In our Berlin studio, we constantly explore, experiment, and tinker with space, materials, and structures, seeking innovative ways for architecture to address current environmental and socio-political challenges.
Gustav Düsing studied architecture at the University of Stuttgart and the Architectural Association in London and is a registered architect in Berlin. He has participated in numerous art and architecture exhibitions, including the first-ever Antarctic Biennale (2017). His work has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the 2023 German Architecture Prize (state prize), the 2024 DAM Award, and the 2020 Rome Prize for Architecture. In 2020/21, he was an Artist-in-Residence at the German Academy in Rome, Villa Massimo. Alongside Max Hacke, Gustav Düsing is the 2024 recipient of the EUmies Award.
Since 2015 he has taught at different Universities including the TU Braunschweig, Roma Tre and Cornell APP. In 2024 he was appointed Guest Professor at the UdK Berlin.
PUBLICATIONS (Selection)
M.Oppe, J. Nowak, C. Kummert, G. Düsing: Das Studierendenhaus in Braunschweig, nbau (02/2024) Nachhaltig Bauen
G. Düsing, T. Helbig, M. Oppe, Das neue Studierendenhaus in Braunschweig, (2023), Jahrbuch Ingenieursbaukunst 2024, published by Ernst & Sohn
G. Düsing, D. Hannah, Gustav Düsing in Conversation with Dehlia Hannah, (2022), Co-Editors: Jane van Veldt & Paul DeFazio, PLAT 11: Soft, Rice University
G.Düsing, Editor: M. Peschken, Material, displaced, (2017) Thesaurus, Gtas, TU Braunschweig
PAST AND PRESENT COLLABORATORS
Ragna Velthof, Julian Feld, Paul Helbig, Felix Schuschan, Jonas Fangmann, FAKT Office for Architecture, sbp, knippershelbig, Bollinger + Grohmann, Ana Filipovic, studio erde, Transsolar, terrain integral design, Sebastian Muellauer, Justyna Profaska, Chiara Siravo, Carson Chan, Dehlia Hannah, Max Hacke, Yannis Efstathiou, Katharina Pütter, Nadim Samman, Mariami Kurtishvili, Lutz Henke, Studio Förster, Charlotte Wiedemann, Caspar Richter, Leonhard Clemens, Blake Villwock, James Cosgrave, Janos Bergob, Sonia Cohan, Sinta Werner, Kadhija Zinnenburg Carrol
Exhibitions
(Selection)
‘Ephemerals’ solo show at Dittrich & Schlechtriem, Berlin 16-31 Aug 2024
EUmies Award 2024
Palau Victòria Eugènia, Barcelona
14.05 – 16.06.2024
DAM Preis 2024
Deutsches Architekturmuseum Frankfurt
27.01 – 28.04.2024
GRANDE MAXXI. I progetti finalisti
Maxxi Museum Rome
15.11 – 02.04.2023
EPPUR SI MUOVE
Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden
Japanisches Palais, 24.06 – 25.09.2022
FKA SIX, Project Space, Berlin
with Carson Chan
Berlin – 01.04 – 09.05.2022
Spazi Aperti XIX 2021
Academia Romania in Rome
07.07 – 21.07.2021
Villa Massimo in Città
Deutsche Akademie in Rom, Villa Massimo
Rome — 17.06.2021
Künste a Villa Massimo
Deutsche Akademie in Rom, Villa Massimo
Rome — 21.10.2020
The Ec(centric)City
Akademie der Künste
Berlin — 10.09.2020
Antarctica as a Project at
B´N´K´R
Munich — 17.01.2018
Antarctic Biennale 2017 / Antarctic Pavilion
Biennale Di Venezia, 2017
4th Marrakech Biennale
Marrakech, 2012*
Educating Architects – Reinventing Architecture (Exhibition)
Tokyo, 2009
* while working for Barkow-Leibinger as a Project Architect
Teaching
Guest Professor for Experimental Design, Universität der Künste, Berlin
MSA, Münster School of Architecture, Design Studio, WS 22/23
Cornell University, Architecture Art and Planing (AAP), Ithaca, New York, Cornell in Rome, 2022
Visiting Professor at Università Roma Tre, Rome, Italy, 2021
UDK Berlin, from 2015 until 2021
TU-Braunschweig, from 2015 until 2019
Architectural Association Visiting School Melbourne, 2016
LECTURES
Lecture at Dropcity, Milan, 06.04.2025
Lecture at Architecture Matters, Munich 03.04.2025
Lecture at the University of Virginia, USA 17.02.2025
Lecture at LWL Museum, Münster 27.01.2025
Lecture at UdK Tuesday, Berlin 22.10.2024
Lecture at Ancona, Italy, 19.07.2024
Lecture at FH Bochum, 05.07.2024
Lecture at Tbilisi Goethe Inst. 04.07.2025
Lecture at Low Tech Symposium, TU Berlin 07.06.2024
