From Vorarlberg beginnings to the Viennese stage

Dietmar Eberle and Carlo Baumschlager founded Baumschlager Eberle Architekten in Austria’s Vorarlberg in 1985. Initially characterised by the region’s traditional woodworking techniques, their family homes were later supplemented by innovative designs for the low-rise, high-density developments that would go on to attract international attention.

As the firm’s portfolio grew to include commercial and office buildings and large-scale residential developments, factors such as corporate responsibility, economy, resource conservation and social acceptability took on a major role in its vision of the planning and design process. Research on building and façade typologies became a central element in its working methodology.

In the 1990s, projects like the Munich Re headquarters building and the redevelopment of Vienna airport drew recognition from outside Austria. In 1999, the original practice in Lochau was expanded with the opening of an office in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. In 2001, a third site was added in Vienna.

The firm continued to grow through a combination of design competitions and direct commissions. The new UNAIDS building in Geneva and the MOMA towers in Beijing paved the way for new offices in Beijing in 2003, St. Gallen in 2006 and Zürich in 2007. As its building projects and the processes they involved became more complex, the firm developed a range of sophisticated project management and control tools based on stringent quality assurance and sustainability standards.

The end of the 2000s saw an interdisciplinary team working together around Dietmar Eberle to implement a daring vision: a building with no heating or cooling plant. Designed with its users in mind, the building would “feel” great and offer a comfortable ambient temperature in line with the globally accepted standard of 22 to 26°C. And the vision became a reality. Dubbed 2226, the concept’s name is also its pledge. It makes a pioneering contribution to the great architectural debate of our time by challenging the received wisdom that energy efficiency can only be achieved through complex building technology, proposing in its place something that had all but been forgotten: the fundamental tools of architecture.

2226 Lustenau was the first building of its kind. Widely publicised and discussed, it marked the start of a new era.

A keen understanding of local cultural contexts and the specific needs of international clients led to the opening of more international offices as Baumschlager Eberle Architekten developed into a network of independent practices – Hong Kong in 2009, Berlin in 2010, Hanoi in 2011, Paris in 2012, Hamburg in 2013, Kraków in 2018 – and to the creation of subsidiaries in Saigon and Shanghai in 2015 and Shenzhen in 2019.

Following the departure of Carlo Baumschlager in 2010, the firm continued to become more international and was reorganised as a holding structure. The formation of be architects Holding AG in 2014 marked the start of its transformation from a group of networked architecture practices to a truly international business.

2016 saw the consolidation of the group’s 2226 expertise to form a separate, stand-alone company. With an eye to the enormous market potential of the 2226 concept, the great potential for synergy within the business and the advantages of a broader capital base, Dietmar Eberle and the supervisory board took the decision to forge ahead with the next step: the formation of a listed parent company.