„Our work combines conceptual directness with limited utilization of formal means. This “economical utilization of resources“ in general and in architectural detail is an important prerequisite for the longevity of our ideas“

“Baukultur” is a concept that is difficult to translate; for this very reason, many think therefore that it is a German virtue. Baukultur stands for the holistic approach to the built environment, at any scale, both in terms of function and from an aesthetic point of view combined with the understanding of the cultural heritage and focusing on the future. With this in mind, we claim to arrive at the best possible solution for each task assigned to us - from the school building to the corporate headquarters. We have succeeded in this endeavor due to the well-developed culture of lively discussion among the four partners and our staff members. We consider the diversity of the resulting resources and possibilities to be our strength.

History

The firm JSWD was founded in 2000. Today the four partners Jürgen Steffens, Olaf Drehsen and the brothers Konstantin and Frederik Jaspert head an office with approx. 280 employees from 30 nations. The partners started on their architectural careers as RWTH students in Aachen. Günter Behnisch, Schuster Architects as well as Volkwin Marg (gmp) influenced their further professional development, followed by teaching posts and the establishment of the firm. In the last several years, JSWD has realized more than 60 projects in Germany and increasingly in other European countries, often following successfully entered competitions. "JSWD Health Care" was also founded in 2010.
Since 2024, JSWD is led by the founding partners Olaf Drehsen and Frederik Jaspert, the partners Christian Mammel, Mario Pirwitz and Tobias Unterberg and the associate partners Hermann Norda and Helmut Schröder.
JSWD finds further architectural, technical and intellectual inspiration in cooperative ventures with other architectural firms in France and Luxembourg, in the USA and in China while maintaining a collaborative exchange in the realization of joint construction projects.

  Architecture

Our architecture is characterized by a dense synthesis of shapes, functionality and select materials. These three elements are inseparable and assume an equal, playful bond with all other requirements of the construction task.

The resulting buildings reveal the continuous pursuit of conceptual formal clarity. Working with a limited range of clearly defined elements, the firm creates unambiguous hierarchies inside its buildings and in open spaces. The identity of each design evolves from the specific situation and the aspiration to reflect the user’s own image in corporate architecture.

By cooperating with other established specialist planners we handle all phases of HOAI [German Fee Structure for Architects] from pre-planning through to construction services.

  Urban Design

Many of our projects have their roots in urban planning. We strive to rearrange urban centres and create clear places and space hierarchies. Built on this robust foundation, buildings and ensembles can develop anew and individually. Our goals are functioning intersections and a convincing interaction of new developments with the existing.

We do not consider tasks that are confined within a developed, urban context with its restrictions, historical context a limitation; far more we see it to be a challenge and source to inspire our creativity. JSWD is able to win competitions when the requirement is to re-arrange complex and demanding inner-city zones and intersections in particular.

  Master Planning

If desired, we also act as general planners. We can combine under our directorship all planning required for the construction, including project management. This enables the client to communicate with only one person who is responsible for all issues concerning the overall project. Coordination and organisational aspects thus may be reduced to a minimum while consistently assuring high quality. While planning we communicate with specialist engineers who know our working techniques and have proven reliable over many years of cooperation. Construction projects of various type and sizes evolve under our planning supervision.

  Health Care

At JSWD, we design buildings that meet the diverse challenges of sustainable healthcare architecture.
By taking the needs of different user groups into account, we create the conditions for an inclusive healthcare facility.
A clear but flexible spatial organization with short distances optimizes all functional processes and at the same time makes it easier for patients and visitors to find their way around. Our concepts guarantee space-efficient organization, intelligent building technology and the use of durable, long-lasting materials. Resource-efficient and sustainable energy concepts help to reduce manufacturing and maintenance costs as well as minimize potential environmental impact. In this way, we create buildings that are economical and therefore sustainable in the long term.
By focusing on the needs of patients, we create spaces that make them feel comfortable, which can contribute to the success of their treatment. In addition, we naturally aim to create a positive working environment for employees, thereby promoting their satisfaction and motivation.

  Interior Design

As architects and interior designers, we realize a comprehensive corporate architecture, extending to individual interior design. In this context, we consider our role to involve both planning and extensive consultation.
Already in the early stages of a project, we set high standards for functional and aesthetic quality in close coordination with our client.
Based on the incorparation of our clients' wishes and a deep analysis of the user base, we determine the spatial and functional layout, as well as the detailed interior design. The natural correspondence between the interior and exterior creates conceptually strong environments with a powerful identity. Through flexible space utilization, we enable adaptability to future needs.

  Sustainability

Today, contractors expect all buildings to meet the current standards for energy efficiency and sustainability. This is why we account for such aspects in the early phases of planning. Parallel development of the structure, equipment and appliances, and the building shell has proven successful: The German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB e. V.) already has awarded many projects of JSWD Architects, most recently the "Gold Certificate of Sustainability" for the building Q1 of the Thyssenkrupp Quarters in Essen.

