24 April 2025

We mourn the death of our friend Kristin Feireiss

a woman speaks into a mikrophone, several people surround her and listen attentively

A life for architecture

Kristin Feireiss
July 1, 1942 - April 20, 2025

The death of our dear friend Kristin Feireiss has hit us hard. We have lost a mentor, an inspiring voice, and a companion in our history. These days, we are thinking back with gratitude to the many moments we shared with Kristin.

From our first encounters over 20 years ago, Kristin won us over with her approachable nature and enthusiasm for all things new and unfamiliar.In 2007, she invited us to her gallery for our first exhibition, "Graftworld," despite the raised eyebrows of many a critic. This was followed by our collaboration on the publication “Architecture in Times of Need”, dedicated to the Make It Right project and the reconstruction of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Kristin enriched this project with her critical eye and understanding of social contexts.

We got to know and love Kristin more and more on many occasions. She created spaces for countless conversations, encounters, exhibitions, and symposia at Aedes, her life project, which she and Hans-Jürgen managed magnificently. She also frequently transformed her home into an open meeting place for colleagues and friends. She lived her life for architecture.

There was no question where the exhibition for our 25th office anniversary would take place. In 2023, the second exhibition, "Taste Is the Lack of Appetite," opened at the Aedes Architecture Forum with a glamorous opening reception.

Kristin Feireiss, an internationally esteemed architectural mediator, has had a significant influence on public discussions about architecture and urban planning. Her commitment and curiosity were unparalleled. What she gave us and her many companions will endure. We wish Hans-Jürgen, Lukas, and their extended family, as well as the Aedes team, much strength during this time.

To us, Kristin was not only the great German lady of architecture but also a sought-after advisor in all situations and a good friend. We miss you.

Sven Fuchs, Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz, Georg Schmidthals, Thomas Willemeit, and all the Grafties

21 April 2025

BIG SEE Award 2025 for GRAFTLAB

GRAFTLAB was honoured with the Big See Award 2025 as the winner in the "Residential - Houses" category.

GRAFTLAB’s six floors are not only home to the Berlin offices of GRAFT architects, the office spaces of other companies from the architectural and cultural scene, commercial units, but also includes five apartments. From the very beginning of the planning process, rather than constructing a single-use premises, the aim was to create a building with a vibrant, mixed community that would become an active part of Berlin’s cultural scene – a proven factor in revitalizing local neighborhoods and contributing to the continued development of the German capital. We are therefore all the more delighted about the award.

13 April 2025

Exhibition and vernissage by Bettina Khano at the GRAFTLAB Gallery

RAMPANT GROWTH
BETTINA KHANO
Exhibition opening on Wednesday, 30 April 2025 at 6pm
GRAFTLAB Gallery 2, Invalidenstr. 5, 10115 Berlin

In her latest artistic practice, Khano makes rampant growth tangible - as a material, emotional and narrative movement. In turning the act of mending into a profound exploration of the intersections between the past and the present, the familiar and the unfamiliar, the living and the ghostly, Khano has de- and reconstructed her practice in recent years.

Exhibition
1st of May – 11th of May, 2025
Saturday and Sunday from 2-6pm
During the week by appointment.
Contact: mail@bettinakhano.de, 0172 3115958

09 April 2025

GRAFT founding partner Thomas Willemeit at International Urban Health Summit

Today, GRAFT founder Thomas Willemeit leads a breakout session at the International Urban Health Summit in Hanover. The session under the title “Good Practices - Small Interventions and Substantial Returns,” focuses on the longtime research into the design of patient rooms in intensive care units. Alawi Luetz, Professor at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Critical Care Consultant, will show how the very environment of an ICU can play a crucial role in healing and recovery.

Learn more about the research team that works on improving cognitive outcome in the critically ill (COCI - cociwg.org) and how GRAFT supports their work with our design expertise: graftlab.com

The International Urban Health Summit aims to bring together researchers and practitioners to address key issues of urban health through the lens of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

It is part of the International Urban Health Project by The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH) and is funded by the VolkswagenStiftung: urbanhealth.bbaw.de

03 April 2025

Topping-out ceremony for Col23 timber construction project

The Col23 project will create a new coworking space at Columbiadamm 23 in Berlin-Tempelhof. On 3 April 2025, UTB Projektmanagement GmbH celebrated the topping-out ceremony for the conversion of a former factory hall with an adjoining office wing together with the clients and guests. Built in 2012 as a low-energy timber construction, the hall and extension will be optimised for its future use as a modern, urban office space according to the plans of GRAFT, combining architectural innovation with the requirements of a future-oriented working environment. Completion is scheduled for June 2025.

02 April 2025

AI and architecture - lectures by GRAFT experts

How is AI changing the way we communicate about architecture and tell stories? GRAFT Senior Architect and AI expert @Tatiana Lebedeva will be sharing her view on these questions at the 18th AMM symposium in Bochum.

