On September 20, 2025, the 25th DEW21 Museum Night transformed Dortmund into a vibrant cultural festival. More than 500 events at around 40 venues impressively showcased the diversity of the city’s arts and culture scene.
One highlight was the artistic projection on the Dortmunder U. The tower, visible from afar, is considered both a landmark of the city center and a significant example of early 20th-century industrial architecture in the Ruhr region. During Museum Night, its striking silhouette became a projection surface. The interplay of light, image, and space turned the architecture itself into part of the event.
The Dortmunder U stands like few other buildings for the city’s transformation – from its industrial heritage to a place for culture, science, and technology. The project illustrates how repurposing historical architecture can shape new urban identity. As part of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010, Gerber Architekten redesigned the former industrial building and developed it into a prominent cultural venue.
During Museum Night, it became clear how profoundly architecture shapes cultural life and how it makes Dortmund visible as a forward-looking city.
The RIBA Middle East Awards are presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects. They rank among the most prestigious international architecture prizes and honor projects that demonstrate outstanding architectural quality, innovation, and social relevance in the Middle East.
With King Salman Park, the former airport site in Riyadh is being transformed into a 16.7 km² green oasis in the middle of the desert. Focusing on climate-resilient planting, sustainable water management, and revitalized soils, the project will become one of the largest urban parks worldwide. Our nomination in the Future Projects category highlights the global importance of sustainable landscape architecture that unites ecological responsibility with urban quality of life.
The landscape design, master planning, and detailed planning of King Salman Park are being carried out by a joint venture led by Gerber Architekten, together with the engineering partners Buro Happold and Setec.
Europe’s largest trade fair for real estate and investment will take place from October 6 to 8, 2025, in Munich. As every year, we will be represented at the joint stand of the Business Metropole Ruhr (Stand B1.330) and look forward to your visit.
We will present a selection of our projects – including the recently completed Allianz Park Stuttgart, a climate-conscious office campus with an open plaza, Sky Lounge, and workspaces for 4,500 employees. Learn more about the design of modern work environments, projects from all disciplines of architecture, our expertise in general planning, and our international projects.
We look forward to your visit!
With the new Kõrgaed development in Tallinn, we were awarded 2nd prize in an international competition. The project presents a holistic vision for transforming the former Krull factory site into a contemporary urban quarter, combining spatial openness, human-scale urbanism, and the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage. The mixed-use ensemble of residential and commercial buildings along with an apartment hotel demonstrates how architecture can create new forms of community, sustainability, and urban vibrancy by reimagining the courtyard and ground floor.
At the heart of the design is a courtyard lifted to the second floor. It becomes a green, tranquil communal garden for residents – directly accessible from their homes – while the ground floor remains fully dedicated to public and commercial uses. This move transforms a challenging programmatic conflict into a defining architectural quality.
On the ground floor, 38 flexible commercial units with terraces, arcades, and storefronts enliven the urban realm. Above, 39 timber-clad apartments form a modular structure that ensures daylight, privacy, and adaptable layouts. Recycled building materials from the local context, a hybrid concrete-and-timber construction system, and biodiverse landscaping reinforce the project’s sustainable approach.
In this way, the design bridges past and future, showing how urban density, ecological responsibility, and cultural identity can be brought into balance.
Completed in 2022, the Multiscale Imaging Centre (MIC) at the University of Münster brings together cutting-edge biomedical imaging technologies. 200 researchers from medicine, physics, biology, mathematics, computer science, and chemistry explore how cells behave within organisms. The building references Münster’s traditional brick architecture, yet its recessed and projecting volumes and the façade, broken up by horizontal window bands, give it a distinctly monolithic, sculptural presence.
Inside, the spacious foyer sets the tone. Beneath a glass roof, staircases cross the open space diagonally, while the adjoining courtyard with its suspended garden draws light and openness into the heart of the building. This central space offers a remarkable quality of stay and demonstrates how architecture can create room for knowledge – making science tangible for both visitors and researchers.
The importance of such spaces is underlined by the year-round exhibition unSICHTBAR (“inVISIBLE”), curated by MIC researchers. It presents striking images of cells, tissues, and organisms, produced with advanced microscopy, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography. A further highlight is the twelve-metre-high wall installation Auf | Lösung by Cordula Hesselbarth, artist and professor of scientific illustration.
Thus, the architecture of the foyer does far more than define an entrance. It creates an open forum for exchange – bringing science out from behind laboratory doors and presenting it in a way that is accessible, visible, and inspiring.
Link to the exhibition at the University of Münster
Photo (left): © Jürgen Landes
Photo (right): © Uni Münster – Erk Wibberg
The SUSTech School of Medicine and Affiliated Hospital in Shenzhen, designed by Gerber Architekten, received an Honorable Mention in the “Hospital/Medical Centers” category at the 2025 International Architecture Award (learn more). In this highly competitive category, our project stood out among more than 500 international submissions – a recognition that underscores the innovative character of the design.
Our concept unites a medical faculty, an 800-bed teaching hospital, a library, as well as residential, sports, and recreational facilities into a holistic health campus. The buildings are oriented towards the surrounding landscape between mountain ridges and a river, creating an open and inviting connection between architecture and nature. Green podium levels and vertical planting integrate the complex harmoniously into its setting, fostering a healing and inspiring atmosphere for patients, students, and staff alike.
The award is presented by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in collaboration with the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies. It is one of the most prestigious international distinctions in architecture, honoring outstanding projects that set global benchmarks in design, functionality, and urban integration.
On July 30, 2025, Marius Ryrko, International Managing Director at Gerber Architekten, gave a lecture at Tongji University in Shanghai titled “Blueprint for Wellness: Crafting Nature-Inspired Spaces.” He demonstrated how architecture and landscape design can create livable environments – using examples such as the SUS Tech School of Medicine & SUS Tech Affiliated Hospital in Shenzhen, as well as other projects in China, the Middle East, and Europe.
Through a range of current projects – from healthcare buildings and office complexes to large-scale masterplans – Marius Ryrko illustrated how varying site conditions require tailored design strategies. His talk emphasized that architecture is about more than form: it’s about quality of life, climate resilience, and cultural identity.
Ryrko’s presentation underlined the importance of an integrated design approach that balances ecological, social, and functional aspects. Thoughtfully designed spaces, he argued, play a vital role in shaping sustainable, healthy, and human-centered urban environments.
We sincerely thank Tongji University for the invitation and the inspiring professional exchange.
The “Southern Speicherstraße” project received the German Urban Development Distinction 2025 on July 25, 2025. The jury praised the forward-thinking transformation of Dortmund’s Harbor District as a model for sustainable and community-oriented urban development.
Gerber Architekten contributed to the redevelopment of the district with two projects:
The Hafenforum creates an open space for start-ups, co-working, and gastronomy – anchoring exchange and new work models in the area. Kontorhaus 11 brings together modern office spaces with a market hall, activating the public realm.
With this, Speicherstraße becomes a driving force for a diverse, productive, and socially inclusive urban quarter – right by the water, in the heart of the city.
We are pleased about the recognition and congratulate the City of Dortmund and all project partners on this distinction.