Discover Germany, Issue 36, March 2016

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Combining playful ease with subtle elegance A diverse range of skills is a core strength of BEHF corporate architects. Founded in 1995 and located in Vienna, the top Austrian architecture and design firm has successfully completed a wide range of prominent projects from shopping centres and hotels to office spaces and residential buildings. TEXT: NADINE CARSTENS

When implementing projects, BEHF corporate architects feature an individual aesthetic quality which is on a high technical level. Addressing the specific needs of both building owners and occupants, it goes without saying that the group of architects also follows building standards to conserve resources at the same time. In doing so, BEHF’s language of architecture draws a bow between playful ease and subtle elegance, combining aesthetics with functionality. The three co-founders Armin Ebner, Susi Hasenauer and Stephan Ferenczy launched

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the firm in 1995 after studying together at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. “Everything began with a company’s request to design a future outlet with a size of about 3,000 square metres,”explains Ebner. Today, the team provides design services in corporate architecture, urban design, restorations, and interiors for a wide variety of public and corporate clients. BEHF corporate architects even received the Real Estate Brand Award and was honoured as Austria’s most valuable architecture brand. Combining history with a contemporary design One of the Austrian architects’ prestigious projects, which they finished just recently, was refurbishing the famous department store Stafa. Opened in 1911, the striking, nine-story building has now been converted into a hotel and retail spaces on the basement floor. So far,