Based on her experience in GRAFT projects, Tatiana will talk about new narrative possibilities that AI can open up in the collaboration process and how it can support interactions with project partners.

The AMM Symposium is one of the largest AI conferences in the industry and will be held on April 3-4, 2025 at the Bochum University of Applied Sciences. Experts and young talents from research, industry and practice will meet to find answers together. It is organized by the @Masterstudiengang AMM Architektur Media Management.

Participation is free of charge and a livestream of the whole event will be available! More info and registration here: hochschule-bochum.de/architektur-media-management/18-amm-symposium/

On April 3, 2025, GRAFT founding partner @Wolfram Putz will speak about the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence in architecture at an event hosted by the Hamburger Kreativ Gesellschaft.

The event also features Jacqueline Peter, AI and automation expert with a focus on the architecture and construction industry, Maged Elbanna, Hanns-Jochen Weyland (Störmer Murphy und Partner) and gmp Architekten.

More info on the speakers and the initiative Hamburger Kreativ Gesellschaft can be found here: kreativgesellschaft.org

20 March 2025

Kick off for Funkytown Berlin

With the kick off of Funkytown Berlin, GRAFT, seven other architecture firms and the initiator Trockland are entering the planning phase for a new creative quarter in the east of the city.

Eight new buildings (called "Stations") are to be erected in the immediate vicinity of the well-known Funkhaus venue on Nalepastrasse, providing spaces for culture, education, accommodation and social activities. Each member of the planning team is designing one new building.

GRAFT is joined by Grüntuch Ernst Architekten, hilligarchitekten, Julian Breinersdorf Architekten, KSP Engel, Lava, LXSY and Tchoban Voss.

Visit the project website: https://funkytown.berlin/stations/

28 February 2025

Meet us at MIPIM 2025!

Together with URBAN CELL, the modular solution for sustainable neighborhoods, GRAFT will be present at the Global Urban Festival MIPIM. You can find us as as part of the official German Pavilion in the Riveria Hall.

Interested in meeting with GRAFT to discuss the future of our cities? Please contact us via pr@graftlab.com. Thomas Willemeit, founding partner of GRAFT, will be participating.

25 February 2025

DBZ Launch Event at GRAFTLAB - Issue partnership 03/25 BETON

GRAFT is celebrating its partnership with Deutsche Bauzeitschrift DBZ for the 03/2025 issue on the topic of "concrete" with a launch event at GRAFTLAB. We are happy to welcome different experts who work with the material and expand its possibilities.

As a reinterpretation of concrete, the GRAFTLAB will provide both a backdrop and a focus topic and serve as a starting point for discussion. The architecture firm Nieto Sobejano is the author of one of the projects selected by GRAFT for this edition and will present its Archive of the Avant-garde project in Dresden. The engineering office schlaich bergermann partner, together with the manufacturers of the thomas gruppe, will talk about the genesis of the material-saving concrete cap slab "concap".

Accompanied by wine and snacks, we want to discuss and draw a brief
conclusion afterwards.

Location: GRAFTLAB, Invalidenstr. 5, 10115
Time: Tuesday, February 25, 2025, 7:00 p.m.
With the kind support of: thomas gruppe & InformationsZentrum Beton

24 February 2025

Exhibition and vernissage with Flavio de Marco at the GRAFTLAB Gallery

a man with a cell phone in his hand in front of a yellow background. the man is only shown as an outline

FLAVIO DE MARCO will be exhibiting his works in the GRAFTLAB Gallery for two days.

"RASCH is a two-day exhibition featuring works on canvas and on paper.

RASCH is the use of the Bayraktar TB2 drone by three Ukrainian soldiers in the city of Kharkiv. The soldiers are looking through two tablets inside a space that could be a military outpost, a bunker or a cave. This image covers a previously painted landscape, the home page of a no longer existing flight company, of which remain a colourful palm tree and a few shreds of sky.

RASCH is a teenager absorbed in his smartphone while playing a video-game with an unknown name.

RASCH are two brothers who exchange information with their smartphones like any other brothers on any other day of the year in any other city on planet earth.

RASCH is a still life as a tangle of cables and power supplies that no one can afford not to have in order to be able to communicate.

RASCH are unknown people who sit in public transport every day to move around the city. They keep their eyes fixed on the screen. Nobody knows what they are looking at, who they are chatting with. Sometimes they smile, ignoring everything around them. If someone unintentionally bumps into them they suddenly wake up from the digital dream and re-emerge in the physicality of reality.

RASCH are more images where time seems to shorten with each glance, clicking visions of the world that open up new possibilities to click again.

RASCH is the rhythm of digital life that consumes images through ontinuously scrolling devices as view slowly diminishes, contours blur more and more, until at some point nothing will be visible anymore."

Flavio de Marco

Opening: February 28, 2025, 6 pm
Location: GRAFTLAB Gallery 2, Invalidenstraße 5, 10115 Berlin
Exhibition duration: March 01 - March 02, 2025
Opening hours: 11.00 am - 06.00 pm