News

Architecture department lead Volker Mau is invited to the eco2friendly day, a summit where experts from various fields talk about different aspects of sustainability. He presents his view on sustainable architecture and illustrates his thoughts with projects.

Philip Norman Peterson joins an experts’ panel about retail architecture in Tbilisi. In this summit that is hosted by information platform Heinze, he presents retail projects such as Westside shopping mall, shopping and business center INSIDE, Swisscom Business Campus and leisure hub Colorful Zone, and discusses with other professionals.

MakeCity is a city-wide international festival for architecture and urban alternatives, spanning over 17 days and featuring over 120 events: exhibitions, workshops, urban tours and studio talks, along with 9 days of conference programme at the festival centre.

As a founding partner, the Berlin studio will be part of it. The festival takes place from June 14 to July 1, 2018 in different locations in Berlin; a detailed programme is coming soon.

Tristan Kobler is invited to the panel discussion "The Added Value of Art and Architecture". The event celebrates also the release of a book about the same topic, published by competition commission for art and architecture WEKO of visarte Zentralschweiz.

The panel assembles people from various fields: Art, art collecting, politics, urban planning, and architecture. Apart from professional attitudes, participants in the panel are asked to express personal opinions.

As part of the MakeCity festival, the nearly finished container-built student housing project Frankie & Johnny can be visited on a guided tour. Another tour takes place June 18th, 2018, at 1 pm.

Tristan Kobler speaks to MA students about his personal approach to exhibition design. The talk is part of a university lecture series at the design department of the FH Dortmund, but it is also open to the public.

As part of their Curated Studies program, professor Barbara Holzer and Tanja Kullack have gathered in collaboration with IBA Thuringia during winter semester 2017/18 more than 120 students of Peter Behrens School of Arts (PBSA) in the town of Apolda. The state of Thuringia presents the thinking space called "STADTLAND" for the studios.

More than 100 options for Apolda and Thuringia have been developed — starting from local acupunctions that trigger shifts of context by minimal interventions to visions for metropoles of the future. The Exhibition Design Institute of University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf has created by analysing the students' concepts, drafts, and visions the exhibition "Spielstädte! 100+ Options for the Future of Thuringia".

On the LimmatSpot site, the building shell is finished; an occasion to celebrate for everyone involved in the project!

The association for management and economy, maneco, invites to a panel discussion. Tristan Kobler and other experts talk about the ways new shopping habits shape buildings.

The first topical exhibition in the new building of Kunsthalle Mannheim sheds light on the economy's impact on the arts by presenting classical modern art from the 1920s and 1930s, focussing on the German Weimar Republic, the Soviet Union and the United States.

Free-standing wall units partition the three connecting rooms of the exhibition's historic part. See-through moments and juxtapositions keep refreshing perspectives and correlations of the thematically clustered art works. A color scheme that resonates with the spirit of the time has inspired a background of geometrical panels in bold hues and highlights selected exhibits. Few media installations provide background information of pivotal social developments such as the emergence of the modern metropolis in the early 20th century; an axial "trail" provides the exhibition's chronologic and contextualising backbone.

A spatial graphic design derived from Gustavs Klucis' work Dynamic City connects the historic and the contemporary part of the exhibition and welcomes visitors in the foyer of Kunsthalle Mannheim.

The special exhibition on the complex entanglements of gender and violence at the Military History Museum in Dresden runs until October 30th, 2018.

At belektro trade fair in Berlin as part of the architectural program DIALOG HOCH 4, a forum about future living formats takes place. Therein, Philip Norman Peterson will present the student housing project Frankie & Johnny (in German).

In the course of the development of the RAW area everybody interested is invited to join an inspection of the site and following workshop discussion with the focus on open space qualities.

Meeting point for the site inspection is at gate 2, opposite of Revalerstrasse 10. The workshop takes place at artistic space Urban Spree.

