Christoph Ingenhoven

Christoph Ingenhoven, founder and principal of ingenhoven architects, is an authentic representative of a sustainable, green architecture. His responsible buildings, realized in different parts of the world, have received the most prestigious awards, according to the highest international certification standards. A deep concern about the impact on the natural environment and the people liveability is the common denominator running through all of them. The firm develops projects varied in scale and typology, with a special core competence and extensive experience in the design and implementation of high-rise.Christoph Ingenhoven, graduated with a double degree in engineering and architecture, founder member of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), member of the North Rhine-Westphalia Academy of Sciences and Arts, has worldwide lectured, been a juror in many international competitions.Our conversation starts deepening Christoph’s early interest and passion in sustainability, in times when this issue was not as crucial as now, dwelling on his choice about two universities with different addresses, one more technological and the other more artistic, with the opportunity of important encounters, as the one with Hans Hollein, who encouraged his love for drawing. The cultural ambience in which he grew, with the opportunity of close relations of friendship and work with exceptional men, as Otto Frei, constitutes an extremely fascinating part of his life. Another step will be dedicated to the reasons that led him many years ago to coin and also copyright the term supergreen®, as a wider sustainability concept, with reference to his experiences with rules and public administrations around the world.An ample space has been reserved for two exemplar models of an excellent binomial combination of sustainability and lifestyle: Marina One in Singapore, ‘a vertical garden quarter’ intended for commercial and office activities, and Kö-Bogen II, part with its sloping green facades of 8 kilometres of green of an extensive urban renewal plan, people-oriented, in the heart of Düsseldorf. Another really complex and challenging intervention is represented by the transformation of the existing Stuttgart main terminus station into a new, contemporaneous zero-energy, light-flooded underground station, awarded the Global Holcim Gold Prize for Sustainable Construction.