Lecture at Material Exchange, TU Munich 05.06.2024
Lecture at Marta Herford, 04.2024
Lecture at the School of Architecture, Bremen, 11.2023
Lecture at the TU Munich, Montagsreihe 11.2023
Lecture at the University of Stuttgart, Novemberreihe 11.2023
Lecture and guided tour for students of the TU Darmstadt 04.2023
Lecture and guided tour for students of the RWTH Aachen 04.2023
Lecture at IED Roma 11.2022
Guest Lecture at Harvard GSD Seminar Abroad Arles 11.2022
Lecture at Tempel University in Rome 09.2022
Lecture at TU Berlin, with Max Hacke, 02.2022
Lecture at Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Horizonte 01.2022
Speaker, sustainable design and regenerative architecture in cultural spaces, Tate + / IKT 10.2021
Speaker, berlin questions, metropolis – the new now 08.2021
Lecture TU Hamburg 06.2021
Speaker, new european bauhaus and cultural institutions, maxxi roma 06.2021
Lecture Unicam Saad, Ascoli 05.2021
Lecture TU Darmstadt 01.2021
Lecture Chinese University of Hong-Kong 09.2020
Lecture Hochschule für Bildene Künste Braunschweig 05.2018
Artist Talk B´N´K´R Munich, 01.2018
Lecture Melbourne School of Design / Melbourne University 01.2016
Currently on show at “everyday exquisite” curated by Julian Bächle, 02.05.25 – 30.05.25.
Made from rubble sourced from the demolition site of Urania-an iconic post-war modernist office building in West Berlin-the sculpture reflects our ongoing exploration of timescales in architecture: permanence versus temporality, and new construction versus demolition. The structure is held together by steel wires, applying a lightweight system onto a heavy, compressive material-a method we have employed in some of our recent architectural projects.
Foto by Clemens Poloczek
We made a small box for “boxes” by Sam Chermayeff Office at dropcity as part of the 2025 Milan Design Week.
Ungetüm—German for a gigantic or misshapen creature—started with a discarded box we found in a bush near our studio. We covered it with leftover materials from a previous installation until nothing was left. It’s a simple exercise in using what’s there, reflecting how we currently approach our work in the studio
Size: 45 x 45 x 45cm
The modular installation “Picknick” – BAW Garten at Gropius Bau Berlin as part of the Berlin Art Week.
‘Ephemerals’ at Dittrich & Schlechtriem. 16-31 Aug 2024. Linienstrasse 23, Berlin
Our joint project with FAKT is officially reported in the local newspaper ‘Siegener Zeitung’. Read the full article here.
A well researched review by Katinka Corts / German Architects of our latest competition win together with FAKT. Read the full article here.
We won the 2024 EUmies Award!! What an unbelievable honor. Thanks to the Fundazió Mies van der Rohe, the jury led by Frédéric Druot and the whole EUmies Award team for your effort. We are endlessly thankful for all our supporters, the Technische Universität Braunschweig for being the best client one can only wish for, for knippershelbig for pushing the structure as far as only possible, for iwb Ingenieure for keeping things under control, for Cornils GmbH for putting the steel together in perfection, for Iwan Baan, Lemmart, Leonhard Clemens and Studio Förster for outstanding documentation and above all Volker Staab for having the vision.
Foto by Lemmart
We have received planning permission for our experimental tensile pavilion for an inner courtyard in a large mega-factory in Germany. We are looking forward to the next steps.
World Architects has published an interview about our design philosophy and how we think architects should more often pursue self-initiated projects and research as a strategy to actively participate in the discourse. Many thanks to Katinka Corts for the interview. English Version / German Version
At -8 °C, our team member Felix Schuschan and his friends took the opportunity to set up our frozen tent, originally designed for the 2017 Antarctic Biennale, in front of our Berlin Studio. Thanks for the vision and the effort.
