Eike Becker

Eike Becker (born January 27, 1962 in Osterholz-Scharmbeck ) is a German architect and designer . Since 1999 he has been running the Berlin-based office Eike Becker_Architekten together with the architect Helge Schmidt .

life and career

Becker studied architecture from 1983 to 1989 at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen , from 1989 to 1990 at the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-Belleville and at the University of Stuttgart . There he worked as part of the Collaborative Research Center 230 “Natural constructions, lightweight construction in architecture and nature” at Klaus Humpert's chair . In 1990 he graduated from the University of Stuttgart with a diploma. This was followed by a six-month internship first in the Norman Foster Associates office , then in the Richard Rogers Partnership office in London .

The development of Berlin after German reunification attracted Becker to the new capital. There he founded the Becker Gewers Kühn & Kühn Architects office at the end of 1991 together with the architects Georg Gewers, Oliver Kühn and Swantje Kühn. Two first prizes in major design competitions in 1992 and 1995 made the office known. Both projects, the head office of Verbundnetz Gas AG in Leipzig and the head office of Berliner Volksbank eG in Berlin, were managed by Becker at BGKK. In 1997 he designed the Hybrid WorkSpace together with Geert Lovink and others for the documenta X in Kassel. This room served as an exhibition space, media laboratory and performance stage.

In 1999 Becker founded the office Eike Becker_Architekten together with Helge Schmidt. The office has around sixty employees from twenty nations (2019) and is active in the areas of residential construction, office construction, commercial construction, hotel construction and cultural construction. The office mainly employs young architects from Eastern and Southern Europe, only the project manager function is left to the native speakers. In the same year 1999 Becker also became chairman of the board of the KW Institute for Contemporary Art , Berlin.

plant

According to Becker, every design is about an envelope that offers thermal, hygienic, visual and acoustic comfort, an envelope that creates physical and psychological well-being without harming the environment. This is exemplified by the office buildings of Verbundnetz Gas AG in Leipzig (1992–1997), Rheinkalk GmbH in Wülfrath (2000–2002), Ed. Züblin AG in Stuttgart (2000–2002) and Stadtwerke Neuss GmbH in Neuss (2003–2007).

Another theme that recurs in Becker's projects is the facade as a screen, i.e. as a surface for playing with changing light and moving images. These facades are based on the often enormously synaesthetic architecture of the Baroque , in which visual and architectural art unite. At the same time, these facades use the possibilities of highly developed technologies for light and image production. Examples of this attitude are the facade of the conference tower of the head office of Verbundnetz Gas AG in Leipzig, designed by James Turrell , the design of the facade of the Arcotel Velvet in Berlin and the roofs of the Hauptbahnhof station in Leipzig.

Becker sums up the work of the architect in a kind of intensification of the term interference with the term superference : “Superference describes today's architectural production conditions. Superference offers an architectural strategy in which analysis and empathy intersect. Superference offers a design method that includes a great deal and excludes a little, uses contrasts and conflicts to open closed systems and question certainties. Superference identifies the rival forces of the man-made environment as the essential dynamic of life. Superference gives an insight into the way we think, work and design. We have to see, hear and read more thoroughly in order to correctly interpret the signs of an increasingly surprising world and increasingly differentiated society. Only on this basis can an idea of how it should be - that is, a vision - form the current from endless possibilities for the particular task that allows everything to flow in one direction. "()

Buildings and designs

1992–1997: VNG - head office of Verbundnetz Gas AG in Leipzig

1997: Hybrid WorkSpace information, communication and discussion laboratory at documenta X in Kassel

1999–2002: ffeff - office and commercial building, Friedrichstrasse 148 in Berlin

1998–2000: PlanetM - Bertelsmann Pavilion, Expo2000 in Hanover

2000: AKL 2.0 - draft for the European headquarters, Bombardier Transportation in Berlin (not executed)

2000–2002: Ha² head office of Rheinkalk GmbH in Wülfrath

2000–2002: Z_Zwo - Head Office Extension, Ed. Züblin AG in Stuttgart

2000–2004: Seize - Wallhöfe on Wallstrasse in Berlin [5]

2001–2004: TiWi - Arcotel Velvet in Berlin

2003–2007: wYe - head office of Stadtwerke Neuss GmbH in Neuss

2004–2006: Fling - Hauptbahnhof Leipzig stop in Leipzig

2004–2010: Zack - office and commercial building on Schloßstraße in Berlin

2005: HighOffice - draft for the quarter at Alexanderplatz in Berlin (not executed)

2005–2016: Olivaer Platz - restoration of a residential building in Berlin

2005-2013: Basou - Fehrbelliner Höfe in Berlin [6]

2006–2013: Circus - residential, office and hotel construction Am Zirkus in Berlin

2008: 3f - draft for a media house of the Schwäbischer Verlag in Ravensburg (not executed)

2008–2013: ULand - Draft for the residential building, Uhlandstraße 187 in Berlin (not executed)

