Product Award 2022: Key Speaker

The work of the office intersects with research allowing to design for diverse circumstances and in reconstruction or crisis scenarios. Prior to founding her firm, Bilbao was an Advisor in the Ministry of Development and Housing of the Government of the Federal District of Mex-ico City, during this period she was part of the General Development Directorate of the Advisory Council for Urban Development in the City. Bilbao holds a recurring teaching position at Yale University School of Architecture and has taught at Harvard University GSD, AA Association in London, Columbia University GSAPP, Rice University, University of Andrés Bello in Chile, and Peter Behrens School of Arts at HS Dusseldorf in Germany. 

Her work has been published in The New York Times, A + U, Domus, among others. Also, Bilbao has been recognized with the Kunstpreis Berlin in 2012, was named in 2010 as an Emerging Voice by the Architecture League of New York, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture Prize by the LOCUS Foundation in 2014, as well as the Impact Award 2017 Hon-orees for ArchitzierA + Awards, the Marcus Prize Award 2019, Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal of 2020, and the Honorary Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) en 2021.

Photo: Luis Garvan

The work of the office intersects with research allowing to design for diverse circumstances and in reconstruction or crisis scenarios. Prior to founding her firm, Bilbao was an Advisor in the Ministry of Development and Housing of the Government of the Federal District of Mex-ico City, during this period she was part of the General Development Directorate of the Advisory Council for Urban Development in the City. Bilbao holds a recurring teaching position at Yale University School of Architecture and has taught at Harvard University GSD, AA Association in London, Columbia University GSAPP, Rice University, University of Andrés Bello in Chile, and Peter Behrens School of Arts at HS Dusseldorf in Germany. 

Her work has been published in The New York Times, A + U, Domus, among others. Also, Bilbao has been recognized with the Kunstpreis Berlin in 2012, was named in 2010 as an Emerging Voice by the Architecture League of New York, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture Prize by the LOCUS Foundation in 2014, as well as the Impact Award 2017 Hon-orees for ArchitzierA + Awards, the Marcus Prize Award 2019, Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal of 2020, and the Honorary Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) en 2021.

Photo: Luis Garvan

Sandra Hofmeister is editor-in-chief of DETAIL and a board member of DETAIL Business Information GmbH. Her journalistic work comprises a large number of texts, primarily on the topics of architecture and design, which have been published in German and English-language books, magazines and daily newspapers. After studying art history in Berlin, she earned her doctorate at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 2006. In addition to her work as a moderator und author, Sandra Hofmeister was editor-in-chief of the German-language version of Domus from 2012 to 2015, and coordinated the launch of the lincensed magazine.

She currently teaches at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Her most recent publications include the volume “Our Bauhaus Heritage / Unser Bauhaus Erbe” (Edition DETAIL, 2019).

Photo: Michela Morosini

Jan Knippers studied civil engineering at the TU Berlin. He then worked in an engineering office before being appointed head of the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the University of Stuttgart in 2000. Currently, he is Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning and Deputy Spokesman of the DFG Cluster of Excellence 'Integrative Computational Design and Construction'.  Parallel to his academic activities, he manages the office of Jan Knippers Ingenieure at the interface of practice and research.  

Photo: Jan Knippers

Achim Menges is an architect located in Frankfurt and professor at the University of Stuttgart. There he heads the newly founded Institute for Computer-based Design and Construction (ICD) and the Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture" (IntCDC). He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard University, as well as at various other universities in the USA and Europe. In practice and research, Achim Menges investigates an integrative approach to computer-based design, fabrication and construction, as well as genuinely digital construction methods and the architecture that emerges from them.  

Photo: Achim Menges

After beginning his career in science and experimental mathematics, Peter van Assche transitioned into architecture and is now the founding principal of bureau SLA, an Amsterdam-based firm focused on the necessity of transitioning to a circular economy through design. 

As a design studio, bureau SLA consists of a team of architects and builders, supported by architectural historians, landscape architects, and energy experts. The studio does not wait for commissions to be given, but builds and develops in the city in an innovative way — from their own initiatives and with their own manpower. By designing, researching, inventing and building the full potential of material use, energy, waste flows, smart living & working and development processes are discovered and implemented. 

Peter van Assche is the chairman of the Committee for Architectural Review in Utrecht and supervisor for the Utrecht station area. Peter teaches at Cornell University and is professor Architecture and Circular Thinking at the Academy of Architecture Amsterdam. He received a Master of Information Technology (cum laude) from the Technical University Eindhoven and obtained his architecture degree from the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture. In 2022 he is visiting professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. 

Photo: Ineke Oostveen

Špela Videčnik  with Rok Oman, both graduates from the Ljubljana School of Architecture and London’s Architectural Association, established OFIS arhitekti in 1996. The office is based in Ljubljana and Paris.

Since its creation, the practice has been investigating space relations in different scales and context. Their build work is represented by various programs from public, sport, cultural and religious buildings to single and multiple housing. Their academic research combines different interests and curiosities. They investigate European and local Slovenian identity in contemporary architectural language, which includes traditional knowledge of vernacular buildings to revitalisations, conversions and new build in alpine area. Through their research of Habitations in Extreme environments they build projects several alpine shelters in Slovenia and glass house in the desert in Spain.

They teach, run studios and workshops in various Schools for architecture including Harvard Graduate School of Design, Architectural Association in London, Hong Kong University, UCLA in Los Angeles, Milano Politecnico and ENSA Paris Val de Seine and Faculty for architecture in Ljubljana. 

Photo: Tomaž Gregorič