The completed building will be officially handed over to the client. Fulfilling the brief of designing a hospital for elderly patients, a four-story geriatric hospital building offering a total of 300 beds as well as extensive facilities has been completed. The volume and height of the new building are designed to harmonize with the building height of the neighboring residential area and surround a protected central space with plenty of greenery. The recesses in the building lend form to its bulk and thus reference the surrounding urban fabric.

Barbara Holzer is invited to hold a lecture at Bologna's YAC Academy. Within the program "Architecture for Wellness", she presents the wellness area of the Westside shopping and experience center, which she has designed for Daniel Libeskind. For participants only.

The exhibition "Einfach Zürich" (Simply Zurich) deals with yesterday and today of city and canton. Events, developments, personalities and specialities are presented in three both visually and narratively surprisingly-different appointed rooms. In a light manner, the show offers much background information as well as unexpected insights. Concept, content & scenography: Holzer Kobler Architekturen and Heller Enterprises.

(Participation in the vernissage for invited guests only, the official opening being on February 2nd, 2019)

"Prison" deals with many different topics by way of meanungful and unconventional scenography: confinement, detention conditions, exclusion, but also reintegration and the role of the judiciary. The exhibition is realized in cooperation with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva, the Musée des Confluences in Lyon and the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden. Scenography by Holzer Kobler Architekturen.

Henri Laurens (1885–1954) is regarded as one of the most influential French sculptors of the first half of the 20th century. The monographic exhibition at the Kunsthalle Mannheim will show his works from March 1 until June 16. Selected sculptures from Laurens’ early and mature artistic periods as well as drawings, collages and prints will be presented. A participative workbench and studio representations will draw attention to Laurens’ creative process.

Scenography: Holzer Kobler Architekturen

Grafic Design: 2xGoldstein

Curator: Dr. Ulrike Lorenz in cooperation with the Gerhard-Marcks-Haus, Bremen.

Exhibition funded by the H.W. & J. Hector Foundation.

At the panel „Think Radical!“ Tristan Kobler gives a lecture about „Zurich needs urban densification! Zurich needs tower blocks!“

This year’s architekturSCHWEIZ 19 presents itself from 7th to 10th March as an architecture festival with pop-up museum, conference and film screenings.

Barbara Holzer gives a lecture on concepts of new working environments and their architectural and design requirements. The title of the symposium is "Everything is possible: Work and research – rethinking new environments".

The new permanent exhibition at the Bauhaus-Museum in Weimar presents the treasures of the world's oldest Bauhaus collection. It links the history of the Bauhaus to discussions about contemporary living conditions. Scenography: Holzer Kobler Architekturen.

(Participation in the vernissage for invited guests, the official opening weekend is on April 6/7, 2019)

People live under a spell, animals can speak, all wishes become true, space and time are blurred. We all know this type of tale that is part of the cultural memory of every human group. The Musée d'ethnographie de Genève addresses the cosmos of European fairy tales in its new exhibition; wondrous, familiar and at the same time a bit frightening. In eight very atmospheric fairytale-zones the stories can be experienced with all senses. The vernissage is on the 16th of May 2019, 6 pm (open to the public). The exhibition ends on the 5th of January 2020.

Curator: Federica Tamarozzi. Scenography: Holzer Kobler Architekturen.

Especially in metropolitan regions, affordable housing is required on short notice and in great quantities. New concepts are needed.

Philip Norman Peterson will speak about "Difference and Iteration: Modular Construction Techniques today".

"Prison" deals with life behind bars – with the themes confinement, detention conditions, exclusion, but also reintegration and the role of the judiciary. A manifold scenography explores the inside and outside of prisons in a colorful and positivistic manner. Historical, philosophical, anthropological and sociological aspects of incarceration reveal the ambiguous reality of detention, they break down stereotypes and raise the possibility of alternatives to authoritarian and antiquated punitive systems.

"Prison" was produced by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva (MICR) in partnership with the Musée des Confluences in Lyon (MDC) and the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden (DHMD). The exhibition will close on August 18, 2019, at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. The reopening at the Musée des Confluences in Lyon is on October 19, 2019.

