These annual rankings were last updated on June 6, 2025. Want to see your firm on next year’s list? Continue reading for more on how you can improve your studio’s ranking. Traversing the German nation, one will encounter a similar historic program to other European capitals — Romanesque churches, Renaissance monuments and more — blended with functionalist and modernist structures. Early twenty-first-century Germany gave rise to the thriving Bauhaus. Founded by Walter Gropius, this school introduced brand-new architectural thinking, an ideology rooted in function, clarity and mass production. Materials like concrete and glass were favored, socially progressive housing blocks were constructed, and a newfound appreciation for modernism emerged. The spirit of the great Bauhaus teachers — Mies van der Rohe, for example — vigorously lives on and inspires contemporary designers today. Additionally, modern industrial architecture took off post-war and has played a prominent role in the nation’s economic growth, continuing to do so today. The architectural devastation from WWII resulted in mass reconstruction efforts. The post-war restoration and rebuilding embraced a functional attitude, which continued the legacy of the Bauhaus movement despite its closing over a decade prior. Today, German architecture continues to champion the nation’s modernist brilliance through innovative designs that push technological boundaries and celebrate culture. With so many architecture firms to choose from, it’s challenging for clients to identify the industry leaders that will be an ideal fit for their project needs. Fortunately, Architizer is able to provide guidance on the top design firms in Germany based on more than a decade of data and industry knowledge. How are these architecture firms ranked? The following ranking has been created according to key statistics that demonstrate each firm’s level of architectural excellence. The following metrics have been accumulated to establish each architecture firm’s ranking, in order of priority: The number of A+Awards won (2013 to 2025) The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2025) The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2025) The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2025) The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2025) Each of these metrics is explained in more detail at the foot of this article. This ranking list will be updated annually, taking into account new achievements of Germany architecture firms throughout the year. Without further ado, here are the 30 best architecture firms in Germany: 30. Format Elf Architekten © Format Elf Architekten Simple and touching. Format Elf Architekten is an architecture firm that focuses on residential architecture. Some of Format Elf Architekten’s most prominent projects include: Longhouses, Bad Birnbach, Germany FORMSTELLE, Töging am Inn, Germany House B, Munich, Germany Die Basis, Munich, Germany The following statistics helped Format Elf Architekten achieve 30th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 4 29. Bruzkus Batek Architects © Jens Bösenberg | Whitelight Studio GmbH BRUZKUS BATEK Since 2007, this internationally active office specialised in designing hotels, offices, shops, restaurants and private housing – and particularly in the detailing of high-quality interiors. After 10 successful years, it is time for a change. As of 2018, Bruzkus Batek is splitting into BATEK ARCHITECTS and ESTER BRUZKUS ARCHITECTS. Some of Bruzkus Batek Architects’ most prominent projects include: Razorfish, Berlin, Germany Office Ester Bruzkus Architekten, Berlin, Germany Colette Tim Raue Munich, Munich, Germany Apartment PP, Berlin, Germany Dean, Berlin, Germany The following statistics helped Bruzkus Batek Architects achieve 29th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 28 28. Ester Bruzkus Architekten © Ester Bruzkus Architekten Founded in 2002 in Berlin, Ester Bruzkus Architekten is an architecture and interior design practice with global ties: Berlin, New York, Paris, Tel Aviv, Boston, Dubai, Moscow, Vladivostok, Tenerife. We have extensive experience with design at many scales: from the design of tables and furniture to exquisite residences and workspaces to international theaters, restaurants and hotels. Straight lines, precise planning, material contrasts – and plenty of surprises. The architecture of Ester Bruzkus and her team makes use of contrasts of thick and thin, sharp and soft, curved and straight, rough and smooth, common and opulent, colorful and restrained, playful and well-resolved. Special projects result from a dialogue of space and light, materiality and color, existing constraints and new opportunities – and especially a synergy between the needs of the client, the space and the aspirations of great design. Some of Ester Bruzkus Architekten’s most prominent projects include: Razorfish, Berlin, Germany Office Ester Bruzkus Architekten, Berlin, Germany Colette Tim Raue Munich, Munich, Germany Apartment PP, Berlin, Germany Dean, Berlin, Germany The following statistics helped Ester Bruzkus Architekten achieve 28th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 34 27. Architekten Wannenmacher + Möller © Architekten Wannenmacher + Möller GmbH Architects Wannenmacher + Möller, based in Bielefeld Germany, has been in practice for almost 60 years. Today the office is run by second generation Andreas Wannenmacher and Hans-Heinrich Möller. It was founded by Gregor Wannenmacher in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1955. Over the years the office grew continuously and became one of the largest architectural firms in the German region Eastern Westfalia. Most of the activities were focused in this region. During the last years, however, the office had the opportunity to design buildings and control their realization outside this region, some of them in foreign countries throughout Europe, Asia, and the USA. Some of Architekten Wannenmacher + Möller’s most prominent projects include: Ford Hagemeier Halle , Germany Wohnhaus Möllmann, Bielefeld, Germany House P+G, Weinheim, Germany House in Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany Borchen Sports Hall, Borchen, Germany The following statistics helped Architekten Wannenmacher + Möller achieve 27th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 14 26. Design.Develop.Build – GA Tech | PBSA | RWTH © Design.Develop.Build - GA Tech | PBSA | RWTH Students from the Georgia Institute of Technology, RWTH Aachen University and PBSA Düsseldorf design, develop and build civic architecture. Some of Design.Develop.Build’s most prominent projects include: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theatre, Cape Town, South Africa The following statistics helped Design.Develop.Build achieve 26th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 2 A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 1 25. Ecker Architekten © Ecker Architekten Ecker Architekten is an architecture and design firm based in Germany. Ecker Architekten’s design portfolio includes a variety of architectural projects, such as cultural, commercial, government and health, educational, and more. Some of Ecker Architekten’s most prominent projects include: The Forum at Eckenberg Gymnasium, Adelsheim, Germany Field Chapel, Buchen (Odenwald), Germany Kindergarten Dandelion Clock, Germany Kanzlei Balkenhol, BW, Germany Branch Bank in Hettingen, Hettingen, Germany The following statistics helped Ecker Architekten achieve 25th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 8 24. Sehw Architektur © Helin Bereket “Sehw stands for meaningfulness, emotion, attitude and change.” Our mission: building architecture sustainably, thinking innovatively and creating social added value. “Sehw stands for an aesthetic of sustainability in architecture.” // Sustainability // Acting sustainably We are not just planning for today but for the generation of tomorrow and beyond. For us, sustainable architecture means forward-looking planning and the development of future-proof utilization concepts. In times of rapid climate change, we are committed to resource-conserving construction methods and the use of renewable energies. Recyclable building materials and circular economy are the basis for a long life cycle and corresponding sustainability certifications of our buildings. We value and protect existing structures and materials. Some of Sehw Architektur’s most prominent projects include: KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany Weitblick Innovation Campus, Augsburg, Germany Inclusive School Centre Döbern, Döbern, Germany The Copper Coil, Rostock, Germany Around the Corner – Student Apartment Building, Berlin, Germany The following statistics helped Sehw Architektur achieve 24th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 18 23. PHILIPPARCHITEKTEN Anna Philipp © PHILIPPARCHITEKTEN Anna Philipp A passion for houses. There’s nothing more significant to describe what our architecture office is about: houses — simple, yet complex. The archetype of all construction is our passion. That’s what we stand for. On this we work holistically with a team of architects and engineers. Center of our designing is the human being. We understand architecture as a second skin, which must be tailored. At the same time it’s essential to reflect the unique character of the location. The goal is a harmonious triad of mankind, nature and architecture. The focus and specialization on houses and villas is faced by a wide diversification in the range of services offered. Some of PHILIPPARCHITEKTEN Anna Philipp’s most prominent projects include: Villa Philipp, Waldenburg, Germany Villa Lombardo, Lugano, Switzerland A monastery of modernity, Augsburg, Germany Villa Schatzlmayr, Passau, Germany Villa Mauthe, Bahlingen, Germany The following statistics helped PHILIPPARCHITEKTEN Anna Philipp achieve 23rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 22 22. KRESINGS © Roman Mensing KRESINGS is a studio for architecture, interior design, urban planning and product design with offices in Munster and Dusseldorf. Since its founding by Rainer Maria Kresing in 1985 four further partners joined the management: Kilian Kresing, Christian Kawe, Matthias Povel and André Perret. More than 60 employees — architects, designers, planners and engineers — guarantee a broad range of creative and qualified services. Experience meets creative ease. The studio has been awarded with national awards like those of the BDA (Bund Deutscher Architekten) and the DAM (Deutsches Architektur Museum). KRESINGS: Experts and team players in areas of office and industrial buildings, facilities for research, education and culture as well as individual designs for residential buildings. Some of KRESINGS’ most prominent projects include: Student Residence Boeselagerstraße, Münster, Germany Headquarters Mitsubishi Electric Europe, Ratingen, Germany Petting Zoo, Öhringen, Germany Freiherr-vom-Stein-High-School, Münster, Germany Residential Building Hoher Heckenweg, Münster, Germany The following statistics helped KRESINGS achieve 22nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 33 21. 