2008–2013: TickTack - draft for the villas in Seget in Split / Croatia (not executed)

2008–2016: R fl x - residential building, Kollwitzstrasse in Berlin

2008–2016: The Garden - residential ensemble in Berlin

2009: AHF - draft for the Humboldt Forum in Berlin (not carried out)

2009–2012: PaLett - Hotel Steigenberger at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport in Berlin

2009–2014: 4cubes - design for the residential high-rise N3 Koncar in Split / Croatia (not executed)

2009–2015: SplitsKa draft for the head office, Banka Splitska in Split / Croatia (not executed)

2010: Romeo - design for the residential buildings at the Schaubühne in Berlin (not executed)

2010: KuBin - design for the residential and commercial building, art cube on the art campus in Berlin (not executed)

2010–2016: Zair - draft for the quarter on Strojarska Cesta in Zagreb / Croatia (not executed)

2010–2012: Whiss - design for the Tegel office building in Berlin (not executed)

2010–2013: WQtel - Hotel Steigenberger and variety theater in the Weser district in Bremen [7]

2010–2013: ThF - Tempelhofer Hafen in Berlin

2011: Mönchengladbach - Competition - Shopping-Arcaden in Mönchengladbach (not carried out)

2012: WAZ competition - WAZ Media Office, Berliner Platz / Segerrothstraße in Essen (not carried out)

2012–2016: Speyer - residential ensemble in Speyer

2012–2016: ma | ro office and commercial buildings in Frankfurt am Main

2012–2017: Colors - office and residential complex in Bahnstadt Heidelberg

2014–2016: Bernem - Design for the residential and commercial building, Arnsburger Strasse in Frankfurt am Main

2014–2018: Spreeturm - high-rise office building at Postbahnhof in Berlin

2014–2019: Kaiserlei - city quarter in Offenbach am Main

2015: Campustower - competition for residential and office complex, Baakenhafen in Hamburg

2015–2016: B&B Voltaire - design for a hotel in Berlin (not executed)

2015–2018: Flughafenstrasse - micro-apartments, Flughafenstrasse in Berlin

2015–2019: Twotel competition, 1st place, hotel complex, Europaviertel in Stuttgart

2015–2020: XBergTower - residential complex in Berlin

2016–2019: TLW - residential high-rise in Theodor-Loos-Weg in Berlin

2017–2020: Europa-Allee - office tower and hotel building in Frankfurt am Main

Awards

Becker Gewers Kühn & Kühn Architects

Deubau Prize for young architects, for the headquarters of Verbundnetz Gas AG, Leipzig, 1998;
Balthasar Neumann Prize, recognition, for the head office of Verbundnetz GAS AG, Leipzig, 1998;
RIBA Award for Architecture, for the head office Verbundnetz Gas AG, Leipzig, 2001

Office Eike Becker Architects

Architecture and Office Innovation Prize, distinction, for the W4 office desk system, 2003;
red dot design award, for the W4 office desk system, 2004;
iF Product Design Award, Gold, for the Wide Board cabinet, 2006;
Office Application Award, category Best Office Concept, for the main administration Stadtwerke Neuss GmbH, Neuss, 2007;
Seal of approval for sustainable and energy-efficient building from the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, for the expansion of the main administration building Ed. Züblin AG, Stuttgart, 2009

literature

Aedes East (Ed.): Mix_t. Becker Gewers Kühn & Kühn Architects. Exhibition catalog, Berlin 1995.
Becker Gewers Kühn & Kühn Architects BDA. Projects and buildings 1992-1995. Wiesbaden 1996.
documenta, Museum Fridericianum Veranstaltungs-GmbH (Ed.): dX. documenta X. short guide. Hatje-Cantz, Ostfildern-Ruit 1997, pp. 284-287.
Ingeborg flag , Anette Hellmuth: Leipzig. Buildings 1989-1999. Birkhauser, Basel et al. 1999, pp. 138-143.
Miriam Wiesel, Peter Herbstreuth (Ed.): Children of Berlin. Voices, Berlin / New York 1999, pp. 7–9.
Eike Becker: Headquarters of Verbundnetz Gas AG Leipzig. Becker Gewers Kühn & Kühn Architects. Munich 1999, ISBN 3-79132130-7 .
AIT Architektur Innenarchitektur technical expansion , issue 10/2004, pp. 84–86.
Architektur Aktuell , issue 4/2005, pp. 50–59.
Karl-Werner Schulte, Stephan Bone-Winkel (eds.): Handbook of real estate project development. Cologne 2008, pp. 697-719.
Super reference. Eike Becker_Architect. Hatje-Cantz, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-77573150-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Archive link ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

↑ Architectural Tuesday - Eike Becker_Architekten, 2006 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2
↑ Photo of the facade
↑ super reference. Eike Becker_Architekten, Ostfildern 2012, p. 21

personal data
SURNAME	Becker, Eike
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German architect
DATE OF BIRTH	January 27, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH	Osterholz-Scharmbeck

[1] Archive link ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )