What can I say? I'm passionate about architecture and I have a drive for the perfect building – that is, how all details of architecture come together: craft, art, culture, function, detail, etc.
I also have a passion for people, especially for the differences in our cultural perspective, which I find very enriching.
So when you search for the perfect building project, you really do end up working on a lot of different and non-traditional projects!
As a Swiss-born, Swiss- and American trained architect, I've had a lot of unique influences on my work.
My dad was an auditor. My mom escaped East Germany on her fourth attempt. I started my apprenticeship as an architect at the age of 15. As I child, I traveled the world with my family, explored it with my best friend when I was 20, then traveled for some unique project opportunities to different corners of the world. I got a degree in fine arts and oh yes, architecture. Being an architect is now a lifestyle for me.
Today, I have a strong personal belief that "nature is perfect" and that good architecture can only be achieved with a true understanding of place and its people. By incorporating our thorough, scientific process of Integrated Planning, I strive to create buildings that respect and celebrate the environment, not be in conflict with it. Of course it has to function well for its users, authentically reflect the qualities in its expression and make efficient use of resources.
The perfect building? I don't know. It's just what I do.
TAGS: integrated planning, architecture, perfect building, sustainable design
Our family just received the most recent issue of Swiss Review and we were excited to read about Das Biohaus at Concordia Language Villages' Waldsee site. We are a Swiss and American dual family and our 13-year-old son will be heading to the Bemidji site in mid-July for a German language camp. We are delighted to know about this new building and the interest it's generating. Our own home is a beautiful passive solar earth-berm building with the solar and wood-heated water. All of the interior materials are would tile or plaster coated with plant oil based paints and finishes. We built this ourselves and have been living comfortably in it (in the Upper Midwest)for 20 years now. We've been looking forward to the time when more people will build their homes this way and know the pleasures and comforts as well as right relationship to the earth. We would love to talk with you about it some time. Thanks for your work and thanks for presenting it and making it accessible.
Posted by: catherine | June 16, 2007 at 06:56 PM
In Bucks county, PA, we are interested in
constructing a BioHaus type of a home.
We have a building site available
Forward possibility etc.
Posted by: lawrence helson | June 17, 2007 at 12:10 PM