3deluxe © 3deluxe The interdisciplinary design collective 3deluxe, consisting of about 30 individuals centered around Dieter Brell, Peter Seipp and Andreas and Stephan Lauhoff, has been creating groundbreaking impulses in the fields of architecture and interior design, graphic and media design. In creative synergy hybrid forms of two and three dimensional design are created: graphic works develop a spatial impact, while architectural drafts are based on communication principles. In this way, complex collages are contrived, so called ‚multilayered atmospheres‘, that foster multiple sensory experiences and allow for a multitude of potential interpretations. Paramount is the broadening of an absolute understanding of space and image towards a dynamic, processual approach. Some of 3deluxe’s most prominent projects include: V- Plaza Urban Development, Kaunas, Lithuania Kaffee Partner Headquarters, Osnabrück, Germany Butterfly Pavilion, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Leonardo Glass Cube, Bad Driburg, Germany Cyberhelvetia The following statistics helped 3deluxe achieve 21st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 20 20. Christoph Hesse Architects © Deimel und Wittmar Christoph Hesse Architects was founded in 2010 by Christoph Hesse, has offices in Korbach and, since 2018, in Berlin. The architectural practice currently employs an international team of 15 people and has won numerous awards. Some of Christoph Hesse Architects’ most prominent projects include: VITOS Outpatient psychiatric clinic for traumatized refugees, Korbach, Germany Villa F / the off-the-grid house in the central highlands of Germany, Medebach, Germany StrohTherme, Medebach, Germany Room of Silence, Korbach, Germany The following statistics helped Christoph Hesse Architects achieve 20th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 2 Featured Projects 2 Total Projects 4 19. Zeller & Moye © Zeller & Moye Zeller & Moye is a design studio based in Mexico City and Berlin that works at the intersection of architecture, arts, design and latest technology through an experimental, multidisciplinary and collaborative working culture. Some of Zeller & Moye’s most prominent projects include: HAUS KÖRIS, Brandenburg, Germany SANDRA WEIL Store, Mexico City, Mexico TROQUER FASHION HOUSE, Mexico City, Mexico CASA VERNE, Mexico City, Mexico CASA HILO, Mexico The following statistics helped Zeller & Moye achieve 19th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 12 18. Ippolito Fleitz Group – Identity Architects © Ippolito Fleitz Group - Identity Architects Ippolito fleitz group is a multidisciplinary, internationally operating design studio based in Stuttgart.We are identity architects. We work in unison with our clients to develop architecture, products and communication that are part of a whole and yet distinctive in their own right. This is how we define identity.With meticulous analysis before we begin.With animated examination in the conceptional phase. With a clarity of argument in the act of persuasion.With a love of accuracy in the realisation.With a serious goal and a lot of fun along the way. Working together with our clients.As architects of identity, we conceive and construct buildings, interiors and landscapes; we develop products and communication measures. Some of Ippolito Fleitz Group – Identity Architects’ most prominent projects include: Das GERBER, Stuttgart, Germany Hunke – Jewellers and Opticians, Ludwigsburg, Germany Bella Italia Weine, Stuttgart, Germany ippolito fleitz group | Residential Building, Denkendorf, Germany WakuWaku Dammtor, Hamburg, Germany The following statistics helped Ippolito Fleitz Group - Identity Architects achieve 18th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 26 17. VON M © Zooey Braun VON M is an architecture and design firm based in Germany. VON M’s design portfolio includes a variety of architectural projects, such as cultural, residential, educational, commercial, hospitality and sport, and more. Some of VON M’s most prominent projects include: Museum Luthers Sterbehaus, Eisleben, Germany BHM Pavillon, Wolfegg, Germany Kinder- und Familienzentrum, Ludwigsburg, Germany Hotel Bauhofstrasse, Ludwigsburg, Germany HS77, Stuttgart, Germany The following statistics helped VON M achieve 17th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 6 Total Projects 11 16. Plastique Fantastique © Plastique Fantastique Plastique Fantastique is a collective for temporary architecture that samples the performative possibilities of urban environments. Established in Berlin in 1999, Plastique Fantastique has been influenced by the unique circumstances that made the city a laboratory for temporary spaces. Plastique Fantastique’s synthetic structures affect surrounding spaces like a soap bubble does: Similar to a foreign body, it occupies and mutates urban space. Their interventions change the way we perceive and interact in urban environments. By mixing different landscape types, an osmotic passage between private and public space is generating new hybrid environments.Regardless the way people view a bubble, walk around its exterior or move inside it, the pneumatic structure is a medium to experience the same physical setting in a temporary extraordinary situation. Some of Plastique Fantastique’s most prominent projects include: LOUD SHADOWS, Terschelling, Netherlands Blurry Venice, Venice, Italy Aeropolis, Copenhagen, Denmark superKOLMEMEN, Helsinki, Finland MOBILE PPS (Personal Protective Space) for Doctors The following statistics helped Plastique Fantastique achieve 16th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 5 15. 4a Architekten © 4a Architekten GmbH Shaping atmosphere, lending identity, creating quality of space — these are the values that characterize the buildings of 4a Architekten. The starting point and guiding principle of our work is the concept of architecture as living space. Our buildings come into being through intensive team work shaped by interdisciplinary thinking and action. What characterizes a location in terms of its culture and history? What are the client’s expectations and objectives? What is viable within the budget and what are the benefits for users? These questions and this approach bring us to solutions with an individual character — and they apply just as much to the planning of buildings as to the design of interior spaces. Some of 4a Architekten’s most prominent projects include: Therme Lindau on Lake Constance, Lindau, Germany Balingen Civic Hall, Balingen, Germany Emser Thermal Baths, Bad Ems, Germany Spreewald Spa Hotel, Burg, Germany Stegermatt Aquatic Centre, Offenburg, Germany The following statistics helped 4a Architekten achieve 15th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 7 Total Projects 15 14. schneider+schumacher © schneider+schumacher / Frankfurt - Vienna - Tianjin Our architectural approach is characterized by the enjoyment we have in finding solutions to the complex demands of today’s buildings. We adapt our buildings to fit into their surroundings, yet we also create landmarks. Pragmatic poetry, nurtured not only by design clarity and a conscientious attitude towards the task in hand, but also by a delight in fine details. This design process is constantly informed by the dialogue that takes place on a daily basis between the various professional disciplines in all our specialized divisions – architecture, construction and project management, design, a.o. — and international offices. schneider+schumacher is headquartered in Frankfurt (GE), and has two branches in Vienna (AU) and Tianjin (CN). Some of schneider+schumacher’s most prominent projects include: Autobahn Church, Wilnsdorf, Germany Oil Harbour Bridge, Raunheim, Germany DOXX – Quayside Development at Mainz Customs Port, Mainz, Germany Städel Museum Extension, Frankfurt, Germany Siegerland Motorway Church, Wilnsdorf, Wilnsdorf, Germany The following statistics helped schneider+schumacher achieve 14th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 1 A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 12 13. ingenhoven associates © ingenhoven associates Celebrating 40 years of excellence since 1985, the studio is pioneer in sustainable architecture, designing and delivering projects of all sizes and typologies across nearly every region of the world, adhering to the highest green building standards, including LEED, Green Star, Minergie, BREEAM, DGNB and CASBEE. With a tailored approach to each location, the multinational, interdisciplinary team creates nuanced architectural solutions with added value and positive social impact. Some of ingenhoven associates’ most prominent projects include: Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany Freiburg Town Hall, Freiburg, Germany Kö-Bogen 2, Düsseldorf, Germany Marina One, Singapore, Singapore Daniel Swarovski Corporation, Männedorf, Switzerland The following statistics helped ingenhoven associates achieve 13th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 28 12. gmp · Architects von Gerkan, Marg und Partner © HG Esch Photography The architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) are an architectural practice that was founded in Hamburg and has branches worldwide. With our generalist approach and more than 50 years of experience, we complete projects in dialogue with our clients and the participating planning disciplines, at all scales and cultural contexts, covering all design phases and working on all continents. The range of our projects extends from family residences to high-rise buildings, from stadiums to concert halls, from office buildings to bridges, and from door hardware to urban planning. With holistic sustainability in mind, we aim to create new and refurbished architecture that is long-lasting and goes beyond temporary fashions, taking into account the global challenges and issues of urbanization, digitalization, and mobility. Some of gmp · Architects von Gerkan, Marg und Partner’s most prominent projects include: Guna Villa, Jūrmala, Latvia Universiade 2011 Sports Center, Shenzhen, China Olympic Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany Twin Towers, Commodity Exchange Plaza, Dalian, China The following statistics helped gmp · Architects von Gerkan, Marg und Partner achieve 12th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 8 Total Projects 36 11. kadawittfeldarchitektur © kadawittfeldarchitektur We are kadawittfeldarchitektur. Originally founded in Aachen in 1999, we today stand for more than just architectural design. The interdisciplinary approach of our work, linking architecture, interior and product design on the one hand and at the interface of town planning and urban projects on the other hand, reflects the full range of our creative output. kadawittfeldarchitektur develops added value space. In a team of more than 170 persons, we create architecture with added value space for living, communication and work environments. In the way we deal with volumes, materials, structures and functions, we strive to integrate our schemes into their surroundings with the objective of creating contemporary and sustainable architecture and meeting the needs of both the users and the general public. Some of kadawittfeldarchitektur’s most prominent projects include: CELTIC MUSEUM, Glauburg, Germany ADIDAS LACES, Herzogenaurach, Germany SPZ, HALLEIN, Hallein, Austria SENIOR CITIZENS RESIDENCE ALTENMARKT, Altenmarkt im Pongau, Austria SALZBURG CENTRAL STATION, Salzburg, Austria The following statistics helped kadawittfeldarchitektur achieve 11th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 8 Total Projects 32 10. GRAFT © GRAFT What is graft? The English word ‘graft’ provokes a variety of meanings and multiple readings. It stands for transplants in the field of medicine, for cheating, but also for hard work.  