What convinced you to join the hej.build Architecture Advisory Board?
Exchange with industry has always been very inspiring and fruitful for me. As architects, our interest is to actively shape the future in a rapidly changing world. In doing so, we benefit from the innovative strength of bold companies and manufacturers, and in turn we can feed back ideas from how products are used. Being able to work at this interface is very promising for me.
What focus do you hope to bring to the hej.build Architecture Advisory Board?
I have worked intensively on sustainable building, especially at the scale of urban districts, since my time at TU Darmstadt. How can we plan and build for circularity? Which life cycles are the right ones for buildings, and what does that mean for the nature of buildings and cities? Discussing these questions and taking them further, particularly with regard to life cycle assessment / EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations), is very exciting for me.
What is most on your mind at the moment in architecture, interior architecture or building products?
How can we build more cheaply and better at the same time? I think that’s what occupies the industry, and me, most at the moment. The »construction value chain« is an important pillar of our prosperity and at the same time responsible for the environments we live in. I enjoy integrating these partly divergent interests and taking them to the next level.
Is there a current highlight or an all-time favourite project?
Our timber-hybrid high-rise, which we have the opportunity to develop with our clients in Frankfurt’s Gallus district, is undoubtedly my personal highlight so far. As part of a consistently sustainable district development based on the urban design competition we won, the building sets standards. Apart from the parts in contact with the ground and the bracing elements, the building consists of a timber frame with timber-hybrid ribbed slabs, and that above the high-rise threshold. It hasn’t been done like this before, and it motivates everyone involved in a special way.
More experts on the board
Which topic is keeping you busy right now?
Tell us briefly which building products it’s about and what you want to achieve. We’ll get back to you with an initial assessment. We often start with our »Day One« workshop: a day at your premises, where marketing, sales and senior management set priorities together.