Designer Interview

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Interview with Florian Berner at Saturday 21st of April 2012

FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
FB: 'Weyell Berner Architekten' was founded 2010 by Miriam Weyell and Florian Berner in Zurich, Switzerland. Our work in-between architecture, urban planning and design is founded on a conceptual approach to new projects.
We appreciate and encourage design solutions affected by local customs, history and materiality. Together with our clients we aim to create valuable, beloved places. Ecological, economical and social guidelines are not seen as constrictions, but as a potential to create personal and unique projects.


FS: What is "design" for you?
FB: We see Architecture as a complex and powerful creation process.
To observe the world around us is an important part of our design approach. Through analyses of the context, site, user habits and traditions we take inspiration for our schemes.
During the planning process and together with the client and design team we try to develop a new universe, a bespoke architecture, so that all habitants or user will be able to follow their occupation and purpose in the best possible way. Together we develop an optimised sequence of required spaces.
Usually we look for an image, a theoretical work or a piece of art that fits and helps us to create a coherent project. If architecture is a small story telling part of the world we believe it has the power to transform a place, city or country and consequently the world and its people.


FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
FB: We particularly like to design projects where we can develop new architectural concepts for living, working or just being. Therefore we appreciate projects where we have direct contact to the final user.

FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
FB: These three buildings touches us while we visited them:
Ryōan-ji, Temple Garden in Kyoto, 15th century
The Zen garden is a perfect meditation place and seems to reflect the whole world ‘en miniature’. Stone islands with moss around are placed on a perfectly brush lined sand ground. We like this garden for its simplicity and strong impact on us visitors.
Markuskyrkan, Sigurd Lewerenz, 1962
In this church not one brick is cut. It is assembled of only standard full size bricks. We are very impressed by the coherence of design and construction.
Tama Art University Library, Toyo Ito, 2007
A very poetic design made of parabola concrete arcs, a place that encourages reading and studying.


FS: What makes a design successful?
FB: From our point of view a design is successful when it can be discovered. We appreciate projects with a theoretical concept or another kind of deeper meaning - a narrative architecture.

FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
FB: A design is good if it evokes any kind of emotion, while you look at it, use it or walk through it. Sometimes even negative emotions can be an indicator for design excellence. Its important to feel a building yourself - its impossible to judge an architectural space by photographs.

FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
FB: In the last 10 years we took the chance to live and work in four different countries. Being away from where you grew up, you start to see things differently, more distant and objektive in a way. To live-in and understand different cultures and traditional habits opens the mind and changes the approach to new projects. For us it is crucial, that all our projects are anchored in its local context.

FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
FB: The relationship between a client and designer is the most important thing. A client should check if the work and/or the designers’ character touch him.

FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
FB: Our projects are always based on a strong concept. Therefore we take time at the beginning to analyse the program. As we mostly work on architecture projects we try to find inspiration in non-architectural fields – only then you will be able to create something unique.

FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
FB: ‚Never give up, never surrender’ Jason Nesmith

FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.

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