Enrique Sobejano – Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos GmbH, Madrid/Berlin
The best thing about my job is …
... being aware that what we design – what begins one day as a drawing on paper – eventually becomes the places and spaces where people spend most of their lives, whether living, working, or in their leisure time. This has made me realize that architecture is far more significant to people‘s lives than society often acknowledges.
The most important advice for my career was ...
... have patience and do things well, don’t rush, keep learning constantly.
I have only recently discovered ...
... how the speed of changes occurring over the course of our lives is much greater than expected
I consider myself lucky ...
... to be able to dedicate myself to an activity that is not just a profession but brings me joy and makes me feel useful to society.
I can’t stand ...
... bad architecture.
I don’t give up hope that ...
... we, as architects, will be able to carry out the transformations society requires: respect for the environment, human-scale cities, affordable housing, etc., and that Architecture, with a capital ‚A‘, does so by promoting what gives it meaningand emotion: space, natural light, material, atmosphere, physical and conceptual consistency.
When things don’t go so well ...
... I would like to see it positively: I would have more time for myself and my family.
Recently I was amazed by ...
... some breathtaking natural landscapes I have visited: the Amazon, Antarctica.
What I find funny is ...
... the need some architects have to always keep up with the latest trends.
What I’m not good at is ...
There are so many things I’m not good at... the question could just as easily have been the opposite.
I like to delude myself that ...
... I always keep the enthusiasm to design and build new projects that we haven‘t done before; it is the way to continue learning and serving the citizens who will inhabit them.
When I look out the window at my workplace, I see ...
... a small patio with plants to protect from the intense sunlight (in Madrid). Large windows facing courtyards in an old industrial building to capture sunlight (in Berlin). The sea horizon (from the small studio room in our personal retreat overlooking the Mediterranean).
Last but not least:
In this issue, we present the realisation of the Hotel Koenigshof in Munich (wa-2013277). An impressive solitaire with an equally impressive building joint: would you tell us a little about how you came up with this idea?
When walking along the pedestrian axis in Munich’s Altstadt, the front façade of the hotel becomes visible from a distance through the Karlstor – one of the city’s historic gates. Our project arose from interpreting two fundamental characteristics that define this location: on the one hand, the concept of frontality in relation to the Karlstor, and ont he other, its compact, cubic condition that gives it a certain sculptural presence within the urban context. Thus, we envisioned a “carved” volume that reveals a large interior void, open toward the Stachus and the city.
This idea led us to design a dramatic central atrium spanning the entire height of the building, around which the hotel rooms and complementary spaces are organized. This vertical lobby compresses and expands at different levels, allowing natural light to enter and enhancing views of the square and the historic city. The “excavated” void conveys the image of a hotel that frames the view of the city, while at the same time, Munich’s historic city center frames the view of the hotel through the Karlstor.
Enrique Sobejano * 1957
Enrique Sobejano studierte Architektur in Madrid und New York. Er gründete 1985 gemeinsam mit Fuensanta Nieto des Büro Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos mit Sitz in Madrid und Berlin, wo er außerdem einen Lehrstuhl für Experimentelles Gestalten und Grundlagen des Entwerfens an der UdK inne hat und Mitglied der Akademie der Künste ist.
Er stellte u.a. im Museum of Modern Art in New York aus und erhielt viele internationale Preise. Zu seinen bedeutendsten Bauwerken zählen das Madinat al-Zahra Museum (Cordoba), das Moritzburg Museum in Halle (wa-2008044) oder das Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa, Tallinn (wa-2013571).
Über seine Arbeit erschienen insgesamt vier Monografien, die jüngste unter dem Titel „Autorretrato/Selfportrait“ (Madrid, 2023).
