© Nina Kirste

Since 2022, Hinda Bouabdallah, project manager at OLIV Architekten, has overseen the revitalization of the New Ganghofer office complex in Munich's Westend district.

She focuses on restructuring large complexes, including urban design concepts, structural interventions in existing buildings, and planning and construction implementation in service phases 1–5 according to HOAI. With her background in urban land-use planning and her additional training as an energy consultant, she develops and coordinates concepts that are ecologically sustainable and economically viable.  She focuses on sustainable transformation, aiming to create flexible, future-proof building structures of architectural quality.

Bouabdallah completed her architecture studies at the Technical University of Munich and the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris.

© Gina Folly

Alexander Franz is an associate at Herzog & de Meuron. He has worked on several high-profile national and international projects, including Edificio Forum 2004 in Barcelona, TEA Espacio de las Artes in Tenerife, the BBVA building in Madrid, and a residential tower in Uster.

His current work focuses on designing and implementing sustainable buildings, including projects such as Hortus and the Badenerstrasse residential development in Zurich. Franz has extensive experience with office buildings, laboratory facilities, and research facilities, including the laboratory, teaching, and research building at the Children's Hospital in Zurich. Franz is currently responsible for the SIP Main Campus and Hortus projects in Allschwil, which include laboratories, offices, restaurants, and space for life science companies. Franz also oversees ALL, a flexible laboratory building with a focus on sustainability. In 2024, he became the Lead of Sustainability at Herzog & de Meuron.

He studied architecture at the Architectural Association in London until 1999. He then worked for Shigeru Uchida in Tokyo, Michael Hopkins in London, and Richard Rogers/ABAA in Barcelona before joining Herzog & de Meuron in 2002. He became an associate in 2015.

© Bernd Bauerochse

Almut Grüntuch-Ernst founded a joint architecture firm with Armand Grüntuch in Berlin in 1991. Grüntuch-Ernst studied at the University of Stuttgart and the Architectural Association (AA) in London. She worked at Alsop & Lyall in London and taught at the University of the Arts Berlin (HdK). Grüntuch-Ernst is in demand internationally for lectures and juries. She was the general commissioner of the German contribution to the 10th International Architecture Biennale in Venice in 2006 and a member of the Munich Urban Design Commission from 2010 to 2015. Grüntuch-Ernst has been a professor at the Technical University of Braunschweig since 2011 and a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts since 2016. She and her husband were the 2024/25 Rome Prize winners of the German Academy Villa Massimo.

© Connectings GmbH

Since January 2019: Founding and managing director of connectINGs GmbH, Wuppertal; development and administration of the EvaDAT platform, which will go online in May 2021.

Since January 2019: Research assistant in the Department of Building with Existing Structures and Building Construction, University of Wuppertal.

2016 to 2019: Head of the Zukunft-Bau research project “Design and development of a standardized sample database for software-supported structural analysis based on VDI 6201 for the use of structural analysis software in BIM-based process chains” at the Department of Structural Analysis and Dynamics, University of Wuppertal, which resulted in EvaDAT; In addition, substitute professor for “Building Construction” for 3 semesters at the same faculty.

2013 to 2015: Employee at EZI Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, Solingen.

2011 to 2019: Member of the “VDI 6201 Software-supported Structural Analysis” guidelines committee.

2005 to 2008: Freelancer at Krätzig & Partner Ingenieurgesellschaft für Bautechnik mbH, Bochum 2004 to 2014: initially research assistant, later senior engineer in the teaching and research area of structural statics and dynamics, University of Wuppertal, doctorate in 2010 with a PhD in engineering, topic: “Load-bearing and deformation behavior of large-area reinforced concrete structures taking into account soil-structure interaction.”

1998–2004: Studied civil engineering at the University of Wuppertal, specializing in structural engineering, graduating with a degree in engineering.

© KS Original

Since 2015, Peter Theissing has been the managing director of KS Original, the brand association of medium-sized sand-lime brick manufacturers.

The Düsseldorf native is convinced that future-proof architecture is based on sustainable and value-retaining construction methods. He is committed to issues such as multi-story residential construction, sustainability communication, and process management for establishing a circular economy system. He also focuses on simple construction, exploring how the use of sand-lime bricks can streamline processes, increase efficiency, and conserve resources.

Previously, his professional career took him to companies such as Alape, Kaldewei, and Keramag.

© Jim Stephenson

Jonathan Tuckey studied Anthropology at University before founding his design practice in 2000, specialising in historic renovation, sustainable intervention and combining contemporary design with layers of built heritage to explore ways in which old and new can co-exist and elevate one another. 

Tuckey Design Studio is now a team of 25 and has garnered an international reputation for transforming existing buildings and sustainable new-build construction. The practice is based in London, and from a recently opened satellite studio in Andermatt, Switzerland. 

Tuckey Design Studio has worked on commissions such as the King’s Cross Gasholders in London, Michelberger Hotel in Berlin, Trevarefabrikken cultural venue in Norway, Wachthuus restaurant and ski lodge in Switzerland and the pioneering Rammed Earth House in Wiltshire, England.

© Nikki Mcclarron

Ana and Annelen Vollenbroich are the founders of Nidus. Annelen is an architect who earned degrees from ETH Zurich and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Ana is a lawyer who earned a degree from Humboldt University in Berlin.

Since its founding in 2016, Nidus has combined architecture, development, and curatorial practice in projects focusing on existing buildings, their transformation, and the interconnection of design, resource conservation, and economic viability. In addition to their built work, Annelen and Ana use Nidus to create platforms for discourse on building culture, including exhibitions, lectures, and publications.

© Private

Jeanette Kunsmann, author and architecture journalist, is editor-in-chief of Detail. Her topics are architecture and building culture, design and art, city and society. From 2013 to 2016, she was editor-in-chief of the daily BauNetz news and the weekly magazine Baunetzwoche. She then developed the cross-media magazine DEAR with Stephan Burkoff on behalf of Heinze GmbH, which she managed as deputy editor-in-chief from 2017 to 2019. Publications include ARCH+, AW Architektur & Wohnen, Baumeister, Domus, FAZ, FAS Reise, Häuser, IDEAT, Jovis, Mitte/Rand, Ruby Press, Stylepark, uncube magazine; co-founder of the publishing house Mitte/Rand; architecture diploma under Dieter Eckert at the Technical University of Berlin. She lives and works in Berlin and Munich.