What began with a few low-budget projects is still guided by the same principles today: to build simply, purposefully and resource-consciously. From the outset, the practice has never aspired to developing a recognisable design vocabulary. Instead, it focuses on reading the site, on a deep understanding of scale, topology, history and neighbourhood. Context is the compass, not the backdrop. The projects in Myanmar, where a+r collaborated with local craftspeople and villagers to evolve regional building techniques, exemplify this approach.
From the mid-1990s onwards, urban planning issues came increasingly into focus: How can public, semi-public and private spaces be interwoven? How can high-quality, urban open spaces be created that encourage social intermixing and an open urban society? Milestone housing projects such as the Rosenstein Quarter in Stuttgart – regarded as a model for sustainable urban development – have shaped the practice’s direction and public profile. Over the years, a number of educational buildings have followed, each with their own specific requirements. A characteristic example is the grammar school with sports hall and youth centre in Frankfurt-Riedberg – a large school campus for 1,350 pupils, whose architectural concept translates the programme into a human scale and interweaves learning, physical activity and social interaction. Another current example is the Neufreimann education campus in Munich: With two schools, each with six classes per grade, for around 2,000 children and young people, several sports halls, a school swimming pool, a nursery, a cafeteria and extensive outdoor facilities, it is among the largest and most complex school building projects currently underway in the city. As in Frankfurt-Riedberg, a comprehensive spatial programme is transformed here into a clear, user-focused structure – functional, precise in terms of urban planning and with the aim of making education tangible as a social space.
The early integration of the next generation into the management team played a key role in shaping today’s leadership – long before the founding partners officially retired. Oliver Braun, Florian Gruner and Alexander Lange. Together with Walter Fritz, who was a partner at a+r from 2010 to 2025, they guided the firm’s transformation from a 20-person office into the company it is today – while developing a remarkable way of working together.