Christoph Ingenhoven

Christoph Ingenhoven (born 8 March 1960) is a German architect. His major works include Lufthansa HQ in Frankfurt, 1 Bligh in Sydney (2011), Marina One in Singapore (2017), Toranomon Hills Towers in Tokyo (2022), and Stuttgart Main Station (2010–).

Career Christoph Ingenhoven was born in Düsseldorf in 1960 and studied architecture at the RWTH Aachen from 1978 to 1984 and from 1980 to 1981 at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf with Hans Hollein. In 1985, Christoph Ingenhoven founded the architecture office ingenhoven architects in Düsseldorf, which was acquired by BKW Energie in 2019. Today, he heads his architecture studio under the name christoph ingenhoven architects with headquarters in Düsseldorf.

Christoph Ingenhoven received international recognition in 1997 with the design of one of the world's first ecological high-rise buildings, the RWE Tower in Essen. Before, in 1991, the then 31-year-old Ingenhoven received a great deal of attention when he and his team competed in the international competition for the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt and shared jury prize with Norman Foster. The fact that Foster was commissioned to build the skyscraper prompted Frei Otto to make a public statement in which he spoke out in favor of the young German architect's design.

Christoph Ingenhoven is a founding member of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) and the Bundesstiftung Baukultur, a federal foundation for architectural culture in Germany. He is member of the International Academy of Architecture.

Style and philosophy

Christoph Ingenhoven pursues an approach to sustainable architecture that strives for the highest ecological, architectural and artistic goals. The structural designs provide for the use of natural resources such as sunlight, geothermal energy, rainwater and air conditioning through natural ventilation and are adapted to the surrounding (urban) landscape as site-specifically as possible. Ingenhoven calls his concept of holistic, interdisciplinary, sustainable architecture supergreen. In addition to the ecological aspects, the supergreen concept also includes social and humanistic aspects.

Awards and honours

Christoph Ingenhoven's works received numerous national and international awards and recognitions, including the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction Gold for Stuttgart Main Station and the International High-Rise Award for 1 Bligh in Sydney. His projects have received several MIPIM and WAF awards, e.g. the Lanserhof Sylt won both in 2023.

Christoph Ingenhoven was recipient of Europe's highest architecture award in 2022, the European Prize for Architecture. The Saxon Academy of Arts honored Ingenhoven with the Gottfried Semper Prize 2019. The German structural engineer and architect Werner Sobek delivered the laudatory speech at the award ceremony in Dresden. In 2023, Christoph Ingenhoven has been awarded the Golden Flower, Germany's oldest environmental prize, which has been awarded biennally since 1967. In 2024, he was awarded the AW Architect of the Year. This award was the occasion for the exhibition Stuttgart Main Station. A Once-in-a-Century Project Becomes Reality at the Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin.

Memberships International Academy of Architecture, UNESCO Bundesstiftung Baukultur (founding member) German Sustainable Building Council DGNB (founding member) Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) North Rhine-Westphalia Academy for Science and Arts Association of German Architects (BDA) American Institute of Architects (AIA) Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA) Australian Institute of Architects North Rhine-Westphalia Association of Architects (AKNW)

Projects (selection)

Completed buildings 1997: RWE-Tower, Essen 1999–2001: Audi Pavillon for trade fairs in Frankfurt, Tokyo, Detroit and Paris 2005: Uptown (O2-Tower) Munich 2005: Peek & Cloppenburg Lübeck 2005: Private House Düsseldorf 2006: Lufthansa Aviation Center Frankfurt 2008: European Investment Bank Luxembourg 2008: Breeze Tower Osaka 2008: New Trade Fair Hamburg 2009: Sky Office Düsseldorf 2011: 1 Bligh Street, Sydney 2010: Swarovski HQ at Lake Zurich 2011: HDI Gerling HQ, Hannover 2014: Lanserhof Lake Tegern 2015: Institute of Mathematics at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology 2017: Town Hall Freiburg 2017: Marina One Singapore 2021: Kö-Bogen II Düsseldorf 2021: Renovation Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus 2022: Toranomon Hills Towers Tokyo 2022: Lanserhof Sylt 2023: Calwer Passage Stuttgart 2023: Klinik Gut St. Moritz 2024: Joachim-Erwin-Platz 1 Düsseldorf

Ongoing work Stuttgart Main Station Dom-Hotel Cologne Hotel Arlberg Hospiz in St. Christoph, Austria Pier One Düsseldorf High-rise 505 George Street in Sydney Am Oberwiesenfeld in Munich Plange Mühle Campus Düsseldorf Kant & Kopf HafenCity Hamburg UNIQ Towers Düsseldorf 1 Spring Street Melbourne Heinrich Hertz Tower Hamburg Lanserhof at Finca Cortesin Marbella

Competitions and studies 1991: Commerzbank HQ Frankfurt 2000: Airbus Hamburg 2001: Central Park Berlin 2007: UCD University College Dublin (1st Prize) 2008: Bologna Central Station 2008: ICC International Criminal Court The Hague (1st Prize) 2010: Google Headquarters Mountain View 2023: Opera House of the Future Düsseldorf 2024: House of the Digital World Hamburg