Sauerbruch Hutton facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Founded at	London, 1989
Legal status	GmbH
Headquarters	Berlin
Fields	Architecture, Urban Planning, Interior, Product Design
Staff	100

Sauerbruch Hutton is a company that designs buildings, city spaces, and even furniture. It was started in London in 1989. Now, its main office is in Berlin, Germany. The company is led by Matthias Sauerbruch, Louisa Hutton, and Juan Lucas Young. They are known for creating buildings that are colorful and good for the environment.

Cool Buildings They Designed

Two New Ludgate, an office building in London

Sauerbruch Hutton has designed many famous buildings. Some of their best-known projects include the GSW Headquarters in Berlin, the Federal Environment Agency in Dessau, and the Brandhorst Museum in Munich. More recently, they opened the Experimenta Science Centre in Heilbronn and the M9 Museum District in Venice Mestre.

They have worked on projects in many countries, not just Germany. These include the UK, Finland, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.

How They Started

The company's first offices were in London. Both founders, Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton, also taught at universities there. Many of their early projects were in small city areas. For example, the L House in London was a Victorian house. The architects used bright colors to make the small rooms feel bigger and more open.

Even in their first design ideas for big projects like Paternoster Square in London (1989) and the Tokyo International Forum (1989), they focused on ideas that were good for people and the environment. They wanted to create buildings that were different from the usual designs at that time.

The GSW Headquarters Building

The GSW Headquarters building is very close to Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. It was the first tall building built in Berlin after the Berlin Wall came down. Sauerbruch Hutton's winning design for this building was a new way of thinking about how Berlin should be rebuilt.

Important Projects and Ideas

After the GSW Headquarters, Sauerbruch Hutton kept designing buildings that were sustainable. This means their buildings are designed to be good for the environment. They also continued to use lots of color in their designs.

The Federal Environmental Agency in Dessau (2005) was a very important building for sustainable office design. It has a wavy shape that makes walking through it feel interesting and unique for an office building.

The company also became very interested in using printed glass in their buildings. They tried out new ways to use this material in projects like the Pharmacological Research Laboratories (2002) and Jessop West (2008). Later, with the Museum Brandhorst (2008), they started using glazed ceramic tiles on the outside of buildings. They continued this idea with the M9 Museum in Venice Mestre.

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  Museum Brandhorst Munich, 2008

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  Cologne Oval Offices, Cologne, 2010

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  ADAC Headquarters Munich, 2012

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  Haus 6, Berlin, 2017

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  M9 Museum Quarter, Venice Mestre, 2018

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  Experimenta, Science Center, Heilbronn, 2019

Awards and Recognition

Sauerbruch Hutton has won many awards for their work. Their GSW Headquarters building won the Berliner Architekturpreis and Deutscher Architekturpreis. It also received several awards from the RIBA and AIA. It was even nominated for the Stirling Prize in 2000.

Many of their projects have been nominated for the Mies Van Der Rohe Award. The Sitra Headquarters project won a 2011 Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction award for being a sustainable office building. The KfW Westarkade building won the 2011 Best Tall Building Worldwide Award.

They have also received special awards for their overall work, like the Erich Schelling Prize for Architecture in 1998 and the Gottfried Semper Architekturpreis in 2013.

About the Founders

Matthias Sauerbruch

Matthias Sauerbruch was born in 1955. He studied architecture in Berlin and London. He worked at a famous architecture office called Office for Metropolitan Architecture. He has also taught architecture at many universities, including Harvard. He is a member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin. In 2013, he helped organize an exhibition called "Culture:City" about how culture, buildings, and cities are connected. Matthias is the grandson of a famous surgeon named Ferdinand Sauerbruch.

Louisa Hutton

Louisa Hutton was born in 1957. She studied at Bristol University and the Architectural Association. She worked for other architects before starting her own company. She has also taught at universities like Harvard. She is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Juan Lucas Young

Juan Lucas Young was born in 1963 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied at the University of Buenos Aires. He became a partner at Sauerbruch Hutton in 1999.

How the Office Works

Since 2023, the company has many leaders. There are 16 partners and 10 associates. Matthias Sauerbruch, Juan Lucas Young, Vera Hartmann, and David Wegener are the main directors.

About 100 people work at the Berlin office. This includes architects, designers, technicians, model makers, and administrative staff.

Projects They Have Built

Exhibitions About Their Work

• WYSIWYG, traveling exhibition, 1999
• Eyescape Soundscape, Venice Biennale of Architecture, 2004
• 1234 – Die Architektur von Sauerbruch Hutton, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, 2006
• How Soon Is Now, Galerie Judin, Berlin, 2014
• Oxymoron, Venice Biennale of Architecture, 2018
• draw love build – l'architettura di sauerbruch hutton, Venice-Mestre, 2021

See also

In Spanish: Sauerbruch Hutton Architects para niños