In the Jung Talk podcast on ‘Eco-Minimalism,’ Gustav Düsing discusses over-engineered building envelopes and an increasing disconnection between indoor and outdoor spaces in modern architecture. He explains how he aims to reduce the material effort in his projects while still perpetuating the achievements of modernism.
There is some incredibly exciting news. Together with Max Hacke, we have won the 2024 DAM Prize. The student house for the TU Braunschweig was selected from 104 projects in Germany and will be exhibited in the German Architecture Museum for the next few months.
What an honor! Our project for the TU Braunschweig has been awarded the German Architecture Prize. The state prize is awarded every two years for “outstanding achievements in building culture” and is considered the most important award for architects in Germany.
On November 13th Gustav Düsing is giving a public lecture about his work at the TU Munich as part of the lecture series Montagsreihe.
On November 8th Gustav Düsing is giving a public lecture about his work at the University of Stuttgart as part of the Novemberreihe Lecture Series organized by the IRGE, the BDA Baden-Württemberg and the Sto-Stiftung.
Our winning scheme for the German Embassy in Tel Aviv is on the cover of Wettbewerb Aktuell. Thanks to the whole team for your work and effort.
Our project for the TU Braunschweig is on the cover of the Deutsches Architektenblatt, published by the German Chamber of Architects. The author Frank Maier-Solgk points out the unique process from which the project emerged: an internal design competition between the faculty of the TU Braunschweig. To the article
another publication in the DBZ (Deutsche Bauzeitschrift). The author Ina Lülfsmann describes very nicely that our project wants to be much more than a desk for studying, but rather a new kind of social space for student culture. To the article
Our project for the TU Braunschweig has been featured in the current issue of Bauwelt. The Author Anna Raischl especially points out the innovative and fully demountable steel – wood hybrid structure. To the article
We are excited to share the news that together with FAKT-Office for Architecture we are selected to be one of six teams to develop strategies for the future of the Architecture School in Siegen as part of the 2023 Siegen Summer School.
You can apply now at Architektur Uni Siegen.
We are pleased about the 1st prize in the design competition for the residence of the German Embassy Tel Aviv / Israel!
Based on our design strategy “Eco-Minimalism” – the questioning of material- and energy-intensive comfort claims – the existing building of the residence (instead of a demolition and a new construction), is covered only with an ultra-light and changeable umbrella in steel-wood hybrid construction. For the preservation and optimization of the existing building, wolff:architekten bring their decades of experience in the fields of “building on” and “building in the existing”.
The jury particularly praised the way EMMERIK garden design and research dealt with the existing garden, preserving the existing vegetation and, where necessary, carefully adapting it to the local climatic conditions.
On Wednesday 14th of June Gustav Düsing will give a talk about his work on temporary structures as part of the lecture series Studio Talks at BTU Cottbus. The talk will be in conversation with the architect Sebastian Hoffmann of hoffmannfontana architekturen, Zürich.
Our project for the TU Braunschweig has been covered on Baunetz. Thanks to Maximilian Hinz for the great article and Leonhard Clemens for the beautiful cover shot.
On Wednesday 6th of June Gustav Düsing is giving a lecture about his recent projects at the Hochschule Darmstadt, Fachbereich Architektur organized by Prof. Winston Hampel
Together with Knippers-Helbig and the landscape architects of Studio-Erde we won a competition to design a new bridge in Gundelsheim, Bavaria. The project aims to create a new public space connecting the street level with the river.
Together with Fakt-Office for Architecture we taught a design studio for the winter semester 22/23 at MSA. Thanks to the students and faculty for making it possible.
Thanks so much for the beautiful PLAT 11: Soft – Co-Editors: Jane van Velden + Paul DeFazio of Rice Architecture with a conversation between philosopher Dehlia Hannah and Gustav Düsing about Antarctica as a project, energy as a building material and blackouts as future scenarios.
In todays Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung the architectural critic Niklas Maak wrote about our soon to open Studierendenhaus TU Braunschweig. Apart from its unique program Niklas Maak pointed out the demountable structure as a way to make buildings last way beyond their conventional life span. In a different form in a different place, buildings like ours can be demounted and reassembled to serve a new purpose. A house for tomorrow and for all days. With Max Hacke.
Photos by Leonhard Clemens.
In the spring semester of 2022 Gustav Düsing will teach a design studio at Cornell AAP alongside Val Warke and Daniele Durante as part of the Cornell in Rome Program.