IRGE Stuttgart / Universität Stuttgart: Website Relaunch for an Architecture and Design Research Institute

Art Director, Frontend and Backend Developer, Project Lead·2015·3 years·3 people·3 min read

Unorthodox CMS-based solution enabling complex, interlinked research datasets to be presented clearly and maintained independently by institute staff — meeting high architectural and academic design standards.

Overview

The Institut für Raumkonzeptionen und Grundlagen des Entwerfens (IRGE) at the University of Stuttgart encompasses architectural design research, the Gebäudelehre department, and the Stuttgarter Change Labs project. The institute required a website that could present a complex portfolio of interconnected research projects in a way that standard CMS logic could not accommodate.

Problem

Complex datasets and content relationships could not be mapped using conventional website structures and CMS logic. The institute needed to present its projects with clear cross-references and thematic connections, while allowing non-technical staff to maintain and update content independently.

Constraints

  • Standard CMS architectures were inadequate for the relational complexity of the content.
  • Institute staff required a simple, maintainable backend without technical expertise.
  • Frontend design had to meet the high architectural and academic aesthetic standards of the institute.
  • Project lead and client management responsibilities alongside design and development.

Approach

Development of an unorthodox solution using Contao CMS with custom extensions, enabling meaningful relational linking of datasets while preserving editorial simplicity for institute staff. Full visual concept and frontend design developed to reflect the institute's architectural and academic positioning, alongside complete backend implementation and client consulting throughout.

Project deliverables

Use Contao CMS with custom extensions rather than a standard out-of-the-box solution.

No standard CMS offered the relational data model required to connect projects, people, topics, and departments meaningfully. Custom extensions within Contao provided the necessary flexibility while keeping the editorial interface accessible to non-technical users.

Responsibilities:
  • Build a fully custom application without a CMS foundation.
  • Simplify the content model to fit within standard CMS constraints.

Prioritise editorial independence for institute staff from the outset.

An academic institute cannot rely on external developers for routine content updates. The backend had to be usable by researchers and assistants without design or development training.

Responsibilities:
  • Deliver a static site with periodic external maintenance.
  • Train a dedicated staff member as a technical administrator.

Design disciplines

  • Web
  • Backend
  • Consulting

Result & Impact

  • 3 years
    Project duration
  • Full self-service content management by institute staff
    Editorial independence

IRGE gained a website capable of representing the genuine complexity of its research portfolio — with meaningful cross-references between projects, people, and themes — while remaining editorially accessible to non-technical staff. The frontend met the high visual standards expected of an architecture and design research institute.

Learnings

  • Complex content relationships require a data model designed before the CMS is chosen — not the other way around.
  • Editorial simplicity for end users and structural complexity in the backend are not mutually exclusive — but achieving both requires careful architecture.
  • In academic and cultural contexts, visual design credibility is a prerequisite for trust — the interface must reflect the institution's own standards.
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