In the terminology of botany, grafting is described as the addition of one shoot onto a genetically different host. Some of GRAFT’s most prominent projects include: Ice Stadion “Arena Schierke”, Wernigerode, Germany Show Palace Munich, Munich, Germany Autostadt Roof and Service Pavilion, Wolfsburg, Germany Eiswerk, Berlin, Germany Villa M , Berlin, Germany The following statistics helped GRAFT achieve 10th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 7 Total Projects 17 9. HENN © HENN HENN is an international architecture studio with over 75 years of experience in designing innovative work environments across office, science, healthcare, industry, education, and culture. An interdisciplinary team of 400 professionals works from offices in Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, and Shanghai. The design process is collaborative and driven by curiosity. HENN draws from the rich expertise of three generations and a global network of partners. All three generations share a common mindset: openness and curiosity. This spirit drives the studio to continuously question and redefine architectural typologies. HENN was founded in 1947 by Walter Henn in Dresden. Early on, he specialized in industrial buildings and played a key role in establishing the Braunschweig School through his academic work. Some of HENN’s most prominent projects include: Porsche Pavilion, Wolfsburg, Germany Zalando Headquarters Berlin, Berlin, Germany Bugatti Atelier, Molsheim, France MobileLife Campus, Wolfsburg, Germany The CUBE, Dresden, Germany The following statistics helped HENN achieve 9th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 2 A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 6 Total Projects 30 8. Auer Weber © Aldo Amoretti Photography Founded in 1980, we are an internationally active architectural firm with offices in Stuttgart and Munich. We employ around 150 people from 20 countries and work on projects of various sizes and tasks from initial design through to completion. Each year, we create entries for between 30 and 40 competitions in our two offices, from which we generate a large proportion of our orders. These range from buildings for the community to educational and administrative buildings, sports and leisure facilities and large infrastructure projects. The diversity of our architecture is the result of in-depth study of the building tasks and where these tasks originate. Some of Auer Weber’s most prominent projects include: Aquatic Centre “Aquamotion” Courchevel , Saint-Bon-Tarentaise, France Arena du Pays d’Aix, Aix-en-Provence, France Extension of the District Office in Starnberg, Starnberg, Germany ESO Headquarters Extension, Garching, Germany Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Route de Torcy, France The following statistics helped Auer Weber achieve 8th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 2 A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 9 Total Projects 24 7. Peter Ruge Architekten © Peter Ruge Architekten GmbH Identity+Sustainability=Architecture Peter Ruge Architekten is a locally and internationally active planning office based in Berlin. Our mission is simple: to develop and build sustainable architecture of the future. The agenda of the team along with three partners Peter Ruge, Kayoko Uchiyama and Matthias Matschewski includes new buildings, optimization of existing properties and urban planning designs. The projects are holistic, i.e. adapted to the climate, culture and needs of the users, and have received numerous awards and certifications. Our detailed understanding of sustainable design processes supports the decisions of our clients. In education field, Prof. Ruge shares our knowledge with a global design community at DIA, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Dessau, Shenyang Jianzhu University in China and Kyoto Seika University in Japan. Some of Peter Ruge Architekten’s most prominent projects include: Busan Opera House, South Korea, Busan, South Korea Congress Center Hangzhou, Hangzhou, China House O, Germany, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Germany LTD_1 Hamburg, Germany, Hamburg, Germany Muzeum Lotnictwa Krakow, Poland The following statistics helped Peter Ruge Architekten achieve 7th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 12 Total Projects 18 6. HPP Architects © Christa Lachenmaier Photography HPP Architects is one of Europe’s leading architectural partnerships with a full range of architectural and master planning services. Since its foundation by Professor Hentrich, the 4th generation of HPP partnership today includes a global team of more than 25 nationalities and 480 architects, engineers, urban designers and specialists. Today it comprises 13 offices including 8 regional offices in Germany and 5 international branches in Turkey, China and Netherlands. HPP Architects’ headquarter is located in the Düsseldorf Media Harbor, further offices are located in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Istanbul, Leipzig, Munich, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Stuttgart. HPP completed more than 1200 buildings worldwide and aspires to create architectural quality of lasting value beyond the here and now: timeless and yet clearly part of their time, innovative and equally grounded in history. Some of HPP Architects’s most prominent projects include: LVM 5 , Münster, Germany Medical Library Oasis (O.A.S.E.), Düsseldorf, Germany Hochschule Ruhr West, Mülheim, Germany Henkel Asia-Pacific and China Headquarters, Shanghai, China Dreischeibenhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany The following statistics helped HPP Architects achieve 6th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 3 Featured Projects 12 Total Projects 25 5. Behnisch Architekten © David Matthiessen The Stuttgart-based practice known today as Behnisch Architekten was founded in 1989 under the leadership of Stefan Behnisch. Originally established as a branch office of Günter Behnisch’s practice Behnisch & Partner, it became independent in 1991 and has subsequently developed into an international practice with offices in Stuttgart, Munich, Los Angeles/California (1999 – 2011), and Boston. These offices are directed by Stefan Behnisch and his partners in varying combinations. The Partners are Robert Hösle, Robert Matthew Noblett and Stefan Rappold. Stefan Behnisch is involved in all three offices. From the outset, the social dimension of architecture has been a fundamental aspect of the firm’s design philosophy. Some of Behnisch Architekten’s most prominent projects include: SC Workplaces, California City of Santa Monica Public Parking Structure #6, Santa Monica, California Primary School Infanteriestrasse, München, Germany Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex, Boston, Massachusetts John and Frances Angelos Law Center, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland The following statistics helped Behnisch Architekten achieve 5th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 9 Featured Projects 8 Total Projects 24 4. wulf architekten © Tobias Vollmer wulf architekten emerged from the architecture practice established 1987 in Stuttgart by Tobias Wulf. Currently the office is managed by Tobias Wulf, Jan-Michael Kallfaß, Ingmar Menzer and Steffen Vogt. From 1996 to 2018, Kai Bierich and Alexander Vohl were partners of Tobias Wulf at wulf architekten. Currently, the company has about 140 employees, nine of them being senior architects. With three office locations – Stuttgart, Berlin and Basel (CH) – wulf architekten is also working on projects abroad. Some of wulf architekten’s most prominent projects include: Parking Garage Facade P22a at the Cologne Exhibition Centre, Cologne, Germany Four primary schools in modular design, Munich, Germany School Center North, Stuttgart, Germany Canteen and Media Center for North vocational school center, Darmstadt, Germany Chamber of Industry and Commerce, headquarters, Stuttgart, Germany The following statistics helped wulf architekten achieve 4th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 1 A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 11 Total Projects 18 3. TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten GmbH TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten design, plan and build for national and international clients in the public and private sectors. The company, with offices in Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden, is named after Sergei Tchoban, architect BDA, and his partner Ekkehard Voss, architect BDA (1963-2024). With over 150 highly qualified, interdisciplinary employees and many years of experience, it offers architecturally and functionally sustainable solutions for a wide range of building projects in Germany and abroad. TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten is member of the Association of German Architects (BDA), the Chambers of Architects in Hamburg, Berlin and Saxony, the Förderverein Bundesstiftung Baukultur e.V. as well as of the European Architects Network (EAN). Some of TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten’s most prominent projects include: EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin, Berlin, Germany SKF Test Centre for large-scale bearings, Schweinfurt, Germany Seestraße, Berlin, Berlin, Germany Koenigstadt-Quartier, Berlin, Germany EMBASSY – Living alongside Koellnischer Park, Berlin, Berlin, Germany The following statistics helped TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten achieve 3rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 1 A+Awards Finalist 6 Featured Projects 12 Total Projects 29 2. Barkow Leibinger © Barkow Leibinger The scope of Barkow Leibinger’s work spans from cultural projects to industrial ones. Their focus on industrial architecture includes master planning and building representational and functional buildings for production, logistical and office spaces. Some of Barkow Leibinger’s most prominent projects include: Production Hall Trumpf, Hettingen, Germany Stadthaus M1 – Green City Hotel, Freiburg, Germany Harvard ArtLab, Boston, Massachusetts Production Hall, Grüsch, Switzerland Fraunhofer Research Campus, Waischenfeld, Germany The following statistics helped Barkow Leibinger achieve 2nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 