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Franken Architects, architect, Frankfurt at Main/DE |
Corporate architecture made by Bernhard Franken is recognisable by spectacular outside space sculptures and dramatic interior narratives. The architectural practice sees itself mainly as a creator of brandscapes, which provide the client’s corporate vision with a space which it should be possible to visually materialise, walk through and experience with all senses. This is how "narrative spaces" are created, i.e. spatial forms of narration for brand communication.Bernhard Franken develops concepts and scenographic set ups for corporate architecture, fair booths, museums, exhibitions, flagship stores, the hospitality industry, experiential and other brand worlds. In the past years, the main attention grabber has been the installation "Take-Off", which snakes its way through the entrance hall of Munich Airport’s Terminal ll. For BMW and the Deutsches Museum, Bernhard Franken developed a club shaped like a drop of water, which served as the official outpost of Expo 2000 in Munich. This "bubble" brought him international recognition and he now designs BMW’s trade fair booths worldwide. The much celebrated exhibition design "Big Bang", which was unveiled at the new BMW/MINI’s world premiere at the Paris Automobile Fair in 2006, beautifully illustrates how the immediate effect of space can be harnessed to transmit brand messages.
Bernhard Franken’s projects have been featured in the specialist press worldwide and have won over 25 international awards in the field of architecture and design, a.o. the Red Dot Communication Design Award 2007 and the LEAF International Interior Design Award 2007, both for the high-end snack bar Cosmogrill (Munich, 2006). He received the German Designer Club Award 2006 for the Home Couture flagship store. The installation "Take-Off" won the BDA Award "Junge Architekten in Hessen" in 2006, the iF Communication Design Award 2005, the German Designer Club Award 2003 and the Feidad Award 2003. The BMW/MINI project at the Tokyo Motorshow 2005 is nominated for the 2008 Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2008, Franken Architekten’s work will form the topic of a solo exhibition at the German Centre for Architecture, and the practice plans to participate in numerous group shows, a.o. Blobmaster at the Deutsches Architektur Museum and BIACDF in Korea.
Bernhard Franken studied architecture at the Technical Universities Braunschweig and Darmstadt and has been Artist in Residence at the Städelschule, Frankfurt, Institut für Neue Medien. He then freelanced for ABB Architekten in Frankfurt before entering a 5-year joint venture with them, moving on to found his own office in 2002. He has been lecturing at various international universities and colleges since 1999, a.o. as a visiting lecturer at Kassel University and the Southern California Institute for Architecture in Los Angeles; he started teaching at the Zollverein School of Management and Design in Essen in 2005.
The actual major project is the urban development of Tan Lap Green Village at Vietnams Southern seashore with luxury Hotels and Apartments.
Valid as of: 27.5.2008