Shaping social participation

How can urban spaces and the built environment be designed in such a way that they include everyone, enable participation and appropriation, and promote fair economic conditions?

Far beyond DIN standards for accessibility or open-use design approaches, inclusion is a multi-layered task. At the end of November in Vienna, the third edition of the “Rethink” event series focused on examining the causes and forms of exclusionary architecture and urban planning, raising awareness of the numerous possibilities for inclusive design, and, above all, looking at inspiring examples.

Shaping transformation

Even small steps can have a big impact: When, just a few years ago, LXSY Architektur implemented circularity principles in the interior design of the Impact Hub Berlin at CRCLR House in Berlin-Neukölln, they were almost smiled at, recalls co-founder Margit Sichrovsky on a summer evening in 2025 in Munich. Setting up material storage facilities, using reused components, or developing prototypes from existing components – all of this had rarely been tried on a large scale before. Today, however, circular construction is no longer an exception, but a necessity.

On July 23, employees, colleagues, and friends gathered at Dietrich Untertrifaller's Munich office for an evening of lectures and discussions on the facets, hurdles, pioneering projects, and visions of the current construction practice. For the speakers and audience have one thing in common: They are not only dedicated to classical architecture in their everyday work, but also want to promote sustainable transformation.

Rethink demolition

‘Vive la Renovation!’ With this slogan, Verena Konrad ends a powerful lecture on HouseEurope! at Dietrich Untertrifaller's office in Bregenz. The director of the vai - Vorarlberger Architektur Institut is co-initiator and organiser for Austria of the current European Citizens' Initiative. This is the first time that demolition practice in the construction sector has been addressed, scrutinised and supplemented by legislative proposals at the highest political level. For most people, it is clear that the conservation value of existing buildings must be recognised far beyond professional circles, while demolition must be urgently reconsidered.

That's also what the word ‘rethink’ aims at. It is no coincidence that it is the name of a new hybrid series of events initiated by Dietrich Untertrifaller's team and launched on Global Recycling Day, 18 March 2025.

The significance of place and craftsmanship

The Vorarlberg region and the Bregenzerwald characterise the identity of Dietrich Untertrifaller. Every project that we bring to life carries a piece of this identity within it. Craftsmanship plays a key role in this - not in the sense of skills and qualities, but in the sense of attitude and appreciation of the context, resources and cooperation.

In this respect, Vorarlberg symbolises far more than just the beginning of our history. Vorarlberg is sort of our laboratory, where everyone is the product of his environment, where we mutually benefit from each other through respectful interaction, joint discussions and open dialogue at eye level. The underlying aspirations we demand from ourselves and others is a constant element in our architecture and our approach.

Migration spaces

A dialogue between migration and multicultural spaces

Never before has the number of people forced to flee their homes been as high as it is today. There are many reasons for this flight: Lack of prospects and poverty, ethnicity and religion, violence and war, discrimination and persecution, climate change and environmental destruction. According to the latest Global Trends Report from the UNHCR, 117.3 million people worldwide were displaced at the end of 2023 - 8.8 million people (or 8 per cent) more than at the end of 2022.

Openness, curiosity and learning from each other

As a pupil at the European School of Brussels in the 1960s and 1970s, I realised in the upper school that almost all the teachers belonged to the wartime generation and were therefore guided by a great deal of idealism and tolerance in this newly founded first European School, and that they were committed to the idea of a united Europe with all their might: openness, curiosity, learning from each other in a modest setting despite all the resentment that still existed at the time.

These memories came flooding back when I was given an insight into the Dietrich Untertrifaller office through a long conversation between employees. I was impressed by the naturalness with which differences are addressed at the various locations in Europe and solutions are sought with all partners - and of course also by the work in the team of employees from all over the world.