Architecture as a form of expression

When I have turned thoughts into a building, what connection does the building still have with the original thoughts? Architecture is an autonomous material and spatial form of expression, a medium of design. Every expression within this medium stands on its own and cannot be transferred or translated into another form.

Balance

In our architecture, we seek balance and harmony between pragmatism and idealism; between practicality and art.

Beauty

Beauty in architecture is not arbitrary but is rooted in the need to create emotional balance and satisfaction for its inhabitants, users, and observers.

As Alain de Botton puts it: "Beautiful buildings have the power to remind us of who we could ideally become."

Christ.Christ.Christ.Christ. Christ. >>

Our architect’s office was founded in 1898 by Karl Christ Sen., and is now managed in the fourth generation by Roger Christ. With each generation, a new office has been created with its own working methods and approaches. However, it is precisely these transition phases, when differing perspectives between new ideas and old values openly encounter one another, providing major enrichment.

1898 – 1943 Karl Christ Senior

1924 – 1980 Karl Christ Junior

1966 – 2014 Gerhard Christ

Since 2006 Roger Christ >>

Since 2010 Julia Christ >>

Climate-Conscious Building

Building is inseparably linked to the consumption of finite resources and significantly contributes to global climate stress. We acknowledge the substantial responsibility of the construction industry regarding climate change. This presents us with the major challenge of balancing the desire for prosperity and quality of life with addressing the climate crisis.

In every new construction project, we strive to minimize CO2 emissions as much as possible, utilize existing embodied energy, use resources efficiently and responsibly, enhance biodiversity, ensure durability and maintainability, and consider circular processes.

Context

Architecture always exists within a structural-spatial as well as a socio-cultural context.

Our conviction that every building must always be conceived within the context of its surroundings and that every construction project carries social responsibility forms the foundation of our projects and buildings.

Continuity

For many years, we have maintained trusting business relationships with numerous clients, engineering firms, and craft businesses. Many employees have also been, or still are, part of our team for decades. Reliability forms the foundation of continuity and is, for us, the essential prerequisite for any successful collaboration.

Detail

The Detail is an Integral Part of the Whole. It significantly determines the design and impact of a building, visibly or invisibly. Only through mastery of the detail do we find the freedom to execute the design concept with precision.

Erwin Becker

“I started in 1936 as an apprentice, aged fifteen, for Karl Christ Senior, then I worked for Karl Christ Junior and then for Gerhard Christ until my retirement. Except for a brief period, because I was in the war and held in captivity”!

Existing Structures

The focus of construction is shifting from new buildings to the preservation and continued development of existing structures. Instead of demolition, the emphasis is on utilizing the 'embodied energy' stored in buildings—supplemented by a culture of preservation, repair, and reuse.

Interdisciplinarity

The design of our living environment, the human-made and modified surroundings, is fundamentally the task of all disciplines, as all questions concerning our living space are inherently interdisciplinary, aiming at the totality of complex reality.

Through an interdisciplinary planning and construction process involving various experts, we ensure a holistic approach with the goal of achieving optimally coordinated results.

Life quality

The basis of our activities is our belief that the quality of our constructed environment has a significant influence on the quality of our lives.

Model

The architectural model is the ideal tool for inspecting spatial qualities. Additionally, as a representation of the building, it helps to explain the design to the client.

A fully equipped model-making workshop with a computer-controlled 3D plotter and traditional model-building tools supports us in creating working models, which are an integral part of the design process.

Obstacles

We perceive obstacles as opportunities. Obstacles are an essential part of every creative process. It is often through engaging with obstacles that we discover solutions or defining themes for the specific building task.

Participation

Architecture affects all of us. It is the design of living spaces that shape our daily interactions. Every person has the right to high-quality, thoughtful design and a livable environment—regardless of personal limitations or financial circumstances.

Our responsibility does not end with the interests of the clients. We are equally committed to the users, residents, visitors, and everyone who comes into contact with the architecture.

Perseverance and Endurance

We do not give up and dedicate ourselves to our tasks with such intensity and persistence until we are fully convinced by our own work.

Service Provision

When service provision becomes the content of architecture, then architecture vanishes.

Architecture not only serves; it moves, excites and challenges.

Space

We believe that publicly accessible urban spaces are a fundamental prerequisite for social cohesion and act as a vital link for the functioning of society. Likewise, we are convinced that well-planned neighborhoods with shared spaces strengthen community bonds and promote resilience. A building can be much more than just a functional space—it can become a place of interaction, cultural exchange, and social integration.

Style

Each project must be evaluated individually. A uniform style does not interest us. Form follows the project. Our approach is fundamentally open-ended, without preconceived aesthetic or formal solutions.

Sustainability

Sustainability, as a result of functionality, economy, resource-efficient and ecological construction methods, and spatial quality, is an integral part of our work. However, we also understand sustainability in the sense that only a building capable of winning the affection of its users, residents, visitors, and observers has a chance of enduring over time.

Taste

Taste is the result of one’s personal life history. It is subjective and shaped by culture. Our perceptions of it vary depending on time, culture, and individual experience.

Team

Architecture is always generated through team work – internally and externally.

For a team to function effectively, we believe that all participants need a high degree of autonomy and decision-making freedom to fully apply their knowledge and experience.

Tradition

Our society has lost its sense of certainty, its established traditions, and its self-evident truths. What is true today can be completely different tomorrow. Everything is possible, but not necessary—meaning it is always possible to do things differently.

There is an equality of different, independently existing principles of reality. In architecture, there is no common answer to the question: “How should I build today?” We have liberated ourselves from the style dictates of past eras. There is a multitude of architectures.

Tribalism

Only when we, as a society, overcome tribalism and embrace an attitude of tolerance, compassion, and selfless thinking and action will we create the conditions necessary to address the pressing global challenges.

Understanding

We view understanding and recognizing the task, along with the precise analysis and critical questioning of the brief, as the essential prerequisites for successfully addressing the design challenge.