How has Corona affected you and your office?

Sebastian Kittelberger: The Corona-Covid19 virus and its immediate consequences have only had a limited impact on our office existence. Fortunately, we have had no health, psychological or existential impairments so far.

How has Corona changed the way you work as an architect?

Our offices are in Stuttgart and Munich. So we are already used to working and communicating remotely. As a result, little or nothing has changed in our basic way of working. However, communication internally, with specialist planners and clients has changed significantly. Meetings with planners, clients and customers are now conducted exclusively by telephone. Working from home and video communication have also become part of everyday working life. In concrete terms, this means careful and elaborate preparations for meetings and presentations in order to optimally guide the participants through the discussions in the digital medium.

What measures have been taken in your office?

Some employees work from home and communicate with each other by phone or chat. Rigid working hours are also being adapted more to the needs of employees. This allows employees to compensate for the social and family changes caused by the virus. Technology has been upgraded to make working from home possible for a large proportion of employees. Social distancing is maintained in the office and surfaces are disinfected several times a day.

What is good, what can stay?

The flexible way of working from different locations can continue. More time for architecture, less time on the road.

Expected development in the next three months?

I expect everyday life to continue to be massively restricted over the next three months. However, we will gradually return to normality. However, the consequences and changes following this serious crisis will be drastic in many respects. Some of the effects of the coronavirus crisis on the construction industry, which is known to be rather anti-cyclical, are already being felt. Delays in project processes are likely to be just the beginning.

Sebastian Kittelberger

Sebastian Kittelberger was born in Reutlingen in 1986. He studied at the University of Karlsruhe and the University of Stuttgart. During his studies, he was a working student at dasch zürn architekten. He completed his internships as an architect at dasch zürn àrchitekten, Architekturbüro Hascher Jehle and Studio jmsg Madrid. Sebastian Kittelberger was then jointly responsible for the competition department at dasch zürn architekten. He has officially been an equal partner since 2017. Since then, the architecture firm has been operating under the name dasch zürn + partner. Sebastian Kittelberger manages the office in Munich. Around 40 employees work on high-quality architecture for challenging projects at the two offices in Stuttgart and Munich. They mainly build nationally for public clients. The focus is on schools, fire departments, event buildings, sports facilities, churches and other public construction projects.