12 Total Projects 17 1. J.MAYER.H © J.MAYER.H J. MAYER H’s studio, focuses on works at the intersection of architecture, communication and new technology. From urban planning schemes and buildings to installation work and objects with new materials, the relationship between the human body, technology and nature form the background for a new production of space. Some of J.MAYER.H’s most prominent projects include: MIAMI MUSEUM GARAGE, Miami, Florida n.n. Residence, Moscow, Russia Hasselt Court House , Hasselt, Belgium Highway Rest Stops, Tbilisi, Georgia Rest Stops, Gori, Georgia Featured image: Tram Stops, Kehl, Germany The following statistics helped J.MAYER.H achieve 1st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 5 A+Awards Finalist 3 Featured Projects 19 Total Projects 30 Why Should I Trust Architizer’s Ranking? With more than 30,000 architecture firms and over 130,000 projects within its database, Architizer is proud to host the world’s largest online community of architects and building product manufacturers. Its celebrated A+Awards program is also the largest celebration of architecture and building products, with more than 400 jurors and hundreds of thousands of public votes helping to recognize the world’s best architecture each year. Architizer also powers firm directories for a number of AIA (American Institute of Architects) Chapters nationwide, including the official directory of architecture firms for AIA New York. An example of a project page on Architizer with Project Award Badges highlighted A Guide to Project Awards The blue “+” badge denotes that a project has won a prestigious A+Award as described above. Hovering over the badge reveals details of the award, including award category, year, and whether the project won the jury or popular choice award. The orange Project of the Day and yellow Featured Project badges are awarded by Architizer’s Editorial team, and are selected based on a number of factors. The following factors increase a project’s likelihood of being featured or awarded Project of the Day status: Project completed within the last 3 years A well written, concise project description of at least 3 paragraphs Architectural design with a high level of both functional and aesthetic value High quality, in focus photographs At least 8 photographs of both the interior and exterior of the building Inclusion of architectural drawings and renderings Inclusion of construction photographs There are 7 Projects of the Day each week and a further 31 Featured Projects. Each Project of the Day is published on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Stories, while each Featured Project is published on Facebook. Each Project of the Day also features in Architizer’s Weekly Projects Newsletter and shared with 170,000 subscribers.     We’re constantly look for the world’s best architects to join our community. If you would like to understand more about this ranking list and learn how your firm can achieve a presence on it, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at editorial@architizer.com. The post 30 Best Architecture and Design Firms in Germany appeared first on Journal.

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work by uploading projects to Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletters.   Is an architecture firm designing its own studio the equivalent of an artist painting a self-portrait? (Should we coin the term “auto-architecture?”) Perhaps this isn’t a perfect analogy, but it certainly contains parallels that are productive to parse… Studio spaces are distinct from offices in that they not only shape daily rituals and structure relationships between colleagues but also act as an expression of the values at the core of the firm’s design philosophies. Freed from the usual constraints of client briefs, for many firms, designing their own workspace offers a unique opportunity for experimentation and self-expression. The studios featured in this collection span diverse geographies and contexts — from a vaulted school library repurposed as an “anti-office,” to a carbon-neutral warehouse conversion in Sydney, to a minimalist tiled atelier in Casablanca. Despite their differences, each workspace shares a commitment to thoughtful design that blurs the line between functions and offers a vision for cultivating creativity. More than places of production, these studios are active expressions of architectural identity; spaces that support not only what architects make, but how they make it. They also challenge outdated typologies and embrace the hybrid realities of contemporary practice. Skylab HQ By Skylab, Portland, Oregon After spending years in a historic structure in downtown Portland, the Skylab team decided the time had come to create a space that reflected the dynamic nature of their practice. They asked themselves: “How can our studio evolve from a dedicated workspace to a playground for the art and design community? Where can we find a space to integrate gardens, an event venue, and a fabrication shop, as well as our studio?” Leaving the downtown core, they opted to transform a pair of WWII-era prefabricated steel warehouses into a hybrid studio, fabrication lab and cultural venue supporting both architectural production and artistic exchange. Strategic insertions — like a 60-foot-long (18-meter) ridge skylight, 10-foot (3-meter) operable window walls and CLT-framed meeting rooms — maximize daylight and material contrast, balancing industrial grit with biophilic warmth. The adaptive reuse reflects the firm’s ethos of experimentation, extending their design process into the very architecture that houses it. Alexander House By Alexander &CO., Sydney, Australia Jury Winner, Architecture +Workspace, 10th Annual A+Awards Alexander House functions as both studio and experimental prototype, integrating low-carbon construction with hybrid live/work spatial typologies tailored to an evolving architectural practice. While functioning as an architectural residential showcase, the team also works from this home, and their clients meet with them there; the project challenges preconceptions of home, land, family and work. From a voluminous material library in the basement to a concrete mezzanine bench designed for quiet focus, the layout supports varied modes of design work while challenging conventional boundaries between domestic and professional space. Crafted in collaboration with local makers, the building also pioneers sustainability through reclaimed timber linings, carbon-neutral bricks, and a solar system supplying up to 80% of daily energy demand. say architects Community Office By say architects, Hangzhou, China Say Architects’ office reimagines workplace architecture as a life-oriented, materially expressive environment, where exposed I-beams structure both the building and the studio’s daily rhythms. Cantilevered volumes, rope-grown greenery, and integrated misting systems animate the exterior, while steel-framed shelving and model rooms of rich timber textures create a tactile, inspiration-driven interior. Prioritizing adaptability and sensory comfort, the space dissolves traditional partitions in favor of spatial arrangements that align with design habits, offering a studio that is both tool and manifesto. Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Philadelphia Studio By Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Bohlin Cywinski Jackson’s Philadelphia studio transforms a historic social club (founded in 1923) into a contemporary workspace through adaptive reuse, prioritizing flexibility, daylight and material economy. The goal was to create a highly flexible work environment that would allow designers to move quickly between individual work, impromptu discussions and group meetings throughout the day. Restored terrazzo floors and ornamental detailing anchor a modern layout featuring hoteling desks, collaborative mezzanine zones and panoramic views of the city center.  The design supports agile workflows and hybrid collaboration while integrating repurposed custom furnishings to extend the life cycle of past projects. ADND OFFICE By Atelier Design N Domain, Mumbai, India ADND’s new Bombay headquarters is a richly layered adaptive reuse of a century-old industrial warehouse, reimagined as an expressive design laboratory charged with material experimentation and symbolic nuance. The studio’s soaring central bay reaches 26 feet (8 meters) in height, punctuated by 7-foot (2-meter) pivoting porthole windows that flood the workspace with southern light, evoking a cathedral-like ambiance. Throughout, bespoke interventions — from terrazzo-cast floors and mirrored reception desks to hand-sketched upholstery and looped oak chairs — translate the founders’ personal design dialects into architectural form, creating a space where industrial memory and contemporary authorship converge. Studio Cays X Studio BO By Studio CAYS, Casablanca, Morocco In this Casablanca-based studio, minimalist rigor meets material clarity through tiled walls and seamless epoxy flooring, crafting a luminous, low-maintenance workspace. At its core, a central bench anchors the open-plan layout, fostering daily collaboration and reinforcing the studio’s emphasis on shared ideation within a purified architectural envelope. Smart Design Studio By smart design studio, Alexandria, Australia Jury Winner, Office Interiors (<25,000 sq ft); Jury Winner, Office Building Low Rise, 10th Annual A+Awards Smart Design Studio’s headquarters fuses industrial heritage with cutting-edge sustainability, transforming a conserved warehouse into a carbon-neutral workspace powered by on-site energy and water collection systems. The studio’s open-plan interior is crowned by a mezzanine framed by original steel trusses, while a striking vaulted residence above features self-supporting brick catenary arches — an elegant synthesis of structural economy and sculptural ambition. Designed to reflect the material restraint and innovation of early industrial architecture, the building is a working manifesto for the studio’s interdisciplinary ethos. Architect’s Office at Kim Yam Road By Park + Associates, Singapore Popular Choice Winner, Office Interiors, 10th Annual A+Awards Photos by Edward Hendricks Occupying a former library hall atop a repurposed 1960s school, this studio embraces the latent grandeur of its barrel-vaulted, column-free volume to craft a boundary-less, anti-office environment. Full-height louvered windows invite daylight and breeze through the arching space, while the design resists conventional programming in favor of layered, informal settings that foster creativity and fluid collaboration. Rather than overwrite its past, the intervention amplifies the building’s inherent spatial expression; through adaptive reuse, the architects position atmosphere as architecture. Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work by uploading projects to Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletters.   The post Self-Portrait in Plan: 8 Architecture Studios Designed By Their Owners appeared first on Journal.

