Karoline Brandfellner
Karoline Brandfellner studied architecture at the technical university of Berlin and economic psychology at the university Vienna. She is part of querkrafts team since 2014, organizing the wide range of public relations of their projects. In her field of work she is gaining broad insight into the architectural branche, organisizing awards, competition-submissions, and guided tours through querkrafts projects. . The querkraft team of about 45 people works primarily in areas such as residential construction, cultural and educational buildings, office and industrial buildings.
Roger Christ
Born in 1972 in Wiesbaden, Germany, Roger Christ studied civil engineering at Graz University of Technology in Austria before joining Norman Foster and Partners architectural firm in London as an employee for a year in 1996.
From 1997 to 2003, Roger pursued his studies in architecture at Graz University of Technology, where he graduated with honors under Professor Volker Giencke. Between 2004 and 2006, he worked for the architectural firm of Professor Klaus Kada in Graz while also holding a teaching position at the Institute of Architectural Technology.
Since 2006, Roger has been working as a freelance architect in his hometown of Wiesbaden.
In 2011, he was appointed to the Bund Deutscher Architekten BDA (Association of German Architects), and from 2020 to 2022, he served as the co-chair of the BDA Wiesbaden group alongside Jan Spork.
Roger has participated as a member of a jury in several architectural competitions.
His firm, Christ.Christ. associated architects, has received international recognition and numerous awards.
Raffaella Mangiarotti
Raffaella Mangiarotti is an architect and designer. She lives and works in Milan. She holds a degree in architecture, a doctorate in design, and is a researcher at the Politecnico di Milano. After working with Marco Zanuso and Francesco Trabucco she founded deepdesign with Matteo Bazzicalupo, designing innovative products for major companies in the sector, including Smeg, Whirlpool and DaimlerCrysler. In 2010 he founded the Raffaella Mangiarotti studio where she specialises in art direction, furniture elements, showrooms and exhibition design, designing internationally. Some of her products are exhibited in international museums and exhibitions and part of permanent collections, recognised with international awards. From 2017 to 2022 she was appointed Ambassador of Italian Design in the world.
John Marx
John Marx, AIA, is a co-founding principal and chief artistic officer of Form4 Architecture in San Francisco, California. He is responsible for developing Form4 Architecture’s design vision and philosophical language. In order to return a sense of humanity back into architecture, he advocates for the inclusion of Philosophy, Art, and Poetry in the thoughtful making of place by creating emotionally resonant architecture and urban spaces. He is a part time student of Absurdity, Paradox, Kindness, and Balance.
John’s design work and writing have been published in over 100 national and international publications. In 2018, the Architectural Review published his monograph “The Absurdity of Beauty - Rebalancing the Modernist Narrative”. In 2023 he co-edited "Towards Abundance - The Delightful Paradoxes of Gender" with the Architectural Review. He has widely lectured on the topics of Design, Placemaking, Emotional Meaning and Cultural Vibrancy in Silicon Valley and places as diverse as Korea, Italy, Austria, Australia, Canada and the Technion in Israel.
John has been going to Burning Man since 2015 and has also written about the importance of its participatory culture with regard to the design process and as a catalyst for social change. Last year, John Marx was lead artist on "Andromeda Reimagined”, a widely celebrated architectural pavilion at Burning Man. In 2020 John was Architect and Co-Lead Artist for the Museum of No Spectators, which debuted virtually in July and was built in 2023.
Form4 Architecture has received over 174 design awards and in 2017, John became a Laureate of the American Prize for Architecture. Curated byThe ChicagoAthenaeum andThe European Centre forArchitecturethe award is recognized nationally and internationally as one of America’s highest public tributes for architecture in the United States. The American Prize for Architecture, is bestowed to an “outstanding practitioner in the UnitedStates that has emblazoned a new direction in the history of AmericanArchitecture with talent, vision, and commitment and has demonstratedconsistent contributions to humanity through the built environment andthrough the art of architecture.” He also won the 2017 Upstart Award which honors the most innovative, disruptive, and creative business professionals throughout the SF Bay Area.
GAFF/ ECC showed John Marx’s work at the Venice Architecture Biennale in Italy in 2016. In 2018, they exhibited his research on ‘2nd Century Modernism – Reflections on Abundance’. 2021 sees the exhibition of his watercolors and poetry at Palazzo Mora during the Venice Biennale.
ORO press has recently published an award winning 160 page book entitled “ ETUDES The Poetry of Dreams + Other Fragments”. This book focuses on 84 of John's watercolor paintings as well as 42 poems. In 2020 ETUDES won an Indie Book Award for Illustration, and in 2021 John received the James Gates Percival International Prize for Literature.
