academy
Holistic in approach, transdisciplinary in process: Projects at blocher partners are conceived of and realized holistically, with the expertise and knowledge of all the disciplines involved brought to bear along the way. It is the perspective and input that results from the respective background of the team members – and some of them may be ‘outsiders’ – which makes our designs uniquely innovative sustainable, timeless, aesthetic, functional, and an emotional delight. Just as our design proposals are structured such as to be constantly advanced further and in this way can adapt flexibly to forever changing conditions, so too do we work in a reflective vein, in a permanent beta-status. We are busy further developing our mindset, expanding our horizons, and mutually benefiting from one another. The framework we have specially created for ourselves in this regard has a name: the academy.
In the best sense of classical architecture, it combines both the imparting of knowledge and the pursuit of research. We impart knowledge, amongst other things, by running a diverse seminar programme open to all members of staff. Here, we rely on both the know-how of outside specialists and the expertise of our own staff. Alongside software training and language courses, we offer seminars to develop personal, methodological and social skills, all in the right setting: specially rented and outfitted office spaces opposite our Stuttgart head office.
The two areas, namely knowledge and research, are things we consider inseparable from each other, as they are mutually enrichening. Our goal is to generate new knowledge on an ongoing basis and input this into our teams. Conversely, we use our widely varied expertise as the basis for researching the new. In the process, we succeed in anchoring our core competences and steadily expanding our know-how edge over rivals.
For example, our staff include DGNB auditors who make certain sustainability is factored into all our departments. Then there are our design strategists, who accompany projects especially in the early phases incorporating users and their needs into the project development; and there’s the technology team which amongst other things, focusses on parametric and generative design and implements digital methods into our design processes. Not least by means of innovative tools and approaches of this kind, we succeed in individualizing the digital planning process using BIM and adapting it to the requirements of our respective clients. And our holistic approach also comes full circle here: Internal BIM experts communicate their knowledge to the other staff members in the course of regular seminars and the BIM guidelines we have developed in-company serve to support everyday work, thus guaranteeing a permanent flow of information such that the permanent beta-status never comes to a halt.
For all the exchange of knowledge, it is key to ensure there is plenty of interaction in a leisurely atmosphere, promoting dialogue, encouraging discourse. And this is what we achieve with our so-called workshop meets, where our transdisciplinary teams offer insights into their work and experts get an opportunity to whisk us away into their specialist worlds. Because constantly creating new spaces is what we consider our vision at all levels of how we see ourselves as an architecture and design office.