Contemporary Typologies in Architecture
Conférence d'Ulrich KIRCHHOFF, architecte, Hongkong

With the development boom in Asia, accidental typologies evolved, which blend the boundaries of architecture and urbanism by scale, density and program. We are interested to understand, what can we learn from there and how can they positively affect a different understanding of the city and the building.

CV: Ulrich KIRCHHOFF
With ten years of experience of working in Asia, he was the head of design at OMA Asia/RAD for seven years and realized award winning projects (including the first W-Hotel in Asia, SKTelecom headquarter). In 2005 he won a major University library competition in Jeongju, Korea, which is currently under construction. In 2007 he founded ICe - Ideas for Contemporary Environments together with Claudia Wigger and Louise Low, a multidisciplinary design studio of contemporary typologies. The interest of ICe lies in designing contemporary typologies such as mixed-use developments, live-in factories and urban infrastructural projects, because we believe, that complexity and density of such programs can act as a catalyst to the urban environment. The general design approach tries to enforce the synergy potential of those typologies for both, the internal program as well as for the urban context and public space. The office is currently developing projects in Vietnam, China and Germany. In 2007 Ulrich’s design achievements were acknowledged with the granting of the Perspective award 40 under 40 for the 40 most influential designers in Greater China. He is appointed lecturer and at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and has been visiting professor for a masters studio at the EPFL Lausanne in 2009.