Built Examples:

Headquarter Q1, Thyssenkrupp Quartier in Essen: DGNB Gold
Headquarter der Enervie in Hagen: LEED Gold
Kurt-Masur-School in Leipzig: PHPP-Standard
Office Building VIVAWEST in Gelsenkirchen: KfW-70-Standard
Business Center THE ICON VIENNA: LEED Platin

  Corporate Architecture

The endeavor for conceptual and formal clarity, independent of scale, takes priority as far as each JSWD construction project is concerned. We develop the identity of our designs from the specifics of the situation, the location, the function as well as from our claim to reflect the self-image of the client expressed in the sense of an individual Corporate Architecture. Best-case scenario: we create an inspiring and identifying symbol of the culture a company lives and breathes.

  • Tobias Bley

    Tobias Bley

    Senior Associate | Köln
  • Nina Breuer

    Nina Breuer

    Associate | Köln
  • Prof. Olaf Arne Drehsen

    Prof. Olaf Arne Drehsen

    | Vita
    Founding General Partner
  • Matteo Giovanelli-Dürfeld

    Matteo Giovanelli-Dürfeld

    Associate | Köln
  • Stefan Haupt

    Stefan Haupt

    Associate | Köln
  • Sara Hengsbach

    Sara Hengsbach

    Senior Associate | Köln
  • Jakob Hense

    Jakob Hense

    Senior Associate | Köln
  • Frederik Jaspert

    Frederik Jaspert

    | Vita
    Founding Partner, Architect
  • Konstantin Jaspert

    Konstantin Jaspert

    | Vita
    Founder
  • Joep Kuijs

    Joep Kuijs

    Associate | Berlin
  • Michael Landin

    Michael Landin

    Associate | Köln
  • Andreas Lepert

    Andreas Lepert

    Associate | Köln
  • Guido Litjens

    Guido Litjens

    Senior Associate | Köln
  • Omar Malass

    Omar Malass

    Associate | Köln
  • Christian Mammel

    Christian Mammel

    | Vita
    Partner, Architect
  • Armin Memic

    Armin Memic

    Associate | Köln
  • Elisabeth Mohrs

    Elisabeth Mohrs

    Associate | Köln
  • Hermann J. Norda

    Hermann J. Norda

    | Vita
    Associate Partner | Berlin
  • Sabine Piechotta

    Sabine Piechotta

    Associate | Köln
  • Mario Pirwitz

    Mario Pirwitz

    | Vita
    Partner, Architect
  • Sanaz Rezaei

    Sanaz Rezaei

    Associate | Berlin
  • Julien Schmidtke

    Julien Schmidtke

    Associate | Berlin
  • Helmut Schröder

    Helmut Schröder

    | Vita
    Associate Partner | Köln
  • Jürgen Steffens

    Jürgen Steffens

    | Vita
    Founder
  • Armin Tillmann

    Armin Tillmann

    Associate | Köln
  • Tobias Unterberg

    Tobias Unterberg

    | Vita
    Partner, Architect
  • Alexandra Voss

    Alexandra Voss

    Associate | Berlin

JSWD Mitarbeiter

Münire Akcadag / Sibel Akyüz Tuner / Haithm Al-Afif / Onur Akin / Omar Alayli / Sanaa Alhawajreh / Fedaa Alsoki / Juan Alvarado / Armaghan Amirhassankhani / Elias Arayess / Sahar Asadzadehzargar / Yildiz Atilgan / Karl Atlas / Fatma Avşar / Dion Babo / Michael Backes / Branko Balasevic / Iva Baze / Julia Benning / Lucas Bennett / Tobias Bley / Maxime Broquard / Nina Breuer / Carlotta Brucker / Elena Butron / Valeriia Butylina / Ervin Buzek / Marcel Campschroer / Agustin Carranza / Franco Casaccia / Elena Chernyak / Kwangyoung Chung / Seok Chung / Elif Civici / Hannah Clemens / Johanna Dettinger-Klemm / Ekin Dilek / Teoman Dogan / Claire Dupré / Matteo Giovanelli-Dürfeld / Leon Drehsen / Tim Ehlert / Sandra Eisenbeiß / Sinthubarathy Emmanuel / Tatiana Epimakhova / Francisco Fajardo / Martina Falk / Yinglin Fan / Mandana Fouladi / Sebastian Fuchs / Gejing Gao / Yilun Gao / Kaja Gerstein / Roozbeh Ghaemmaghami / Christoph Gottwald / Jörg-Peter Grothe / Jean-Philippe Grouls / Daan Hagemans / Jan Haloschan / Stefan Haupt / Benoît Helten / Sara Hengsbach / Stephanie Henke / Jakob Hense / Lena Herpell / Raoul