Ludwig van Beethoven's birthplace is a charismatic venue for classical music enthusiasts from all over the world. The building houses the world’s largest and manifold Beethoven-collection. The redesigned permanent exhibition in the composer’s house of birth is created in a way that makes life and work of this outstanding artistic personality both a sensual and intellectual experience.

The opening of the permanent exhibition is scheduled for September 16, 2019.

Scenography: Holzer Kobler Architekturen. Grafic design: 2xGoldstein. Media design: TheGreenEyl.

"Prison" deals with life behind bars – with confinement, detention conditions, exclusion, but also reintegration and the role of the judiciary. A manifold scenography explores the inside and outside of prisons in a colorful and positivistic manner. Historical, philosophical, anthropological and sociological aspects of incarceration reveal the ambiguous reality of detention, they break down stereotypes and raise the possibility of alternatives to authoritarian and antiquated punitive systems. Scenography: Holzer Kobler Architekturen.

The exhibition is produced by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva (MICR) in partnership with the Musée des Confluences in Lyon (MDC) and the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden (DHMD). After being presented in Geneva, it will be shown at the Musée des Confluences in Lyon from 18. October 2019 until 26. July 2020. The reopening at the Deutsches Hygiene Museum will be on 25. September 2020.

On Monday, November 4, 2019, Barbara Holzer (Holzer Kobler Architekturen), Dirk E. Hebel (Architect, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) and Markus Freitag (Co-founder of FREITAG, Zurich) discuss in the course of the event series "Temporary" at the Architektur Forum Ostschweiz. The debate is moderated by Barbara Bleisch (Philosopher, Zurich). Put up for discussion are the use of resources, new cycles of recyclable fraction and potential solutions.

As part of an architectural event at the GRIMMWELT Kassel, Simone Haar will talk about the exhibition concept and design of the museum and other projects by Holzer Kobler Architekturen.

Tristan Kobler participates as jury member at the Golden Trezzini Awards for Architecture and Design in St. Petersburg (Russia). The Awards are taking place since 2018, called after Domenico Trezzini (1670—1734), the first architect of St. Petersburg and a native of Switzerland. The Awards Ceremony will take place on the 27th of November at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersberg.

About ten years ago, Holzer Kobler Architekturen designed a futuristic-looking exhibition space for the focusTerra exhibition in the listed old building of the ETH Zurich at Sonneggstrasse 5. The renovation and update of the exhibition is nearing completion.

focusTerra will be accessible from 19 February 2020.

The "BrauKunstHaus" (Art Gallery of Brewing) | Zillertal Bier in Zell am Ziller (AT) is now open to the public. The exhibition revolves around the questions "How is beer made?" and "What does beer do to us?" Unique is the way the multimedia exhibition is intertwined with the brewery in terms of content and space.

On the occasion of the first virtual Heinze ArchitecTOUR, Simone Haar and Volker Mau will speak on the topic of "The Challenge of a Pandemic" and provide insights into new concepts from urban planning to product design.

To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, the Museum Hegel-Haus in Stuttgart shines in new splendour. In the house where the great thinker was born, a newly designed permanent exhibition shows his many different facets. In addition to his original manuscripts, Hegel's personality and his extensive oeuvre are highlighted, amongst others, by way of interactive encounters.

The design of the exhibition focuses on various aspects. On the one hand, the house itself can be seen as an artefact in its own right, integrating and emphasising the meandering exhibition furnishings. With its minimalistic, contemporary design, it works as a means of mediation allowing the room to unfold auratically by keeping distance to the walls.

Furthermore, the meandering allows parallels to Hegel's work in terms of content by way of its filigree, sketch-like contours running through the room: only by changing the perspective of the viewer or his movements in the room do its contents become accessible and the furniture can be perceived in its entirety. Texts become legible, pictures complete and exhibits visible from all sides. This interaction subtly illustrates one of the core ideas of Hegel's dialectic: thesis – antithesis – synthesis.