alban janson first studied architecture at the technical university of darmstadt and the university of karlsruhe. academic work in university teaching was followed by two years as a planner in dar es salaam (tanzania). janson embarked on the path to freelance artistic activity by studying fine arts from 1981 to 1984 at the städelschule in frankfurt am main. at the same time, he founded the architecture firm janson & wolfrum together with sophie wolfrum in 1989. after a professorship for design theory at the stuttgart university of applied sciences 1984-1994, janson headed the institute for the foundations of design at the university of karlsruhe (now kit) from 1994 and the chair for the foundations of architecture there until 2013. since 2013, he has worked as a draftsman and painter with a studio in munich.