Discover Germany | Special Theme | Swiss Architecture 2019
Settlement Lindenhof, Boniswil. Photo: © Goran Potkonjak
Space and the in-between “We are not looking for the unique but for the specific. We offer spaces for others to adopt.” As architects and urban planners, the approach at Husistein architects is often marked by large scale, structural thinking, with a profound interest in interconnected spaces and their users. “We often perform paradoxical tasks and deal with all kinds of boundaries on a daily basis,”explains architect and office founder Philipp Husistein. “Those boundaries can merely be walls and ceilings, windows and doors – or they can be of a more technical, time-related or financial nature. However, the aim of our work is always ‘the inbetween’. Proof of this constant attempt lies in the spaces that the architect describes as ‘stages for the real life’: boroughs, and settlements, houses and complexes.” 106 | Issue 72 | March 2019
Philipp Husistein, who stems from a family of craftsmen, understands the connection between creativity and the base of solid craftwork on which it can thrive. He has always been interested in the reproductive element within a larger sphere. This has led him towards planning. Having worked in building and planning for 30 years now, he says that every day there is still something new to discover. “That’s what makes our field so fascinating!” Husistein often work for a contracting authority, such as public bodies, institutional and private investors or owners of large-scale, formerly industrial areas. The actual users, the “real client” as Philipp Husistein puts it, can only be observed in
TEXT: CORNELIA BRELOWSKI
their habitat − their life and work spaces − on an incognito basis: “It is extremely exciting to mingle with the people on location, even or especially so if they do not know that I am ‘their’ architect.” For the near future, digitisation is key at Husistein architects: to develop processes simulating urban planning issues, for example. “Rather than using the machines for generative processes only, we strive to embed quality ensuring elements at an earlier stage and more effectively.” As densification and inner development today form major influences on the work of shaping and creating our natural and built habitat, securing and generating good, differentiated living environments with a lasting identity is the central goal at Husistein architects.