For many decades, HPP Architects has been a significant protagonist of German architecture. Founded by Helmut Hentrich who studied at Poelzig’s class in Berlin, the office has been involved giving expression to the architectural face of the Wirtschaftswunder, while some of their buildings being among the icons of post-war Germany. HPP was managed early on with varying partners and the studio today is headquartered in Düsseldorf with 12 other (inter)national offices. Its projects range from new and revitalised office high-rises like the iconic Dreischeibenhaus (1960) in Düsseldorf, housing, hotel, hospitals, sports and leisure facilities to buildings for culture, shopping, education and research or industry all around the world. Thus, HPP has influenced the architectural discourse internationally. As an extensive walk-through collage installation, the exhibition Re/View the Next presents a cross-section of the architectural spectrum of HPP from now and then, and reflects the continually evolving design practice within diverse spatial settings and cultural environments.
Entering the ninth decade of partnership and enterprise, HPP can look back on more than 1200 buildings around the world. Each generation of HPP architects has faced the challenges of its time with a specific repertoire – decade by decade. Therefore, the projects do not follow a design canon or ideology. Facing up to the demands of climate change, and the need to adapt the business of architecture and master planning to tackle the urgent issues of today’s age, HPP is currently undergoing a period of reflection and renewal. With input from collaborative partners internationally and a trans-generational approach, creative innovation labs at HPP are questioning and re-shaping the practice.
Ruhr-Universität Bochum © Manfred Hanisch | Dreischeibenhaus © Ralph Richter
The Exhibition
Re/View the Next illustrates the evolution of HPP through a walkable and room-filling collage of photos, renderings, quotes and texts. It sets the milestones of the office in the context of social developments and the evolution of building culture and explains, on the basis of six thematic fields, which future questions HPP is addressing in its current and upcoming projects. The collage is set against a historical backdrop that reminds of the multiplicity of HPP's architectural designs. The six thematic fields are mentioned below, each with one or two reference projects, and will be presented in detail in the exhibition.
Urban Transitions
With the project Südliches Überseequartier in Hamburg (2024), HPP integrally master plans an innovative mixed-use quarter with spaces for retail, housing, offices, hotels, restaurants and entertainment on a former harbour wasteland area on the edge of the city.
City Ecosystems
The mixed-use quarter AND Pastel (2018) in Istanbul is an untypical arrangement for Istanbul with four residential towers and an eight-storey perimeter block development to create individual neighbourhoods, whose design embodies individuality and separateness and thus encourages a particular quality of exchange between the residents and at the same time creates a protected atmosphere and communicative green space within the busy city.
Urban Transitions – Südliches Überseequartier © Gerhard Feldmeyer | City Ecosystems – AND Pastel © Onur Gürkan
Adaptive Re-use
The revitalization of Huairou Cement Factory to Jinyu Xingfa Science Park (2024) is an example of HPP’s adaptive re-use projects. The park is a former factory site that HPP is transforming to become a lively science campus in Beijing.
Sustainable Design and Construction
The exhibition also shows HPP’s current project The Cradle in Düsseldorf (2023), a wood hybrid construction office build that follows the Cradle-to-Cradle principle. Another project in the field of Sustainable Design and Construction, the Europa-Park Stadium Freiburg, combines a clear architectural language with a focus on the best possible fan experience and provides the world's second largest solar roof on a soccer stadium.
Adaptive Re-use – Jinyu Xingfa Science Park © HPP Architekten | Adaptive Re-use – Neue Höfe Herne © Andreas Horsky
Urban Resilience
With the Neue Medizinische Klinik des Universitätsklinikums Tübingen (2032/2040), HPP, together with White Arkitekter, are combining healing environments for patients with an efficient working environment for the clinic's staff. Wood is used as a key construction material in the bedroom storeys.
Next Level Discourse
Statements interwoven in the exhibition reflect current and future projects as well as the work of the four Innovation Labs within HPP's internal Next Level process. Re/View the Next is an invitation to become part of the conversation, to rethink and reflect on today and tomorrow.
Next Level Discourse – Knipex © Bloom Images | Urban Resilience – Trube-Becker-Haus © moka-studio
About HPP Architects
HPP Architects (former HPP – Hentrich-Petschnigg & Partner) is an international partnership with a range of architectural and master planning services. Today, the 5th generation of HPP partnership includes a global team of more than 25 nationalities and more than 500 architects, engineers, urban planners, interior designers, lead consultants and project managers. It comprises 13 offices including the head office in Düsseldorf and 7 other regional offices in Germany as well as 5 international branches in Turkey, China and Netherlands.