John has served on the Board of the Magic Theatre in San Francisco from 2009 thru 2020 and has chaired its Board over five years. The Magic Theatre honored him with the Sam Shephard Legacy Award in 2018. John joined the board of the San Francisco Art Institute in 2020 and was Co- Chair from 2021-2023. SFAI is one of the oldest and most prestigious art schools in the United States.
Matteo Bazzicalupo
Matteo Bazzicalupo (Parma, 1966) graduated summa cum laude in Architecture at Politecnico di Milano in 1991. He has lectured at several universities and post-graduate master's degrees, including the School of Design of the Milan Polytechnic, SDA Bocconi, Scuola Politecnica di Design, European Institute of Design, University of Architecture and Design of Genoa, IUAV of Treviso, and the Superior Institute of Design of Naples.
In 1992 he founded the Matiz Design Studio, taking part in various design competitions and starting research activities dedicated to the creation of emotional installations/performances inspired by the different states of light and its relationship with music and the body [e.g. liquid light].
In 1995 at the editorial office of Modo (a design and architecture magazine founded by Alessandro Mendini) he met Raffaella Mangiarotti and together they founded deepdesign. since then they have been working globally developing innovative brand identity and product design projects in almost all industrial sectors; from food packaging to consumer electronics, furniture and cosmetics as well as exhibition spaces and showrooms.
deepdesign has won the most prestigious awards in the international arena and its projects have been featured in leading industry publications.
The Milan Triennale and several international museums have dedicated exhibitions to deepdesign's work and acquired products in their permanent collections (MoMa NYC).
Mayer H. Jürgen
J. MAYER H. und Partner, Architekten mbB is an international award-winning architectural firm with projects at the intersection of architecture, communication, and new technology. From urban planning schemes and buildings, to installation work and objects with new materials, the relationship between the human body, technology, and nature form the background for a new production of space. J. MAYER H. was founded in 1996 by Jürgen Mayer H. in Berlin. In January 2014, Andre Santer and Hans Schneider joined as partners in the firm.
J.MAYER.H has a wide array of completed national and international projects and has been honored with many international awards. Juergen Mayer H. studied at Stuttgart University, The Cooper Union and Princeton University. His work has been published and exhibited worldwide and is part of numerous collections including MoMA New York, SF MoMA, The Art Institute of Chicago, Kunstbibliothek Berlin, State of Berlin Museum Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Architekturmuseum der TU München as well as numerous private collections.
Ole Scheeren
Ole Scheeren has gained worldwide recognition for his designs for innovative high-rise buildings, residential projects and hybrid art spaces. His landmark projects shape the way we interact with our cities, creating new social narratives through a bold vision of architecture as a highly connective and inclusive environment.
For him, architecture is a kind of body or stage on which human life can unfold. Beyond their mere functionality, his buildings activate the imagination, fantasy and emotions of the people who live and work in them, true to Scheeren's motto "form follows fiction". With his stacked horizontal buildings and their many openings to nature, as in the residential complex "The Interlace" (2013), Scheeren explores new perspectives on vertical thinking and building in today's urban environment, designing new living spaces for people and their needs.
In 2010, Scheeren founded his architectural practice, Büro Ole Scheeren, with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Berlin, and London, where he is chief designer and responsible for managing the firm's business, creative vision, and strategic development. His projects have won numerous awards, including the CTBUH Urban Habitat Award 2021 for DUO in Singapore, the World Building of the Year Award 2015 for The Interlace in Singapore, and the CTBUH Best Tall Building Worldwide Award 2013 for the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing.
Andrea Tabocchini
Andrea Tabocchini is an Italian architect who founded Andrea Tabocchini Architecture in 2021, after working at several internationally renowned firms such as: OMA / Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam, the Netherlands (2016- 2021), Kengo Kuma & Associates in Tokyo, Japan (2015), and RCR Arquitectes in Olot, Spain (2014).
His architecture practice is based in Ancona, Italy, and works on projects across the globe. The office portfolio is the result of private commissions as well as public design competitions. Their collaborative work spans a wide range of scales and typologies: from private houses to art installations, exhibitions, and offices, as well as schools, museums, civic projects, and urban masterplans.
Andrea has exhibited his work at various cultural events, including the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts (2022), the Venice Architecture Biennale (2021), the Rome Architecture Festival (2021), and the Milan Triennale (2018). He has been invited to lecture at several institutions such as Politecnico di Milano, Czech Technical University, the University of Melbourne, and the University of Palermo, among others. His projects have been published internationally and have received numerous awards including The Plan Award, RTF Sustainability Award, Inspireli Award, and Archi- World Academy Award.