Christoph Hesse Architects

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Christoph Hesse Architects Christoph Hesse Architects creates spaces that inspire self-efficacy, collaboration, and deep connections to nature, others, and oneself.

13/10/2026

The Plow is an Open Mind Place in Referinghausen that reflects the village’s agricultural heritage and its lasting influence on local identity.

The walkable steel sculpture invites visitors to descend into its structure, take a seat, and look out over the village while discovering stories from generations who lived here before. These memories are preserved in a digital archive recorded by four young women from the village, connecting personal histories with the landscape and creating a space for reflection on how the past continues to shape the present.

Through Open Mind Places, architecture becomes a way to preserve local knowledge, strengthen connections between generations, and give new meaning to the places we call home.

11/10/2026

Roots is an Open Mind Place in Referinghausen, Germany, that explores how climate change is reshaping our forests and why we need to rethink the way we cultivate woodlands.

By excavating the root system of a spruce tree, the installation reveals how shallow its roots grow and how vulnerable this species can become during prolonged periods of drought. Visitors are invited to experience the tree from below, gaining a different perspective on the relationship between root systems, soil conditions, and the resilience of our forests.

As periods without rainfall become increasingly common, Roots highlights the importance of planting tree species with deeper root systems that can access water further underground, encouraging a more resilient and climate-adapted approach to forestry.

Through architecture, Christoph Hesse Architects transforms an ecological challenge into a tangible experience that invites people to look closer, understand the landscape, and reconsider how we care for it.

07/10/2026

Roots is one of the installations within the Open Mind Places project in Referinghausen, created in response to the effects of climate change on the local landscape.

Spruce trees, which have traditionally shaped the forests of the Sauerland, are increasingly struggling to survive at lower and mid-mountain elevations as rising temperatures and prolonged periods of drought put pressure on their shallow root systems. The installation makes this usually invisible system visible by excavating around the tree and exposing its roots, turning an ecological process into a physical experience.

By bringing the roots to eye level, the project invites visitors to look beneath the surface and consider how closely architecture, landscape, and changing environmental conditions are connected. Roots becomes a place for observing a transformation that is already taking place in the forest and for reflecting on how our landscapes may need to adapt to a changing climate.

Open Mind Places is an ongoing project by Christoph Hesse Architects that explores how small architectural interventions can create new perspectives on nature, community, and the places we inhabit.

02/10/2026

Every project at Christoph Hesse Architects begins with a physical model.

The first model is a tool for discovering the idea itself. We build, adjust, take apart, rebuild, and explore different variations until the form begins to reveal its own logic.

Working physically makes it possible to understand relationships that are difficult to see in drawings alone: how volumes meet, how spaces connect, how light enters, how the building sits within its surroundings, and how a particular form changes the experience of moving through it.

Many of these models stay in the studio for weeks, allowing the team to return to them, question them, and develop new variations. The process is deliberately open-ended, because finding the right form often means allowing an idea to evolve before deciding where it should end.

29/09/2026

There is something very direct about designing with your hands.

At Christoph Hesse Architects, physical concept models are often part of the design process from the very beginning, giving an idea the time and space to develop through making, observing, and returning to it again and again.

For Christoph, a model can stay on his desk for several weeks, gradually revealing whether an idea has enough strength to move forward. This process is currently shaping a community space with a library in Pakistan, where the architecture brings together an opening connected to the landscape, a Jirga space for gathering and discussion, and an exhibition area.

Working at this scale allows relationships between spaces, openings, levels, and the surrounding landscape to become tangible long before they are resolved in drawings. The model becomes a way of thinking through architecture, with every physical adjustment offering a new perspective on the project.

How do you develop your first architectural ideas? Do physical models still play a role in your design process?


26/09/2026

Architecture can create the conditions for nature to return.

For Sky Drops, the intervention began with a simple gesture: a lightweight structure placed within the landscape, creating a new spatial experience with very little material. The project then became an opportunity to look more closely at the landscape itself and the monocultural character of its surroundings.

Together with local people, the team introduced a variety of biodiverse plants around the structures, turning the intervention into an ongoing process of planting, growing, and learning. The act of building therefore extended beyond the construction itself, encouraging people to participate in shaping the ecological future of the place and to carry the idea of biodiversity into their own environments.

The planting took place on May 20, coinciding with the International Day of Biodiversity, giving the project an especially meaningful connection to a much larger global conversation about how we understand and protect the ecosystems around us.

At Christoph Hesse Architects, architecture can become a starting point for these kinds of connections, where an intervention opens up new ways of experiencing a landscape and inspires collective action.

21/09/2026

One small detail can shape an entire architectural project.

For Christoph Hesse Architects, the form of this Open Mind Place began with something remarkably ordinary: a piece of reinforcement mesh found on the family farm. Folded by hand, the material unexpectedly revealed a new possibility, resembling a drop. From there, the element was turned vertically, becoming the starting point for the final architectural form.

It is a reminder that architectural ideas can emerge from direct encounters with materials, places, and everyday observations. Sometimes the most interesting design decisions begin long before there is a drawing on the table.

17/09/2026

Community participation can begin long before a building is completed. At Christoph Hesse Architects, it can shape the brief, the design process, the construction, and even the resources that become part of the architecture.

Open Mind Places offers a direct example: local residents physically contributed to the construction, brought materials, shared skills, and worked together to create spaces for their community. On a larger scale, projects such as the House of Knowledge respond to ideas and wishes emerging from the neighbourhood, while also exploring additional communal spaces such as gardens.

For us, working with a community also means looking closely at what is already there: local materials, craftsmanship, people, knowledge, and resources. These elements can become an integral part of the architectural process and help create places that are genuinely connected to their context.

How do you think communities should be involved in shaping the places they live in?

14/09/2026

How do projects begin at Christoph Hesse Architects?

Around 80% of the studio’s projects come through direct commissions, often starting with something as simple as an email, a message on Instagram, or a personal introduction. From this first contact, a continuous dialogue develops between the client, the architects, and everyone involved in shaping the project.

For Christoph Hesse Architects, this open network creates an opportunity to develop each project together, allowing ideas, questions, needs, and possibilities to evolve throughout the process. Every collaboration begins with a conversation and grows through an exchange of perspectives, with the aim of finding an architectural response that is specific to its context, its people, and its purpose.

If you have a project in mind and would like to start a conversation with the studio, you can reach Christoph Hesse Architects directly by email or through social media messages ✨️

11/09/2026

Culture is at the heart of much of our work at Christoph Hesse Architects, from libraries and galleries to chapels and public spaces. For us, culture is closely connected to the identity of a place and to the people who shape it every day.

The word “culture” comes from the Latin cultura, meaning care, and this idea strongly influences the way we approach architecture. We see cultural spaces as places that belong to their communities, support everyday life, create opportunities for exchange, and remain open to people from different backgrounds and beyond the local context.

Architecture can give these connections a physical presence, creating spaces where people can meet, participate, share ideas, and develop a stronger relationship with the places they call home.

❔️Our messages are always open for your questions

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