Every assignment has, regardless of the size, its own very special characteristics and constraints, whether it is the design of a piece of furniture, a building design, or the concept for an urban master plan.
The exploration of these specific parameters is the foundation for all further development steps, where the “place,” the genius loci, is the main focus of our considerations. The “spirit of place” includes both the cultural environment as well as the topography. Having respectful dealings with the existing environment and taking advantage of all formal and technological possibilities of expression is the basis of our approach to a building project.
This includes a holistic view of a building throughout its life cycle, from planning through construction, use and maintenance, and even to the residue-free disposal at partial or total demolition.
Material and product research are also important cornerstones of our work.
Of course, the latest technologies and software appliccheations are used in the office's internal planning processes and in communicating with our clients. Nevertheless, the creation of sketches, prototypes and models is still an important component of the development process of a building or object. The blur of a thick pencil line especially allows the development of a design idea and promotes focus on a planning task far better than any perfectly exact screen drawing.
Creative design processes require an open working atmosphere (Team Spirit) and flexible communication structures, which filter out, from a plethora of ideas and proposals of the planning team, the most sustainable ones that are then joined together to form a new whole.
This working method is not limited to the field of architectural design services, but also includes, to an ever greater degree, disciplines such as building physics, technical engineering and structural planning (keyword sustainability).
For this reason, we at Knauer Architects offer general planning services, in order to optimally coordinate all necessary technical planning.