GRAFT was established in 1998 in Los Angeles by Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz and Thomas Willemeit. Further offices followed in Berlin in 2001 and Beijing in 2004. Conceived as a studio for architecture, urban planning, design, music and the pursuit of happiness, GRAFT has been commissioned to design and manage a wide range of projects across multiple disciplines and in numerous locations since its establishment
GRAFT is conceived as a studio for architecture, urban planning, design, music and the pursuit of happiness. Since its establishment 1998 in Los Angeles, it has been commissioned to design and manage a wide range of projects across multiple disciplines and in numerous locations. Further offices followed in Berlin in 2001 and Beijing in 2004.
We believe in the power of architecture as a tool, best employed not for its own sake, but to represent ambiguous and diverse identities.
Although the company’s core enterprises gravitate around the field of architecture and the built environment, GRAFT has always maintained an interest in crossing the boundaries between disciplines and “grafting” the creative potential and methodologies of different realities. This is reflected in its expansion into the fields of exhibition and product design, art installations and academic projects, as well as in their variety of project locations around the world.
In 2014, we set up GRAFT Brandlab, an agency enabling an additional focus on communication design, brand strategy and consultancy while staying true to the original multidisciplinary approach and working methods.
Architecture is a cultural technique. It is never self-contained, nor finite; it is part of a complex cultural cycle in service of society as a whole. As a result, architecture is always a representation of society rather than an autonomous discipline. The importance of identity within designed space, from individual to community, from city to region, cannot be underestimated. At a time when there is a blurring of boundaries between the real and the virtual, urban and rural, and local and global, our built environment plays a fundamental role in defining identity.
GRAFT is responding to the challenges of the future with an optimistic attitude towards multiple and simultaneous identities, which enables a higher degree of complexity. There is no such thing as one single truth, and we believe that hybridization enhances the qualities of its constituent characteristics.
Our design process is evidence-based and human-centered. Our approach stems from scenography and movement rather than tectonics. In this way, we are able to create dynamic, flexible architecture that allows multiple readings.
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