. Moritz Fleischmann-Bergstein (Professor at Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences), Sven Aretz and Jakob Dürr (Aretz Dürr Architektur). The event will be moderated by Prof. Rolf-Egon Westerheide (Member of the Board of the German Architects’ Foundation).

www.stiftung-deutscher-architekten.de