“Kill your darlings!”

We conduct an inten­‬sive and critical exam­ina­tion of ideas we have fallen in love with. As architects, it is our respon­si­bility to ensure that in the end only the best ideas are left and actually built.

How did the collab­ora­tion begin? What is your common story?

We laid the founda­tion for our future collab­ora­tion more than 20 years ago, in September of 1998, on our very first day as students at the ETH Zürich — with the joint design of a bridge. Both of us had just arrived from abroad, bring­ing influen­ces and ideas that comple­mented one another recip­ro­cally, Maurice from Australia, where he had earned his BA in Newcastle, Raphael from the Technical University in Innsbruck.

Our start in profes­sional life was fairly spec­tac­ular: that very first year, we won competi­tions for a Mountain Lodge in California, and for the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne. In 2009, we joined forces with Jürg Berrel, Maurice’s father, who had run his own office in Basel since 1968. As Berrel Berrel Kräutler, we were able to complete numer­ous projects during the ensuing 10 years, among them a school­house in Vouvry, a fire station in Pratteln, the exten­sion of the AHV build­ing in Geneva, and the conver­sion of St. Jakobshalle in Basel.
Since 2019, we have been increas­ingly appear­ing again as Berrel Kräutler Architekten.

What drives you, and what are your goals? 

We believe in the imme­diate value of architecture, and we seek to con­tribute to a first-rate culture of build­ing with meticu­lously designed projects that do justice to the require­ments of users, as well as to the surround­ing environ­ment. We strive to enhance quality of life. We are motiva­ted by a strong sense of idealism, which we hope never to lose sight of.

Which principal themes, essen­tial concepts, or stylistic tenden­cies are associa­ted with your work?

One of our basic princip­les is to avoid being firmly tied to any specific cate­gory or utiliza­tion, nor to a single construc­tion method, material, or style. We can get excited about virtu­ally any type of build­ing task, provided the frame­work condi­tions are right. We regard it as our respon­sibility to find a solu­tion that satis­fies all of the require­ments of the client and users, while doing justice to the parcel and its history, as well as the natural and built environ­ment and social interests. We are interes­ted in spatial experi­ence and in astonish­ing elements. Although we develop specific themes from assign­ment to assign­ment, we strive to avoid hav­ing any of our build­ings be recog­nizable at a glance as “Berrel Kräutler”.

Which architects have you drawn upon as sources of inspi­ra­tion? And which non-archi­tec­tural fac­tors have influen­ced you? 

Inspi­ra­tion can be found any­where, in any­thing, provi­ded one’s senses remain consis­tently recep­tive. Often­times, after an event­ful week­end, a marvel­lous film, an interest­ing trip or exhibi­tion, we come back to the studio with count­less new ideas.

If you could pursue a project accord­ing to your own desires, and free of bud­getary limita­tions, what form would it take? And how would it look?

Actually, we are less interes­ted in the ‘what’ than in the ‘how’ and the ‘why’. For us, it is vital that we have a cer­tain free­dom, that we avoid repeat­ing our­selves from one task to the next, that we are able to ven­ture into unfamil­iar terri­tory. With each new build­ing type, we are able to famil­iarize our­selves with a new and excit­ing world, whether it is a fire stat­ion, a petrol stat­ion, or elderly hous­ing.
In principle, we would like to be much more involved in sustain­able urban and social develop­ment and in social con­cerns.

You have realized pro­jects such as the admin­is­tra­tion build­ing for the Swiss Confederation in Ittigen, the exten­sion of the WHO head­quarters, and the school­house in Vouvry, and won compe­ti­tions for the Weyermannshaus sport and recrea­tional facility and the embassy in Singapore. How do such designs emerge?

Our design method has remained unchanged since our study years. For as long as possible, we seek to avoid becom­ing enamou­red of any definite solut­ion, instead pursu­ing a variety of dif­ferent approaches. Helpful at times is the so-called “kill your darl­ings” method. In many cases, we con­sciously exclude a solut­ion to which we have fallen in love with, since it harbours the danger of blinding us to its dis­advan­tages.

Also belong­ing to this process is an open discus­sion with many of our employ­ees. We value every point of view, and encour­age the par­tici­pa­tion of all team mem­bers, since the results are enriched by multiple and diverse per­spec­tives.

The initial design phase is extrem­ely work-inten­sive, and for new employ­ees, is often diffi­cult to compre­hend, but when we consi­der our suc­cesses in open compe­ti­tions, the effort has really paid off.

What is next for Berrel Kräutler Architekten? What projects are you work­ing on cur­rently? Is anyth­ing special in the off­ing at the moment?

We have just launched our new corpo­rate image, and we are quite pleased with the fresh breeze it has brought into our prac­tice. With the WHO project and the UVEK Campus, we have comple­ted two major pro­jects, both of which absorbed enor­mous amounts of energy in recent years. We are look­ing for­ward to a some­what quieter period and to an oppor­tunity to reflect on recent experi­ences. Mean­while, our highly varie­gated team is work­ing on cur­rent projects in Geneva, Bern, Muttenz, Kreuzlingen, and Singapore, and we are look­ing forward to compel­ling new commis­sions.

Foundation/Legal form

2003 Berrel Wülser Kräutler Architekten with headquarters in Zurich
2007 Berrel Kräutler Architekten GmbH with headquarters in Zurich
2009 Berrel Berrel Kräutler AG with headquarters in Basel/Zurich
2020 Berrel Kräutler Architekten AG with headquarters in Zurich