By Peter D. Geldart (Petra Books, 2025) The post-WWII years brought a need to house returned veterans and their new families, along with an excitement about new types and forms of housing. Working in the spirit of the age, 35-year-old Ottawa architect James Strutt in 1959 worked with six clients on round houses—a set of designs intended to reduce building costs by using materials most efficiently, while creating modernist, open-plan spaces.  The designs, inspired by the work of Buckminster Fuller and Frank Lloyd Wright, were for single-floor structures in which a curve of rooms and an open living-dining area surround a central hexagonal service core built of concrete block. The whole is topped by a geometrically complex roof, shaped using tongue-and-groove Western Red Cedar to create a hyperbolic paraboloid, or saddle-like shape. Strutt’s own family home of 1956, built according a similar scheme over six weeks for less than $1,800, survives in the Gatineau Hills, near Ottawa, and is being rehabilitated by the National Capital Commission. Author Peter D. Geldart’s family were the original residents of a Strutt-designed round house. Geldart, who has a background in architecture, gives a thorough overview of the architectural drawings of the six round houses using Strutt’s original hand-drawn materials, now held at the National Archives of Canada. These show variations on the theme, with schemes varying from 1,400 to 2,000 square feet, and extra wings swapped out for carports.  By publishing this material, Geldart hopes to contribute to a contemporary revival of Strutt’s ideas. “Is the concept of a ‘low-cost house of 1,000 sq. ft.’ viable in the 21st century?” he asks. “While the house was built to the standards of the day, it can now be built using modern materials and techniques.”  As appeared in the June 2025 issue of Canadian Architect magazine  The post Book Review: The Round Houses of 1959 Designed by Architect James Strutt appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Version 1.0.0 By Robert Jan van Pelt (Park Books, 2025) The largest artifact in the touring exhibition Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away., currently on display at the ROM in Toronto, is a wooden barracks building. It’s from the Auschwitz-Monowitz camp, a satellite to Auschwitz created to provide slave labour to the IG Farben corporation for the construction of a synthetic rubber factory.  The discovery of a sister building, back in 2012, led exhibition chief curator and architectural historian Robert Jan van Pelt, University Professor at the Waterloo School of Architecture, on a research journey to write a comprehensive history of the barracks—temporary buildings that have not only housed prisoners, but also provided shelter for military servicemen and women, refugees, and natural disaster survivors. “Many people have experienced, for shorter or longer time periods, life in a barrack, and for all of them it represented life on the edge, for better or worse,” writes Van Pelt. Worm’s eye axonometric of Renkioi Hospital Barrack, a prefabricated hospital designed by Ismabard Kingdom Brunel for a site in Turkey, 1857. Van Pelt’s book criss-crosses with ease through architectural history, military history, and the history of medicine—all of which played crucial roles in the evolving development of this seemingly simple building type. The book is arranged in a dozen episodes, with the barrack at the centre of each, serving as an anchor point for unfolding the rich intellectual and historical context shaping the way these structures were developed and deployed. The book is richly illustrated with archival materials—a feat in itself, given that the documentation for temporary buildings, particularly before 1900, is scarce. These drawings, photos, and paintings are supplemented with 20 worm’s eye views of key buildings, carefully composed by a team of Waterloo architecture school students and alumni.  Thomas Thomaszoon, View of the headquarters of the Spanish in the Huis tea Kleef during the siege of Haarlem, 1572-73. Collection of Noord-Hollands Archief, Haarlem; courtesy Robert Jan van Pelt Like many vernacular buildings, temporary structures larger than a tent, designed to house soldiers in the field, have existed at least since Ancient Rome. One of the first visual accounts of barracks came centuries later, in the winter of 1572, when the Spanish laid siege to the Dutch city of Haarlem, and cartographer Thomas Thomaszoon sketched the position of dozens of Spain’s wood-and-straw structures outside the city. The siege was successful, but only a few years later, the Dutch Republic gained the upper hand. As part of the creation of a standing army, they began to develop more precise instructions for the layout of camps, including the construction of temporary barracks. Antoine-François Omet des Foucaux, Barrack constructed in Hendaye, France, 1793. From Jean-Charles Krafft, Plans, coupes et élévations de diverses productions de l’art de la charpente, 1805. Collection of Bilbliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. Courtesy Robert Jan van Pelt The Napoleonic army made use of barracks in both military camps and training camps; by the mid-1800s, the construction of various barrack types was detailed in field construction manuals issued to officers in many European armies. During the Crimean War (1853-56), over 3,500 prefabricated barracks were manufactured in a Gloucester factory, as a solution to the appalling conditions at the front. But when the structures arrived at port, British forces were not able to unload and erect them—the materials for a single building weighed more than two tons, and each would require 60 horses (or 150 men) to transport to camp on the muddy roads.  The US (Union) Army’s Lincoln Hospital, Washington, DC, 1865. Collection of Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Courtesy Robert Jan van Pelt Prefabrication was also used, with somewhat more success, towards the end of the conflict to erect field hospitals designed by British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel with a priority on cross-ventilation to limit the spread of disease. Low mortality rates from similar structures led to a continued preference for “barrack hospitals” based on groupings of low-slung, well-ventilated pavilions, rather than conceived as single grand structures. The model was further refined with the addition of primitive underfloor heating and ridge ventilation by former surgeon William A. Hammond for the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861-65).  Barrack hospitals were constructed for civilian use, as well. Following the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71), such designs were built to house patients with infectious diseases in Berlin and proposed as a means to bring professional medical care to Germany’s rural areas. A barracks-inspired hospital was built in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1889, and continues to be operational.  If the barrack as an accommodation for the sick is a progressive tale, the 19th-century history of the barrack is equally checkered by the building type’s use for prisoner accommodation, including in the penal colonies of Australia and French Guiana. In North America, barracks were used in an internment camp for Native American Dakotas, and Civil War-era Union barracks at Camp Douglas were used to house Confederate prisoners. The oldest preserved barrack in the world may be in Canada, at Grosse Isle national park. Here, barrack-style quarantine sheds were used to detain thousands of Irish immigrant families during the typhoid fever epidemic of 1846-47, and their damp, fetid conditions contributed to many deaths—an episode Van Pelt describes as a “blot on the national consciousness of Canada.” A single Doecker Hut contains an operation room, pharmacy and hospital management office. The prefabricated, portable hospitals were developed in 1885, and used around the world, including in the First World War. In America, they were marketed for managing epidemics in the wake of the 1892 typhus fever outbreak in New York. Courtesy Berlin State Library and Robert Jan van Pelt   At the turn of the 19th century, the prefabricated portable barrack came to the fore with the manufacturing of the Doecker barracks, by Christoph & Unmack, a firm based in Copenhagen and Germany. Developed by a former military officer-turned-tentmaker, the technically sophisticated model used large rectangular frames that could be clipped together, and covered with “felt-cardboard”—dense felt pressed onto canvas and impregnated with linseed oil. The self-supporting structures proved easy to set up, dismount, and transport, making them suitable for both military applications—and, with little modification, for humanitarian aid. The Red Cross deployed Doecker barracks for use as field hospitals in Manchuria and Yokohama during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05).  The Barrack, 1572-1914 wraps up in in the early 20th century, but with the note that in the ensuing decades until 1945, millions of barracks were produced by many of the world’s major nations—and that most of these were erected in barbed-wire-ringed compounds. “This is the period in which tens if not hundreds of millions of people, many of whom were civilians, were forced to live in barracks, as refugees, as expellees, as civilian internees, as forced laborers, as prisoners or war, as concentration camp prisoners, and as people made homeless by the destruction wrought by war,” writes Van Pelt. Up until 1914, he notes, this building type largely carried a sense of achievement—an image that would change sharply with the Age of the Camps. But although a WWII barrack was responsible for instigating Van Pelt’s initial investigation, that time period will need to await a second volume on this simple building type with a rich, complex, and complicated history.   As appeared in the June 2025 issue of Canadian Architect magazine  The post Book Review: The Barrack, 1572-1914—Chapters in the History of Emergency Architecture appeared first on Canadian Architect.

