Christoph Hesse Architects

Christoph Hesse, graduated from ETH Zurich, after a year of study at the MIT, in 2007 received a Master of Architecture in Urban Design with Distinction from Harvard University. In 2008 he decided to return close to his native village to set up his own independent practice, Christoph Hesse Architects. His projects are all approached with great respect for the natural environment and its resources, with attentive concern about energy-saving or energy generating strategies, recycling or reusing existing materials, embracing local methods of construction and artisan skills. The conversation starts with ’Open Mind Places’, an open-ended project, strategically organized as a journey along 9 installations, ‘follies’, conceived like stations of pause and reflection. Simple signs that in choreographic sequence, as charismatic sculptures, with very precise, distinct character, harmoniously blended as integral components in the rural territory aim to convey educational messages about an ecosystem in danger, reconnecting the community with their natural environment. Christoph’s deep conviction in creating self-sufficient environments with a precise identity, focused on what he calls a system-changing approach, led him to realize projects as 'Villa F’ in Sauerland, a residential house incorporating a completely independent biomass waste to energy system. The realisation has become a kind of catalyst model that has inspired a collective response toward a more adequate use of resources. Finally some considerations will be reserved for a quite unusual initiative, 'Ways of Life’. Invited by a local developer to revitalise a beautiful, pristine green area, facing a lake, designing residences, Christoph has generously decided to involve 19 different studios of about his generation, a very heterogeneous group, proposing each an own individual interpretation of an ideal way to life in the countryside.