In conversation with Niels Schoenfelder

What is your earliest memory of looking at architecture as a profession?

I was about to enrol at university to study mathematics but applied last minute for architecture instead. 

Is there an architect whose work you have followed intently through the years?

Many. Brunelleschi, Alberti, Borromini, Bernini, Ledoux, Schinkel to name a few. But there are also often just building typologies through time (that are) more important than individual architects.

What do you believe is the first project that defined your practise, a turning point, if you may?

We had built a house with three feet thick load-bearing walls,that reconfirmed what we suspected: that for us the idea - the spirit of a project - has to get into the bones of a building to become a worthwhile piece of architecture. No matter what the bones are made of.

When it comes to the ideation process, what is the starting point - hand drawn sketches or the computer?

Lots of sitting in a corner and thinking, then a couple of sketches and then it usually develops in a diverse team process.