ATELIER KLINGENBERG ARKITEKTUR

Human interactions shape the architectural spaces we plan and profoundly influence our manners in operating as architects. An almost obsessive research for a balance in our team, like the one which can be found inside a family unit, drove us in conceiving the new studio’s space with organizational, material, chromatic and physic characteristics which could be capable in constructing that restful atmosphere which all of us can experience entering in our own living room. Our atelier is an open cozy space, a “place of non-chaotic stasis”, which occupies the volumes from the ancient guard post of the noble Palazzo Pollini, built in 1715 for the Torriani family in the historical center heart of Mendrisio, Canton Ticino. A “micro-social” horizontal structure and a free flowing of information between all the members of the team are fundamental for the functioning of Klingenberg Arkitektur. The placement of workstations inside our office is not hierarchical and none of us has a private working space, thus allowing all team members to stay together independently from their role or profession. A long meeting table, also our dining and coffee break table, our drawing, planning, computer and even modelling table, is the social heart of our studio. We deeply believe in the importance of shared meals and in the added value which all this time spent together brings to our planning projects. Outside lunch and dinner hours, this table becomes a collaborative working area, but also a space for both formal and informal conversations with clients, artists, gallerists, consultants and sales representatives for materials and products. This table is our domestic parliament and only around it and in the presence of everyone, strategies and projects related to Klingenberg Arkitektur growth can be elaborated and shared; It’s there we confront our common dream with everyday problems, to sustain and defend it from difficulties. The morning light filters through leaded windows which make evanescent the image of the ancient buildings in the borough, a great glass door guides the sight towards the peak of the mountains dominating the town. During working nights and grey winter days the artificial light, far form being an aseptic lightning for an administrative office, cooperates in the construction of that domestic atmosphere, researched as a premise of an excellent mental condition for thinking architecture. The morning light filters through leaded windows which make evanescent the image of the ancient buildings in the borough, a great glass door lead the sight towards the peak of the mountains dominating the town. During the working nights and the grey winter days the artificial light, far form being an aseptic lightning for an administrative office, cooperates in the construction of that domestic atmosphere, researched as a premise of an excellent mental condition for architecture thinking.