HS Architekten was founded by Harald Schindele and Markus Hirschmüller as a Berlin based architectural practice.

The office develops places for future-oriented living communities and, with its projects in the field of circular and life-serving construction, has an pioneering role in questions of socio-ecological transformation of architecture and the building industry. The projects have won various awards for pioneering building projects in the areas of redensification and revitalisation of existing building structures, the use of recyclable and ecologically high-quality building materials, circular building and social inclusion.

HS Architekten has been awarded various first-class prizes and recognitions in the field of sustainable and circular construction, most recently the Berlin KlimaSchutzPartner Prize 2021 and first place in the Re-Use am Bau 2022 ideas competition of the Berlin Senate Department for the Environment, Mobility, Consumer and Climate Protection.

The office is member of the Association of German Architects (BDA), the Landesbeirat Holz, is supporting member of Architects for Future, partner of Concular GmbH for circular building and is in close exchange with the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) for the qualification of the pre-certification phase for existing buildings.

Markus Hirschmüller is an engineer, architect and co-founder of the architecture firm HS Architekten. The office develops places for future-oriented living communities and, with its projects in the field of circular and life-serving construction, has an international pioneering role in questions of socio-ecological transformation of architecture and the building industry. His projects have won various awards for pioneering building projects in the areas of redensification and revitalisation of existing building structures, the use of recyclable and ecologically high-quality building materials, circular building and social inclusion.

His architectural studies took Markus to the TU Braunschweig, the University of Stuttgart and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles.

Together with his partner Harald, Markus has been invited to lecture at some of the most internationally renowned institutions for design, art and architecture, including the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London, the Art Center College of Design (UCLA), Pasadena, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).

Markus is a certified Passive House designer, energy efficiency expert and heritage energy consultant. As one of the leading experts for the further development of architectural monuments, Markus has been developing solutions for energy-efficient and substance-preserving construction for 20 years, including the transformation of Berlin industrial and cultural buildings such as the Abspannwerk Buchhändler Weg (E-Werk), Café Moskau, and most recently the BUFA Campus.

After studying architecture at the TU Braunschweig and the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, Harald founded the architectural practice HSH Architekten in Berlin in 1997, which later became HS Architekten in partnership with Markus Hirschmüller. For Harald Schindele, architecture and the building sector take on a pioneering role in dealing with climate protection. This requires a transformation that uses CO2-storing materials, plans for their future reuse, and creates sufficient and affordable spaces. A shift towards a circular economy is the order of the day. This is where we need to intervene and generate a positive, future-oriented understanding for the conversion and redensification of existing buildings and urban space. Redensification and revitalisation of the existing built structure is the most sensible way to realise the growth of our cities in a climate-friendly and sustainable way.

By preserving materials and resources that have already been used in existing buildings, a major contribution can be made to climate protection. HS Architekten work according to this transformation maxim and implement a new conception in architecture.

His expertise has led him as a guest critic and, together with his partner Markus, as a lecturer at some of the most internationally renowned institutions for design, art and architecture, including the Bauhaus Dessau, the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London, the Art Center College of Design, UCLA, Pasadena, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). The joint office participated in the Brazilian Biennale, the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo 2003 and 2005, the 14th Architecture Biennale in Quito 2004 and the Architecture Biennale Convertible City in the German Pavilion in Venice 2006 as well as to the exhibition Time Space Existence at Palazzo Mora for the 2023 Venice Biennale.

Lectures and invitations to participate (selection)

-invitations to lecture at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, at the Berlin Architecture Talks and at the International Architecture Congress of the UIA in Berlin.

-Inspirations 02: Re-Framing Realities: business trip with the mayor Klaus Wowereit on the occasion of his visit to Los Angeles for the 35th anniversary of the city partnership.

-lectures and talks at the Art Center College of Design, UCLA, Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), the Getty Center, the German Consulate General and the Goethe Institute.

-lecture by Markus Hirschmüller and Harald Schindele at the Infill Conference in Budapest.

-lecture by Andrea van Reimersdahl and Harald Schindele on architecture and textiles in the Woodbury School of Architecture, Los Angeles.

-Energyart/Baunetz: lecture by Markus Hirschmüller.

-50 Years of Cafe Moskau: lecture by Markus Hirschmüller.

-project reviews as guests at Bauhaus Dessau, TU Berlin, TU Cottbus, SCI-Arc in Los Angeles und the University of Kentucky

-Lecture on the denkmal in Leipzig

HS gives a lecture on the need for a co-creative process as the basis of the circular economy, based on experiences from their own projects 2022 in TON1, Atelier Gardens.

-Keynote lecture at the Berlin Chamber of Architects by Markus Hirschmüller on: Circulatory concepts for rainwater utilisation in inner-city redensification projects.

Exhibitions (selection) and Awards

-Hans Schaefers Preis 2001: Die nächste Generation, Projekt: Auguststr. 62

-Fundação Bienal de São Paulo 2003 und 2005

-14. Architekturbiennale in Quito 2004

-10. Architekturbiennale in Venedig 2006

-Deutscher Fassadenpreis (Aluminiumfassade), Projekt: -Abspannwerk Buchhändler Hof (E-Werk)

-Bundespreis für Handwerk in der Denkmalpflege 2010, Projekt: Café Moskau, SYSTAL GmbH

-Berlins beste Bauten: Ausstellung zum Architekturpreis Berlin 2013

-Best of Houzz Award 2017

-KlimaSchutzPartner-Preis Berlin 2021, Projekt: Ahorngärten

-Erster Platz des Ideenwettbewerbes Re-Use am Bau 2022, Projekt: Ahorngärten

- Atelier Gardens won the Mipin Award for Best Urban Regeneration - MVRDV in collaboration with HS.

- ArchDaily: Atelier Gardens winner of Building of the Year 2023, Interior Architecture category - MVRDV in collaboration with HS.

-18. Architekturbiennale Venedig 2023

Publications (selection)

Arch+, AIT, Baunetz, Apple-Talk, Bauwelt, Stadtbauwelt, db, DBZ, Detail, Metamorphose, Schöner Wohnen, The Architectural Review, werk, bauen + wohnen, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Tagesspiegel, Berliner Morgenpost, Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Architektur International, H.O.M.E., KAP-Magazin, CUBE-Magazin, teNeues Verlag, dva Verlag, Jovis-Verlag, Verlagshaus Braun, publications of the Chamber of Architects, the BDA Berlin and the German Center for Architecture DAZ, as well as broadcasts of rbb and n-tv, Deutscher Architektur Verlag, 100 Deutsche Häuser

Zeitendämmerung: von der Schwierigkeit das zirkuläre Bauen iun Bilder zu fassen. Veröffentlichung 14.02.2023 — Herausgeber: Architektenkammer Berlin. Verlag: Braun Publishing. 1. Auflage 2023. Klappenbroschur. 184 Seiten. ISBN 978-3-03768-289-0.