The Josef-Schwarz-Schule is part of this year’s Heinze ArchitekturAWARD and is currently in the running for the Audience Award.
Bringing together education and sustainability, the project creates a forward-looking campus designed to support contemporary learning. Timber-hybrid construction, regionally sourced materials, geothermal energy, and photovoltaic systems contribute to a healthy and resource-efficient environment. At the same time, the architecture fosters collaboration, community, and a diverse range of learning experiences.
The Audience Award is decided by public vote. Cast your vote for the Josef-Schwarz-Schule here: https://www.heinze.de/architekturobjekt/josef-schwarz-schule/13257797/
Thank you for supporting the project and helping us share its vision for innovative and sustainable educational architecture.
With our new name Behnisch Architekturbüro and the launch of behnisch.com, we mark an important step in the ongoing development of our practice. Across our four locations, we are strengthening our identity as one office, presenting our work and approach in a more unified way. Both reflect a clearer identity and our continued commitment to sustainability, transparency, and sharing knowledge. The new website is conceived as an open and evolving platform that offers comprehensive access to how we work. It brings together our projects, people, processes, and research in a clear and intuitive structure, designed for both mobile and desktop use.
Sustainability is at the center of the platform. An expanded series of detailed case studies gives deeper insight into design strategies, environmental concepts, and the measurable impact of our projects. These are complemented by a resources section, which brings together research, publications, and insights developed within the office, alongside external sources that inform our work. The website is designed to reveal connections across projects and ideas. Through fluid navigation and closely linked content, users can move between projects, themes, and typologies, from cultural and educational buildings to workplaces and sports facilities. This allows ideas, collaborations, and developments to be understood across different scales.
Our approach to sustainability also extends into the digital experience. The website includes an energy saving mode that reduces data usage and energy consumption during browsing. behnisch.com is not a static portfolio but a working platform for clients, collaborators, researchers, and a wider public. It offers insight into the thinking behind our projects and creates space to explore the topics that continue to shape our practice. For more details, the full official statement is available here.
As part of the Campus Steinfurt development for FH Münster, façade elements from a building currently being dismantled in Munich will be reused. The materials have been assessed and approved by experts for their further use. The reused trapezoidal metal sheets will form the façade of the new Building Q.
The concept extends beyond the building envelope. Offcuts from the façade will be integrated into the interior design of the foyer. They will be used for flexible furniture such as benches and stools, mobile planting systems, and wayfinding elements.
This approach demonstrates how circular construction can be implemented within a public building process, from dismantling and material preparation to reintegration in a new architectural context. A step towards reducing CO₂ emissions and rethinking the lifecycle of building materials.
Last weekend, we celebrated the reopening and extension of Buchheim Museum der Phantasie at Lake Starnberg, marking 25 years since the museum first opened in Günter Behnisch’s iconic building in 2001. The anniversary exhibitions reflect both the museum’s history and its future, including “Revolt of Colors. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and the Legacy of Die Brücke,” on view until mid November. Visitors can also see the original architectural model from the 1990s together with a preview of the museum’s new extension.
While the full reopening is scheduled for the end of the year, selected parts of the museum are already accessible to visitors again during the ongoing refurbishment works. The refurbishment and extension continue the original vision of the museum while creating new spaces for exhibitions, education, and the “Labor der Phantasie.”
Thank you to everyone who joined us for the opening weekend and celebrated this new chapter of the museum with us.
Can reclaimed materials shape the future of architecture? The Youth and Recreation Center Sternentor in Hohenmölsen offers a compelling answer. As a pilot project for circular construction, it demonstrates how existing resources can be transformed into meaningful, future oriented architecture. Developed within the EU research initiative RE:CREATE and initiated by the Chair of Circular Construction at BTU Cottbus Senftenberg in collaboration with the City of Hohenmölsen, the project reuses precast concrete elements from a former GDR era housing complex, giving them a new architectural life. Set on the site of a former outdoor swimming pool, the new center will become an open meeting place for all generations, combining indoor and outdoor activities within a distinctive natural landscape. By conserving embodied energy and reducing CO2 emissions by over 90 percent compared to conventional construction, Sternentor highlights the immense potential of reuse, bridging environmental responsibility with social impact and architectural quality.
Architecture thrives on initiative. We are always interested in meeting people who bring their own perspective to the built environment. Whether you are at an early stage of your journey or already experienced, we welcome unsolicited applications that reflect your ideas, your process, and your ambitions.
Share your work and get in touch, regardless of current openings here.
Our proposal for the School Campus Hohewart² has received an honorable mention. The design builds on the site’s existing landscape character, preserving most of the valuable tree population while carefully integrating new buildings into the natural topography. Rather than a collection of isolated structures, the campus is envisioned as an ensemble of clearly defined volumes that together create a coherent, identity-shaping whole. At the heart of the campus is a vibrant, central space that fosters connection, community and exchange between the two schools. Differentiated outdoor areas, varied spatial sequences, and flexible learning clusters support contemporary educational concepts while maintaining the site’s intimate scale and grain.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this project.
In the 2025/2026 winter term, Behnisch Architekturbüro shared insights into architectural design at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar within the Chair of Construction Management and Building Processes. Through lectures and hands-on sessions, partner Angie Müller-Puch and Nora Gersie introduced holistic design and representation approaches using our project Haus am Krampnitzer Tor as a case study.
Next week on March 19, Michelle Lee of Behnisch and Roman Schieber of knippershelbig will be at Zak World of Façades in Washington DC to present the University of Pennsylvania’s Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology. The facade and form were designed to maximize natural ventilation, enable energy-efficient radiant heating and cooling, daylight, connection to community and the city to enhance the work and life of the scientists.
Last week, our team — Michelle Lee and Ryan Maruyama — presented the research project “Geometry of Water: Shaping Terra Cotta for Urban Heat Islands” at the Advances in Architectural Geometry 2025 symposium at MIT. They were joined in the presentation by Pamela Cabrera Pardo (Transsolar Klima Engineering), highlighting the collaborative nature of this ongoing research effort. The project brings together Behnisch Architekten, Transsolar KlimaEngineering, knippershelbig, TriPyramid Structures and Boston Valley Terra Cotta to investigate how terra cotta façade geometries can support cooling in dense urban environments experiencing increasing heat stress.
A New Approach to Urban Microclimates Rather than relying on shading alone, the research centers on evaporative cooling. By shaping terra cotta like a sponge—through pleating, dimpling, folding, and other geometric strategies—the tiles can absorb and temporarily store rainwater. As this water evaporates, the façade cools itself and the surrounding microclimate. The geometry is tuned not only for maximum evaporation but also for freeze–thaw durability, making the system suitable for four-season climates like New England. The design merges the logic of a ventilated rainscreen façade with ceramic innovation, environmental performance, and fabrication practicality.
From Material Research to Urban Impact Using digital simulation, physical prototyping, and full-scale testing, the project shows that shaped terra cotta can significantly reduce surface temperatures on hot days and improve thermal comfort in streets, courtyards, and other public spaces.
As cities around the world continue to densify and warm, the project proposes a façade system that is market-ready, materially efficient, and aligned with future climate demands. We look forward to the continuing conversations from AAG2025 and to advancing this research together with our partners. A complete technical overview, including methodology, performance testing and environmental modeling, is available in the attached PDF proceedings.
.gif)
