KK Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH

The architectural office of ROB KRIER and CHRISTOPH KOHL is among the leading representatives of a movement in architecture and urban design that builds on the traditions of the European city. In numerous projects, studies and publications, since the seventies of the last century, Rob Krier has contributed significantly to the establishment of this direction, for which there are various characterisations: in the 1980s, it was regarded as a mainstay of “Postmodernism” and later served as an inspiration for the NEW URBANISM movement that spread around the world from the United States. In the 1990s, this approach became known as New Traditionalism and has recently been called “unmodern architecture”. Independent of these diverse designations, the essence of this approach consists of a rejection of modern urban design which treats buildings as separate objects in unlimited open space – as it became popular in the first decades following World War II. Contrasting this is the recourse to traditional methods of spatial composition, as well as the continued development of a traditional approach to the city in which buildings are components of the urban fabric and in which this fabric defines the urban spaces. In order to make visible which components of the city are more meaningful and important than others, hierarchy and monumentality also play significant roles.

Rob Krier and Christoph Kohl have respect for convention and tradition as well as for the context and history of the places in which they build. Their work does not emerge from a void, but builds on existing street patterns as well as traditional building types and facades, in order to achieve a balance between the existing and the new. Where modern urban design has punched holes in the city, Krier and Kohl create contemporary reconstructions using traditional methods, in order to heal wounds in the urban fabric. In their emphasis on spatial context and creating harmony between new and existing spaces and building patterns, they show themselves to be critical of modernism, but open to innovation.

In contrast to the trend toward increasing scale that has dominated for decades, Krier and Kohl strive for a reduction in scale, in order to give a unique character to individual dwellings and residential buildings as well as to large office buildings and other contemporary building types. The intention is to consider human scale in architecture, which expresses itself in giving preference to individualised, parcelled building blocks. The future of the city lies in this way in social re-dimensioning of architecture, in the resuscitation of the neighbourhood or the district, which unites different functions of social life within it.

As advocates of an urban architecture that is oriented to needs, yet which goes beyond mere utility to contribute to beautifying the living environment, Krier and Kohl gladly use the notion of “normal” construction and the “normal” building.

This image of the “European city”, as it has formed and proven itself for centuries, lacks the sensational. Krier and Kohl’s credo has more to do with simplicity, with diversification without deformation. The typical building must allow itself to be repeated multiple times in all conceivable modifications without becoming dull. Through reproduction, the typical building defines a district. For these architects, it is self-evident that typologically similar buildings must differentiate themselves formally, so that they can be places of identity. Ultimately, the city is inhabited and used not by an anonymous mass of people, but by a community of individuals.

The most well-known examples of Krier’s early planning projects were realised within the framework of the IBA in Berlin: the perimeter block development on RITTERSTRASSE (1977-1980), the urban villas on RAUCHSTRASSE (1980-1985) and the housing complex on Breitenfurterstrasse in Vienna (1981-1987).

Since 1993, the Rob Krier × Christoph Kohl Architecture Office has been headquartered in Berlin. The transfer from Vienna came about due to their significant participation in the construction and coordination of KIRCHSTEIGFELD, a planning project near Potsdam (1992-1997) that was built according to their urban design proposal.

Since then, Krier × Kohl have been responsible for the design of planning projects all over Europe, with a focus on the Netherlands: DE RESIDENT in Den Haag (1989-2001), an inner-city service and administrative centre, and NOORDERHOF in Amsterdam (1995-1999), a high-density residential quarter, were followed by such other projects as the residential development of MEANDER in Amsterdam (1995-2006), the new town of BRANDEVOORT near Helmond (1996 on), the residential development of GILDENKWARTIER in Amersfoort (1997-2005), the founding of SLOT HAVERLEIJ, a new village near ’s-Hertogenbosch (1998-2007), and the new city centre development of CITADEL BROEKPOLDER in Beverwijk-Heemskerk (2001 on).