Atelier Kempe Thill

Profile

Since the nineties, contemporary architecture is being confronted with a contradictory phenomenon. Architects are asked on one hand to produce very neutral and anonymous buildings adaptable to different programs.

On the other hand at the same time, they are asked to create very specific buildings easy to identify with unique spaces. Atelier Kempe Thill – founded in 2000 by two German architects André Kempe (Freiberg, *68) and Oliver Thill (Karl-Marx-Stadt, *71) - takes this modern paradox very consciously as the point of departure of the work. The office tries to create structures that are neutral and economic as well as being specific and innovative. The aim of the work is to achieve “Specific Neutrality” that gives architecture the possibility to express the hidden vitality of our time.

Biography

Andre Kempe, Partner
Born 21. 06. 1968 in Freiberg (DDR - East Germany)
1990-1996 Technische Universiteit in Dresden
1993 - urban studies in Paris about the “villes nouvelles”
1994- urban studies in Tokyo about “shibuya”
2000 Atelier Kempe Thill in Rotterdam / The Netherlands
1999- visiting lectureship TU Delft, Academie van Bouwkunst Arnhem, Academie van Bouwkunst Rotterdam
2003- board member Young European Architects

Oliver Thill, Partner
Born 02.01. 1971 in Karl Marx Stadt (DDR - East Germany)
1990-1996 Technische Universiteit in Dresden
1993- urban studies in Paris about the “villes nouvelles”
1994- urban studies in Tokyo about “shibuya”
2000 Atelier Kempe Thill in Rotterdam / The Netherlands
since 1999- visiting lectureship TU Delft, Academie van Bouwkunst Arnhem,
Academie van Bouwkunst Rotterdam, Berlage Institute Rotterdam

Winner Europan 5 Rotterdam / NL (1999)
Winner ‘the house of the 21st century” Roosendaal / NL (2001)
Bauwelt Award, Germany (2003)
Detail award, Germany (2005)
Rotterdam - Maaskant Prize for Young Architects, Netherlands (2005)
Design Vanguard 2007, USA (2007)
Burgenländischer Architekturpreis / Austria (2008)
Detail award, Germany (2009)