Tchoban Voss: Pioneering architecture from the Hackesche Höfe
The Hackesche Höfe are known for shopping, gastronomy and culture. But concealed behind the Art Nouveau façades in Courtyard 1 and Courtyard 2, there are also modern office floors. Exciting companies work here: One of them is Tchoban Voss. The architectural firm has shaped Berlin's cityscape with a large number of projects.
If you live in Berlin, you’ll have come across buildings by Tchoban Voss Architekten. Under the leadership of Sergei Tchoban, the office has made a name for itself with numerous outstanding projects since its reorganization in 2017 – a large number of which have been realized in Berlin. 150 employees design and plan residential and office buildings, hotels and cultural buildings.
Their Berlin office is one of three Tchoban Voss locations alongside Hamburg and Dresden. The architects have been in Hackesche Höfe since 1995 – the year they reopened after refurbishment. They work here on a total of 900 square meters. Sergei Tchoban values the Höfe as an outstanding monument and one of the city's most endearing architectural ensembles.
All visitors to the Hackesche Höfe are familiar with one project: the three buildings directly opposite the entrance to the Höfe on Rosenthaler Straße.
Innovative designs done by pencil: Sergei Tchoban
Sergei Tchoban, born in 1962 in St Petersburg into a family of scientists, studies architecture at the renowned St Petersburg Art Academy. He moves to Germany in 1991 and has been a German citizen since 1995. In the same year, he becomes a partner in an architecture firm, which develops into Tchoban Voss Architekten in 2017. Co-partner Ekkehard Voss passed away in 2024.
Sergei Tchoban's guiding principle is liveable cities: “For me, architecture must put people at the center. It has to create spaces that make people curious, that they enjoy exploring and in which they feel comfortable,” says Tchoban. “Many new buildings are monotonous because they lack courage and innovation.” But legal regulations also hinder creativity.
For Tchoban, the creative process begins traditionally with a hand drawing, with initial ideas taking shape using pencil and paper. He is one of the few architects who still go to the trouble of convincing clients of their vision with a hand drawing. Tchoban's architectural drawings are exhibited and collected internationally. He himself is also a passionate collector of architectural drawings.
In 2009, Sergei Tchoban founds the Tchoban Foundation to promote public interest in the art of architectural drawing. With the museum designed by himself, which opened in 2013 on Pfefferberg in Berlin Mitte, Tchoban realizes a dream. Here he is making his collection of valuable drawings by important architects from the Renaissance to the present day accessible to the public.
The striking, hermetic museum building at the head of a row of Berlin apartment blocks with its projecting bay windows is reminiscent of stacked archive boxes. Architectural drawings in relief cover the façade. The building is crowned by the glass cube of a penthouse that serves as an office.
Rosenthaler Straße 43-45
From the entrance to the Hackesche Höfe on Rosenthaler Straße, you can't miss the Apple store directly opposite. The tall, bright sales hall with its huge window front facing the street is impressive. The shop is part of a new three-part building with a mix of residential, office and retail uses. The façades of the three buildings blend harmoniously into their surroundings and enhance them at the same time. They are clad in high-quality natural stone, but each has a completely different design. In this way, they reflect the historical parceling of the site.
SXB - Edge Suedkreuz Berlin
The SXB - Edge Suedkreuz Berlin office complex, built using a timber-hybrid construction method, sets new standards. It was certified by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) as Germany's most sustainable building in 2022. Vattenfall's German headquarters are located here.
The centerpiece of the larger of the two building parts is a spacious, light-flooded atrium 26 meters high. Four structures of different heights, reminiscent of trees or mushrooms, grow upward under a roof of transparent film as if in a greenhouse. Wood is omnipresent in the architecture and design of the ensemble. The weight of the components and the resources used were reduced to the bare essentials. The issue of circularity was integrated into the planning with an extensive deconstruction concept. “We used materials that are recyclable according to the cradle-to-cradle principle,” explains Tchoban. The façade elements are 95% recyclable. In addition, the surface structure of the façade absorbs CO2 from the air.
Other selected projects in Berlin
Techno Campus Berlin, the Coca-Cola Germany headquarters, the Mall of Berlin, Dockyard office building on the Spree, the Jewish cultural center and Chabad Lubavitch synagogue in Münstersche Straße, the nhow hotel.
