Taste Is the Lack of Appetite is an exhibition on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of GRAFT and celebrates the curiosity for the special, the unique, and the unexpected.
Together with Studio Aisslinger (concept) and Arup (structural planning) GRAFT was commissioned by .GUT green innovations to design the avant-garde project .GUT Am Flughafen in the southwest of the freight handling area of the former Berlin Tegel Airport, which closed down in 2020. As an anchor point for sustainable urban development for the city of the future, the former freight hall H will be renovated and redesigned as a workspace for startups, research institutes, innovation units and NGOs for an interim use of three to five years.
The German eVTOL design company Volocopter is a pioneer of Urban Air Mobility and develops fully electric vertical take-off aircraft as a mobility solution for use in urban areas. As a hub for the Volocopter aircraft, the VoloPort vertiport was devised by GRAFT in collaboration with Volocopter, Arup and Bayards Aluminium Constructies. The VoloPort is part of the Volocopter urban air mobility infrastructure network and acts as a gateway within the public realm. Suited to the constraints of densely populated areas, its compact, modular and expandable design can be employed in a variety of inner-city locations – either on the ground, on the roof of a high-rise building or on a floating, water-based platform.
The new Sara Hildén Art Museum redefines and complements the Finlayson factory heritage in the city of Tampere. The new showcase for the vast collection of national and international art serves as an accessible and vivid extension of the cultural life of Tampere. With the collection route climbing from the urban public space up to four exhibition levels, the new Museum exhibits art in the best possible ways, while featuring the surrounding landmarks of the city as pieces of art.
After winning a competition by the Feuersozietät Berlin Brandenburg, GRAFT has been commissioned to carry out the expansion and revitalization of its company headquarters in Berlin. GRAFT will complete the representative perimeter block at Am Karlsbad 4-5 in Berlin with the addition of a new-build ensemble. The site-specific architecture will reinterpret and reinforce the urban block structure and respectfully write a new chapter in the history of the existing listed building stock.
GRAFT was commissioned to design a villa on the tip of a cliff facing the southern Tuscan archipelago. The site sits underneath the ruins of an ancient Roman city, which governed the area 2000 years ago from its acropolis, 113 meters above sea level.
The world’s first retail outlets with Mercedes-Benz’s new brand identity can already be seen in car dealerships in Hong Kong, Beijing, Budapest and Istanbul. For three years, GRAFT has been working on concept development and engineering creating design guidelines and planning tools that will be implemented at sales and service locations around the world. The planning catalogue ranges from specifications for the facade and roof design to the interior design of customer contact areas, including media integration and furniture design.
GRAFT’s design for Villa K envisions a single-family home that offers space for both lively interaction and quiet retreat. It is based on a three-winged construction that creates three distinct exterior spaces.
GRAFT was commissioned for the renovation and expansion of the Admiralspalast, a prestigious, historically listed building complex located between Friedrichstrasse and Planckstrasse in Berlin-Mitte.
The Uco Valley in the province of Mendoza is located in the foothills of the majestic Andes Mountains. Wine produced in this region is considered among the best in Argentina. In this context, GRAFT was commissioned to design a unique location dedicated to wine production, based on the AQUI brand’s philosophy of bringing people together through wine. To underline this, the winery also offers guest accommodation developed around the idea of creating rituals for a community brought together by their passion for wine.
The German urban air taxi company Volocopter has developed the first fully electronic, autonomous vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), an ideal solution for use in urban areas. Together with GRAFT and Arup, the Berlin agency GRAFT Brandlab won the competition to design a modular vertiport concept for Volocopter.
Retail is currently undergoing drastic change. Increasingly, department stores are being converted into mixed use urban components. GRAFT was commissioned with the redevelopment, conversion and expansion of the existing Ringcenter shopping center in Frankfurter Allee in Berlin after successfully contributing to an invited competition.
In 2020, GRAFT won a competition to design interactive retail spaces for smartseller, a joint venture founded in 2020 between Gebr. Heinemann and casualfood. In July 2021, the first retail space with the allyours concept opened in Slovenia at Ljubljana Airport, combining Duty Free, food and beverage, as well as convenience products. The walk-through area is located in the airport’s new terminal and will gradually extend over 1,000 square meters.
In 2020, GRAFT was commissioned by the Chinese company Human Horizons to design the retail identity of their electric car brand HiPhi. The architecture reflects HiPhi's core brand values, which revolve around the dualities of East and West, future and present, and art and technology. The result is a unique and striking retail experience, ready for the future of mobility.
Meeting place between origins and departure The Bavarian association of German youth hostels invited five architecture offices to design the modernization of one of Germany’s oldest hostels located in the centre of Munich. Primary focus was given to the extension of the existing building with an innovative and high quality design that embodies the fundamental values of the association in a new way.