van Herwijnen / Katja Hirschenkrämer / Josefine Hoppe / Saeed Hosseini / Andréa Hugen / Vera Huhn / Franziska Humperdinck / Lejla Huskic / Gergana Ivanova-Stanoeva / Thomas Jansen / Shaghayegh Jebeli / Chen Jiang / Frederike Johne / Essam Jrko / Jan Kaas / Soichi Kadokawa / Amit Kanfo / Elena Kantorovitch / Mersi Kalo / Chariklea Karavasili / Reza Kamyabi / Kateryna Kappel / Witold Kiendzinski / Burak Kılıç / Abraham Klagsbrun / Andrea Klooß / Anastasiia Korovina / Rebecca Kossler / Moritz Krein / Bijan Hedayatinia / Sascha Klenz / Isabelle Kling / Marius Klingebiel / Henriette Kosel / Lisanne Kröll / Nils Kubischek / Candy Kühl van Winkle / Maria Kühlem / Joep Kuijs / Ahmad Issa / Michael Landin / Eric Laughlin / Malena Ley / André Lenuck / Andreas Lepert / Ran Li / Alexandra Limar / Yu Lin / Guido Litjens / Matteo Lobb / Christian Löhden / Nadine Lubeley / Valentina Lucich / Omar Malass / Jennifer Maldener / Christian Mammel / Laura Marche / Lea Markatsch / Carmela Marra / Andrea Marxen / Armin Memic / Mahmoud Meligy / Anesa Mesic / Susna Miah / Anastasia Michailovski / Niklas Möller / Elisabeth Mohrs / Eva Motzigemba / Ava Mronz / Ikenna Obinna / Annika Obst / Laura Offermann / Jun Hyoung Oh / Alptuğ Ören / Martin Oehme / Xavier Osorio / Gaia Osuna / Konstantin Overdiek / Daniella Painemal / Vladislav Pankin / Stephan Paschen / Sophia Peters / Kathrin Pizzulli / Luisa-Marie Propers / Klaudia Puchaczewski / Hermann Norda / Sabine Piechotta / Mario Pirwitz / Anna Plaßmann / Khrystyna Pundak / Dima Abdul Razzak / Sanaz Rezaei / Anette Rickert / Julia Rings / Sebastian Palacios Romero / Mert Saraf / Ahmed Salem / Mehtap Saltan / Vivien Schaap / Alexandra Schmid / Julien Schmidtke / Helmut Schröder / Tina Schütte / Anna Schulz / Jakob Schulz / Rafael Seeck / Jaeho Shin / Bilal Sinir / Antonia Sommer / Marc Sondern / Sophia Sokull / Kim Karen Steffens / Natalia Stepanova / Antonia Stolberg / Raman Suliman / Polina Svetlitskaya / Armin Tillmann / Imke Torka / Lillemor Tremml / Tobias Unterberg / Giancarlo Urpi / Yeliz Uzunemin / Ursula Vollmert / Alexandra Voss / Julian Wachsmann / Kristian Walder / Guo Wei / Geraldine Werkmeister / Marzena Wiese / Luisa Wierz / Ellen Wölk / Sina Wolpert / Sven Wötzel / Adam Wuttke / Meng Yang / Firat Yesil / Atakan Yilmaz / Kuanghua Yu / Zhizhe Zhang / Zubair Roia Zabuly

Photo: Till Budde

In addition to our headquarters in Cologne, our offices in Berlin and Tampa were opened in 2021.

Adresse Berlin:      JSWD Architekten, Stralauer Allee 7, 10245 Berlin-Friedrichshain, T +49 (0)30 439 7259-0
Adresse Köln:    JSWD Architekten, Maternusplatz 11, 50996 Cologne-Rodenkirchen, T +49 (0)221 935 550-0
Adresse Tampa: JSWD Architects LP, 8401 N Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, Florida 33614, USA, T +1 813 522 5400 Ext. 101
Austria

BEHF architects, Vienna
Switzerland

SPÄH Architektur, Zürich
Luxembourg

architecture + aménagement S.A., Luxembourg
TETRA Kayser Associés sa, Luxembourg
Netherlands

MLA+, Rotterdam
France

chaixetmorel., Paris
inFABric, Paris
Spain

Gina Barcelona Architects
Italy

cfk architetti, Venice
 

 

Denmark

 

BIG, Copenhagen
Czechia

BOGLE architects, Prague
Poland

GRUPA 5, Warsaw
UK

SOM, London
China

MLA+, Shenzhen
Egypt

TRINITY Design, London
USA

SOM, New York
Handel Architects, New York
HWKN Architecture, New York
GGLO Design, Los Angeles/Seattle

More Profiles of JSWD

now-near-next of NAX
Wikipedia.de/JSWD
BauNetz.de/JSWD
competitionline.de/JSWD
german-architects.com/JSWD

Projectpages

Haus der Europäischen Geschichte, Brüssel
Thyssenkrupp Quartier, Essen
The Icon Vienna, Wien
Neuer Kanzlerplatz, Bonn
UKSH Schleswig-Holstein

More Links Links

Museum der Stille, Berlin
Bauforumstahl
Baukunst-NRW
NAX.de