Christoph Kohl Stadtplaner Architekten | CKSA

Christoph Kohl Stadtplaner Architekten are among the leading representatives of a movement in architecture and urban design that builds on the traditions of the European city. The essence of their urban design approach 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 symmetry, order and variety also play significant roles. In contrast to the trend toward increasing scale that has dominated for decades, CKSA 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. 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, CKSA gladly use the notion of "normal" construction and "normal" building. CKSA respect conventions and traditions as well as the context and history of the places in which they build. In their emphasis on spatial context and creating harmony between new and existing spaces and building patterns, they show themselves both critical of modernism and open to contemporary innovation. Among his central concerns is the mediation of social trends and a long-term intergenerational equity. Christoph Kohl Stadtplaner Architekten, stemming from the partnership between Rob Krier and Christoph Kohl, has been based in Berlin since 1993.