A U.S. Air Force B-17 'Flying Fortress' bomber flies through the sky.   Image: R. Gates/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. A man in Marengo, Illinois, is on a mission to fully restore a World War II-era B-17 bomber—a project he’s been diligently working on in a roadside barn for the past 40 years. A lifelong aviation enthusiast, Mike Kellner began his journey in high school after hearing that a junkyard in Maine was looking to offload the abandoned remains of the historic bomber. The asking price was “$7,000 or best offer” for a collection of disassembled parts. Kellner loaded the 75-foot aluminum behemoth onto a house trailer (he had to extend it by about 10 feet) and hauled it halfway across the country with a pickup truck. It’s lived in his barn ever since. Kellner shared the decades-long story of his restoration project with local outlet WGN earlier this week.  And unlike many World War II-era roadside relics, this one isn’t just collecting dust. Kellner has spent countless hours working to restore the plane to its former glory, performing his own repairs, adding finishing touches, and tracking down an array of rare and hard-to-find parts. Word of his efforts spread, attracting other aviation enthusiasts who have volunteered their time over the years to assist with the restoration. Kellner documents the entire process on a Facebook page, which features thousands of update posts dating back to 2010. He doesn’t just want the project to be something pretty to look at—he wants it to fly. “It is a piece of history, and I would like the opportunity to fly it,” Kellner told WGN. Popular Science reached out to Kellner for more details but has not heard back.  Rebuilding a ‘Flying fortress’  The B-17 was the most iconic bomber used by the US military during the second World War. Its origin actually traces back a decade earlier to 1934, when the Army Air Corps approached Boeing with an ask to design and develop a massive plane capable of carrying bombs at 10,000 feet and for more than 10 hours. The military wanted a new breed of bomber that would be able to travel beyond enemy lines at great distances and drop bombs with precision. It needed to be able to reach altitudes high enough to fly outside of the range of enemy antiaircraft artillery. The eventual B-17 featured a state-of-the-art Norden bombsight to maintain accuracy even at extreme altitudes.  Early versions of the B-17 entered production in 1937, but manufacturing ramped up significantly after the U.S. officially entered World War II in 1941. The bomber that eventually flew missions behind enemy lines featured four engines—a major upgrade from the then-standard two—and was equipped with a smattering of gun turrets, including ones in the nose, upper fuselage, and tail. This cornucopia of munitions, combined with the aircraft’s mammoth size, earned it the nickname “Flying Fortress.” The B-17 currently being resurrected in Kellner’s barn reportedly carries two names. One, “Desert Rat,” is painted in bold yellow lettering on the aircraft’s exterior. The other, “Tangerine,” was discovered later, scrawled somewhere inside the fuselage.It’s unclear how much longer Kellner will need to make his dream of flying the Desert Rat a reality. The task seems like a daunting one for someone working part-time on a shoestring budget but then again, few would have likely predicted he would have made it this far to begin with. You can keep up with all of Kellner’s progress by following his official Facebook page here.

An interesting piece on Construction Physics that examines how Japan transformed discarded American wartime shipbuilding techniques into a revolutionary manufacturing system that captured nearly half the global market by 1970. The story reveals the essential ingredients for industrial dominance: government backing, organizational alignment, relentless will to improve, and the systematic coordination needed to turn existing technologies into something entirely new. A few excerpts: During WWII, the US constructed an unprecedented shipbuilding machine. By assembling ships from welded, prefabricated blocks, the US built a huge number of cargo ships incredibly quickly, overwhelming Germany's u-boats and helping to win the war. But when the war was over, this shipbuilding machine was dismantled. Industrialists like Henry Kaiser and Stephen Bechtel, who operated some of the US's most efficient wartime shipyards, left the shipbuilding business. Prior to the war, the US had been an uncompetitive commercial shipbuilder producing a small fraction of commercial oceangoing ships, and that's what it became again. At the height of the war the US was producing nearly 90% of the world's ships. By the 1950s, it produced just over 2%. But the lessons from the US's shipbuilding machine weren't forgotten. After the war, practitioners brought them to Japan, where they would continue to evolve, eventually allowing Japan to build ships faster and cheaper than almost anyone else in the world. [...] The third strategy that formed the core of modern shipbuilding methods was statistical process control. The basic idea behind process control is that it's impossible to make an industrial process perfectly reliable. There will always be some variation in what it produces: differences in part dimensions, material strength, chemical composition, and so on. But while some variation is inherent to the process (and must be accepted), much of the variation is from specific causes that can be hunted down and eliminated. By analyzing the variation in a process, undesirable sources of variation can be removed. This makes a process work more reliably and predictably, reducing waste and rework from parts that are outside acceptable tolerances. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Whether you’re heading to this year’s Biennale, planning a future visit, or simply daydreaming about Venice, this guide—contributed by Hamilton-based architect Bill Curran—offers insights and ideas for exploring the canal-crossed city. Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go. – Truman Capote Venice is my mystical addiction and I soon will make my 26th trip there, always for about 10 days or more. I keep getting asked why, and asked by other architects to share what to do and what to see. Only Italo Calvino could have reimagined (in ‘Invisible Cities’) such a magical, unique place, a water-born gem forged from 120 islands linked by 400 bridges and beset by a crazy-quilt medieval street and canal pattern. Abstract, dancing light forms dappling off water, the distinct automobile-less quiet. La Serenissima, The Most Serene One. Most buildings along the Grand Canal were warehouses with the family home above on the piano nobile floor above, and servant apartments above that in the attics, in a sea-faring nation state of global traders and merchants like Marco Polo. Uniquely built on a foundation of 1,000-year-old wood pilings, its uneven, wonky buildings have forged a rich place in history, literature and movies: Joseph Brodsky’s Watermark, Hemingway’s Across the River and into the Trees, Don’t Look Now starring Donald Sutherland, Mann’s Death in Venice, The Comfort of Strangers with Christopher Walken, Henry James’ The Wings of the Dove and The Aspern Papers, Kate Hepburn’s ‘Summertime. Yes, yes, Ruskin’s Stones of Venice is an option, as are Merchant of Venice and Casanova. Palazzo Querini Stampalia (Venice): Photo via Wikipedia THE MODERN ARCHITECTURE OF VENICE Much of Venetian life is lived in centuries-old buildings, with a crushing post-war recession leaving it preserved in amber for decades until the mass tourists found it. Now somewhat relieved of at least the cruise ship daytrippers, it is a reasonable place again, except maybe in peak summer. The weight of history, a conservatism for preservation and post-war anti-Americanism led to architectural stagnation. So there are few new, modern buildings, mostly on the edges, and some fine interior interventions, mostly invisible. For modern architecture enthusiasts Venice is a challenge. Carlo Scarpa (Giardini, Venise) – Photo via Wikipedia, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license Here is what modern architects should see: Carlo Scarpa‘s Must-See Works: Go see any of Scarpa’s interventions, demonstrating his mastery of detailing, materials, joinery and his approach to blending with existing fabric. He is Italy’s organicist, their Frank Lloyd Wright, and they even worked together (on the Masieri Foundation). Negozio Olivetti: The tiny former Olivetti typewriter showroom enfronting Piazza San Marco is perhaps the most wonderful of his works. It is open now to visit as a heritage museum. ”God is in the details”; Scarpa carefully considered every detail, material and connection. Le magasin Olivetti de Carlo Scarpa (Venise). Photo via Wikipedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license The Fondazione Querini Stampalia is a must see, a renovated palazzo with ground floor exhibit spaces with tidewater allowed to rise up inside in one area you bridge across. The former entrance bridge is a lovely gem of exquisite detailing, rendered obsolete by a meh renovation by Mario Botta. A MUST is to have a coffee or prosecco in Scarpa’s garden and see the craft and detail of its amazing water feature. The original palazzo rooms are a lovely semi-public library inhabited by uni students; sign up as a member on-line for free. Walk up the spiral stair. The entry gate to the UIAV Architecture School in Campo Tolentini  is an unexpected wonder. A brutalist yet crisply detailed sliding concrete and steel gate, a sculpted concrete lychgate, then an ancient doorway placed on the lawn as a basin. Main Gate of the Tolentini building headquarters of Iuav university of Venice designed by Carlo Scarpa. Photo via Wikipedia, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license OTHER MODERN ARCHITECTURE TO SEE: Minimalist Dave Chipperfield expanded an area of suede-like concrete columbariums on the St. Michele cemetery island. Sublime. Extra points if you can find the tomb Scarpa designed nearby. The Ponte della Costituzione (English: Constitution Bridge) is the fourth bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava. (Image via: Wikipedia) Calatrava’s Ponte della Constituzione bridge is an elegant, springing gazelle over the entrance to the Grand Central. But the glass steps are slippery and are being replaced soon, and the City is suing Calatrava, oops. The barrier-free lift pod died soon after opening. It is lovely though.   