Stepping stones

We started our practice in early 2020 after a commission we received to design a flagship store of the London-based coffee shop franchise Attendant Coffeeroasters. After that, we started doing competitions and at the end of last year, we won the first prize in the Europan competition for the location Landshut. In addition to the recent completion of another interior project, we are currently working on designing a furniture range which can be delivered as a flatpack and assembled without the need for tools.

Tactical collaboration

With AUD-A we aim to open up a relatively closed and competitive industry. There are too many architects and simultaneously the requirements of projects have grown too complex for us to be rivalrous. Instead, we want to focus on architecture as an inherently cooperative process. We have built up an extensive network of collaborators over the years, which in effect enables us to take on projects of any scale or typology regardless of prerequisites.

A workplace that evolves

Architecture is a creative process, meaning you can have unproductive days and nothing is more frustrating than sitting in an office doing nothing. So instead of setting work-hour requirements, we set targets and meet their deadlines by working flexibly. We do however aim to constrain office-related work — sitting behind a computer — to regular office hours. Anything else, like creative thinking, sketching, and strategising is often done in the after-hours and over the weekend, but can therefore also happen in a museum, a bar, or on the road.

Outside eyes

Our office is based at the very heart of Berlin around the corner from Gendarmenmarkt. The studio space is part of a larger co-working organisation that houses other entrepreneurs in the architecture, real estate, and graphic design industry. This is incredibly helpful for the creative process, as it leads to a lot of fruitful collaborations. Also, having someone from a different field of expertise critique your work is really insightful.

Design as a minimal practice

When we started the practice, we were quite naive in thinking we would spend most of our time doing design work and focus on developing a signature design language. In reality, we mostly strategise and organise. On one hand, this comes with the responsibility of running an office, on the other hand, it is due to the management aspect that comes with any project. There are so many factors that determine a successfully executed building or interior space and design is paradoxically only a small element of it.

Tackling global issues

Our near-future aim is to start developing our own projects. We think the traditional profit-focused market is not able to solve some of the issues we face on a global societal level, like for example the growing shortage of affordable, but good-quality housing. We have several ideas on how to initiate these kinds of projects with a more contemporary approach and since we are reaching a point where the company is gaining momentum, we are excited about what the future might bring!