Le Canal della Giudecca, la Punta della Dogana, la basilique Santa Maria della Salute de Venise et le Canal Grande à Venise (Italie). Photo via Wikipedia Tadao Ando’s Punte Della Dognana museum is large, with sublime, super-minimalist, steel and glass and velvety exposed concrete interventions, while his Palazzo Grassi Museum was more restoration. A little known fact is that Ando used Scarpa’s lovely woven basketweave metal gate design in homage. An important hidden gem is the Teatrino Grassi behind the Museum, a small but fabulous, spatially dramatic theatre that often has events, a must-see! Fondaco dei Tedeschi: At the foot of Rialto Bridge and renovated by Rem Koolhaas, this former German trading post had been transformed into a luxury shopping mall but closed last month, a financial failure. Graced with a stunning atrium and a not well know fabulous rooftop viewing terrace, its future is now uncertain. The atrium bar is by Phillipe Starck and is cool. Try it just in case. Fondaco dei Tedeschi. Photo via Wikipedia Procuratie Vecchie: This iconic 16th storey building is one of Piazza San Marco’s defining buildings, and David Chipperfield’s restoration and renovation of this building, which defines Piazza San Marco, is all about preservation with a few modern, minimalist interventions. It operates as a Biennale exhibit space. Infill housing on former industrial sites on Guidecca Island includes several interesting new developments called the Fregnans, IACP and Junghans sites (look for fine small apartments such as by Cino Zucchi that reinterpret traditional Venetian apartment language). A small site called Campo di Marte includes side-by-sides by Alvaro Siza (disappointing), Aldo Rossi and Carlo Aymonino (ho hum); some day there will be a Rafael Moneo on the empty lot.     View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Denton Corker Marshall (@dentoncorkermarshall) AT THE BIENNALE: At the Biennale grounds there is much to see, with the only recent project the Australia Pavilion by Denton Corker, a black granite box hovering along a canal. Famous buildings include the Nordic Pavilion (Sven Ferre), Venezuela Pavilion (Carlo Scarpa), Finland Pavilion (Alvar Aalto), former Ticket Booth (Carlo Scarpa), Giardino dell Sculture (Carlo Scarpa), Bookstore (James Stirling) and there are some fab modern interiors inside the old boat factory buildings. Canada’s Pavilion by the Milan firm BBPR (don’t ask why) from 1956 is awkward, weird and much loathed by artists and curators. Le pavillon des pays nordiques (Giardini, Venise). Photo via Wikipedia, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Just outside the Biennale on the Zattere waterfront is a stirring Monument to the Women Partisans of WWII, laid in the water by Augusto Maurer over a simple stepped-base designed by Scarpa. Venezia – Complesso monastico di San Giorgio Maggiore. Photo via Wikipedia,  licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. BEYOND THE BIENNALE The Vatican Chapels: In 2018 the Vatican decided to participate in the Biennale for the first time for some reason and commissioned ten architects to design chapels that are located in a wooded area on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore, behind Palladio’s church. The architects include Norman Foster, Eduardo Souto de Moura, and Smiljan Radic, and includes The Asplund Pavilion, like the Woodland Chapel  that inspired it. It is intended as a “place of orientation, encounter, meditation, and salutation.” The 10 chapels each symbolize one of the Ten Commandments, and offer 10 unique interpretations of the original Woodland Chapel; many are open air. These are fab and make you think! Chiese San Giorgio Maggiore was designed by Palladio and is fine. But its bell tower offers magnificent city views and avoids the long lines, crowds and costs of Piazza San Marco’s Campanile. Next to San Giorgio you should tour the Cini Foundation, with an amazing stair by Longhera, the modern Monica Lunga Library (Michele De Lucchi) and a lovely Borges-inspired labyrinth garden. Behind San Giorgio en route to the Chapels is the Museo del Vetro (Glass Museum) and the fabulous Le Stanze della Fotografia (contemporary photography gallery) featuring a Mapplethorpe retrospective this year. (If you’re visiting this year, join me in Piazza San Marco on July 7, 2025, for his ex Patti Smith’s concert.) An unknown MUST DO is a concert in the stunning Auditorium Lo Squero (Cattaruzza Millosevich), with but 200 comfy seats in an adapted boat workshop with a stage wall of glass onto the lagoon and the Venitian cityscape. La Fenice Opera House in Venice, Italy. Image via: Wikipedia La Fenice Opera House: after burning down in 1996, Aldo Rossi supervised the rebuilding, more or less ‘as it was, as it is’, the Italian heritage cop-out. There is no Rossi to see here, but it is a lovely grand hall. Book a concert with private box seats. Venice Marco Polo Airport is definitely Aldo Rossi-inspired in its language, materials and colours. The ‘Gateway Terminal’ boat bus and taxi dock is a true grand gateway (see note about Gehry having designed an unbuilt option below). Venice Marco Polo airport. Photo via Wikipedia HIDDEN GEMS Fondazione Vendova by Renzo Piano features automated displays of huge paintings by a local abstract modernist moving about a wonderful huge open warehouse and around viewers. Bizarre and fascinating. Massimo Scolari was a colleague or Rossi’s and is a brilliant, Rationalist visionary and painter, renown to those of us devotees of the Scarpa/Rossi/Scolari cult in the 1980’s. His ‘Wings’ sculpture is a large scale artwork motif from his drawings now perched on the roof of the UIAV School of Architecture, and from the 1991 Biennale. Do yourself a favour, dear reader, look up his work. Krier, Duany and the New Urbanists took note. He reminds me of the 1920s Italian Futurists. You can tour all the fine old churches you want, but only one matters to me: Santa Maria dei Miracoli, a barrel-vaulted, marble and wood-roofed confection. San Nicolo dei Mendicoli is admittedly pretty fab, and featured in ‘Don’t Look Now’.  And the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello has an amazing mosaic floor, very unusual stone slab window shutters (and is near Locanda Cipriani for a wonderful garden lunch, where Hemingway sat and wrote). For the Scarpiani: There is a courtroom, the Manilo Capitolo, inside the Venice Civic Tribunale building in the Rialto Market that was renovated by Scarpa, and is amazing in its detail, including furniture and furnishings. You have to pass security to get in, and wait until court ends if on. It is worth it! The Aula Mario Baratto is a large classroom in a Palazzo overlooking the Grand Canal designed by Carlo Scarpa with amazing wood details and furniture. The room has stunning frescoes also. You can book a tour through Universite Ca’ Foscari. The view at a bend in the Grand Canal is stunning, and you can see the Fondazione Masieri (Scarpa renovation) building off to the left across the side canal (see Missed Opportunities). Within the Accademia Galleries and Correr Museum are a number of small renovations, stairs and art stands designed by Scarpa. Next to the Chiesa di San Sebastino decorated by Veronese is the Scarpa entrance to a linguistics library for the Universita Ca’ Foscari. Fondation W – Wilmotte & Associés: A French architect who is not shy and presumably rather wealthy runs his own exhibition space focused on architecture; ‘…it is both a laboratory and shop window…’,  so one of those. Worth a look. There is a recent Courthouse that is sleek, long, narrow, black and compelling on the north side of Piazzalle Roma, but I have not yet wandered in.   FOOD AND DRINKS FOR ARCHITECTS Philippe Starck’s lobby bar at the Palazzina Grassi hotel is the only cool, mod bar in town. Wow! Ask the barman to see the secret Krug Room and use the PG bar’s unique selfie washroom. I love this bar: old, new, electic. Also, Starck has a house on Burano, next to the pescheria (sorry, useless ephemera). He wants you to drop by. Restaurant Algiubagiò is the only cool, modern restaurant and it has fab food. It also has a great terrace over the water. Go! Zanze XVI is a nice clean mod interior and Michelin food. Worth it. Ristorante Lineadombra: A lovely, crisp modern interior and crisp modern Venetian food. A great terrace on the water also. Local Venice is a newer, clean, crisp resto with ‘interesting’ prices. Your call. Osteria Alla Bifora, while in a traditional workshop space, is a clean open loft, adorned modernly with a lovely array of industrial and historic relics. It is a lovely bar with charcuterie and a patio on the buzzy campo for students. Great for late night. Cicchetti are Venetian tapas, a standard lunch you must try. All’ Arco near Rialto has excellent nouveau food and 50m away is the lovely old school Do Mori. Osteria Al Squero in Dorsoduro overlooks one of the last working gondola workshops, and 100m away is the great Cantino del Vino già Schiavi. Basegò has creative, nouveau cichetti. Drinks on a patio along the Grand Canal can only be had economically at Taverna al Remer, or in Campo Erberia at Nanzaria, Bancogira, Al Pesador or Osteria Al Cichetteria. Avoid any place around Rialto Bridge except these. El Sbarlefo San Pantalon has a Scarpa vibe and a hip, young crowd. There is a Banksy 50’ away. Ristorante Venissa is a short bridge from Burano to Mazzorbo island, a Michelin-starred delight set in its own vineyard.   Since restaurant design cannot tie you up here, try some fab local joints: Trattoria Anzolo Raffaele : The owner’s wife is from Montreal, which is something. A favorite! Pietra Rossa: A fab, smart place with a hidden garden run by a hip, fun young restauranteur, Andrea. Ask for the Canadian architect discount. Oste Mauro Lorenzon : An entertaining wine and charcuterie bar run by the hip young restauranteur’s larger than life father, and nearby. Mauro is a true iconoclast. Only open evenings and I dare you to hang there late. Anice Stellato: A great family run spot, especially for fish. Excellent food always. La Colonna Ristorante: A nice, neighbourhood joint hidden in a small campo. Il Paradiso Perduto: A very lively joint with good food and, rarely in Venice, music. Buzzy and fun. Busa da Lele: Great neighbourhood joint on Murano in a lovely Campo. Trattoria Da Romano: Best local joint on Burano. Starck hangs here, as did Bourdain.   Cafes: Bacaro aea Pescaria is at the corner by Campo de la Becarie. Tiny, but run by lovely guys who cater to pescaria staff. Stand outside with a prosecco and watch the market street theatre. Extra points if you come by for a late night drink. Bar ai Artisti is my second fav café, in Campo S. Barnaba facing where Kate Hepburn splashed into the canal. Real, fab pastries, great terrace in Campo too. Café at Querini Stampalia: get a free visit to Scarpa’s garden and wander it with a coffee or prosecco. Make sure to see the bookstore also (and the Scarpa exhibition hall adjacent). Carlo Scarpa à la Fondation Querini Stampalia (Venise). Photo via Wikipedia, A lesser known place is the nice café in the Biennale Office next to Hotel Monaco, called Ombra del Leone. The café in the Galleria Internationale d’Arte Moderna Ca’ Pesaro is great with a terrace on the Grand Canal.   Cocktail bars: Retro Venezia: Cool, retro vibe. The owner’s wife dated a Canadian hockey player. You must know him. Il Mercante: A fabulous cocktail bar. Go. Time Social Bar:  Another cool cocktail bar. Vero Vino: A fab wine bar where you can sit along a canal. Many good restaurants nearby! Arts Bar Venice: If you must have a cocktail with a compelling story, and are ok with a $45 pricetag. Claims Scarpa design influence, I say no. But read the cocktail stories, they are smart and are named for artists including Scarpa. Bar Longhi in in the Gritti Hotel is a classic, although cheesey to me. Hemingway liked it. It has a Grand Canal terrace. The Hilton Stucky Hotel is a fabulous former flour factory from when they built plants to look like castles, but now has a bland, soulless Hilton interior like you are in Dayton. But it has a rooftop bar and terrace with amazing sunset views! While traditional, the stunning, ornate lobby, atrium and main stair of the Hotel Danieli are a must-see. Have a drink in the lobby bar by the piano player some evening.   STAYING MODERN Palazzina Grassi is the only modern hotel in Venice, with a really lovely, unique lobby/bar/restaurant all done by Philippe Starck. At least see the fab bar! Johnny Depp’s favourite. Generator Hostel: A hip new-age ‘design-focused’ hostel well worth a look. Not like any hostel I ever patronized, no kegs on the porch. Go visit the lobby for the design. A Euro chain. DD724 is a small boutique hotel by an Italian architect with thoughtful detailing and colours, near the Peggy Guggenheim Museum (the infamous Unfinished Palazzo), and they have a small remote outpost with fabulous apartment called iQS that is lovely. The owner’s brother is the architect. My fave! Avogaria: Not just a 5 room hotel, it is ‘a concept’, which is great, right?  But very cool. An architect is one of the owners. German minimalist architect Matteo Thun’s JW Mariott Venice Resort Hotel and Spa is an expensive convent renovation on its own lagoon island that shows how blandness is yawningly close to minimalism. The Hotel Bauer Palazzo has a really lovely mid-century modern section facing Campo San Moise, but it is shrouded in construction scaffolding for now.   SHOPPING MODERN FOR ARCHITECTS It is hard to find cool modern shopping options, but here is where you can: Libreria Acqua Alta: Used books and a lovely, unexpected, fab, alt experience. You must see and wander this experience! It has cats too. Giovanna Zanella: Shoes that are absolute works of art! At least look in her window. Bancolotto N10: Stunning women’s clothing made in the women’ prison as a job skill training program. Impeccable clothes; save a moll from a life of crime. Designs188: Giorgio Nason makes fabulous glass jewellery around the corner from the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. Davide Penso: Artisan made glass jewellery on Murano. Ferrovetro Murano: Artisan made jewellery, bags, scarfs. (on Murano). Madera: All the cool designer housewares and jewellery. DECLARE: Cool, modern leathergoods in a very sweet modern shop with exquisite metal detailing. A must see! Ottica Urbani: Cool Italian eyewear and sunglasses. Paperowl: Handmade paper, products, classes. Feeling Venice: Cool design and tourist bling can be found only here. No shot glasses.   MISSED OPPORTUNITIES, MEMORIES AND B-SIDES The Masieri Foundation: Look up the tragic story of this project, a lovely, small memorial to a young architect who died in a car accident on his honeymoon en route to visit Fallingwater in 1952. Yep. His widow commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a small student residence and study centre, but it was stopped by anti-American and anti-Modernism sentiments. (Models and renderings are on-line). This may be Venice’s saddest architectural loss ever. The consolation prize is a very, very lovely Scarpa interior reno. Try to get in, ring the bell (it is used as offices by the university)! (Read Troy M. Ainsworth’s thesis on the Masieri project history). Also cancelled: Lou Kahn’s Palace of Congress set for the Arsenale, Corbusier’s New Venice Hospital which would have been sitting over the Lagoon in Cannaregio near the rail viaduct, Gehry’s Venice Gateway (the airport’s ferry/water taxi dock area). Also lost was Rossi’s temporary Teatro del Mondo, a barged small theatre that tooted around Venice and was featured in a similar installation in 1988 at the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant. All available on-line. Teatro del Mondo di Aldo Rossi, Venezia 1980. Photo via Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 Itches to scratch: Exercise your design skills to finish the perennial favorite ‘Unfinished Palazzo’ of the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, design a new Masieri Foundation, design the 11th Vatican Chapel or infill the derelict gasometer site next to Palladio’s Chiese San Francisco della Vigna.   FURTHER AFIELD Within an hour’s drive, you can see the simply amazing Tombe Brion in San Vito Altivole and the tiny, stunning Giptotecha Canova in Possagna (both by Scarpa), the Nardini Grappa Distillery in Bassano del Grappa by Maximillio Fuksas, and a ferry and taxi will get you to Richard Meier’s Jesolo Lido Condos on the beach. A longer drive of two hours into the mountains near Cortina will bring you to Scarpa’s lovely and little known Nostra Signore di Cadora Church. It is sublime! Check out the floor! Zaha Hadid’s stunning Messner Mountain Museum floats above Cortina, accessible by cable car. The recent M-09 Museum on mainland Mestre, a quick 10 minute train ride from Venice, by Sauerbruch + Hutton is a lovely urban museum with dynamic cladding. Castelvecchio Museum. Photo via Wikipedia The Veneto region is home to many cool things, and fab train service gets you quickly to Verona (Scarpa’s Castelvecchio Museum and Banco Populare), Vicenza (Palladio’s Villa Rotonda and Basillicata). There are Palladio villas scattered about the Veneto, and you can daytrip by canal boat from Venice to them. Go stand where Hemingway was wounded in WWI near Fossalta Di Piave (there is a plaque), which led to his famous novel, ‘A Farewell to Arms’. He never got to visit Venice until 1948, then fell in love with the city, leading to ‘Across the River and into the Trees’. He also threatened to burn down FLW’s Masieri Foundation if built (and they both came from Oak Park, Illinois. So not very neighborly).   OTHER GOOD ARCHITECTURAL REFERENCES Venice Modern Architecture Map The only guidebook to Modern Architecture in Venice   These architectural guide folks do tours geared to architects: Architecture Tour Venice – Guiding Architects Venice Architecture City Guide: 15 Historical and Contemporary Attractions to Discover in Italy’s City of Canals | ArchDaily Venice architecture, what to see: buildings by Scarpa, Chipperfield and other great architects The post An Architect’s Guide to Venice and its Modern Architecture    appeared first on Canadian Architect.