The Dortmunder U – Center for Art, Creativity and Education, designed by Gerber Architekten, has been honored as a “Model Project for Neighborhood Development” at the 5th Urban Regeneration Conference hosted by The Paper. The Paper is considered one of China’s most influential media outlets for urban development and culture. According to the jury, the project demonstrates in an impressive way how urban spaces can evolve into vibrant gathering places that generate lasting urban momentum.
The former grain tower of the Union Brewery was transformed into a cultural venue of roughly 15,000 square meters, bringing together diverse cultural programs and public areas. Together with the Robert Bosch and Robert Schumann vocational colleges, also designed by Gerber Architekten, a compact district for culture, learning, living and working has emerged. This ensemble exemplifies how European cities reinterpret industrial heritage and convert it into long-term drivers for knowledge and creative economies, a strategy that is attracting strong interest in China.
With this award, The Paper acknowledges not only the architectural and urban design quality of the Dortmunder U. The Urban Regeneration Annual List highlights in particular the project’s international role model status for sustainable urban development and the revitalization of former industrial areas.
The Noor Riyadh Festival 2025 opens at the Transfer Station designed by Gerber Architekten, a central hub of Riyadh’s new metro system. The building, whose four quadrants bring daylight nearly 30 meters below street level, evokes the rock strata along Riyadh’s steep slopes with its floating roof structure.
The spacious public plaza in front of the station offers room for socializing and relaxation, simultaneously turning the architecture into the perfect stage for the light art festival. International and Saudi artists transform the building and its surroundings with installations and interactive works into an open experiential field.
Visitors can experience the light installations from November 20 to December 6. The Transfer Station demonstrates impressively how architecture can gain meaning beyond its function: it creates an urban meeting point, links public space and culture, and opens up areas where art, city life, and community can be experienced directly.
King Salman Park in Riyadh has been honored with the RIBA Middle East Award 2025 – the sole winner in the Future Projects category. The megaproject transforms the former airport site into a 16.7 km² green urban landscape. A joint venture led by Gerber Architekten, together with engineering firms Buro Happold and Setec, is responsible for the project on behalf of the King Salman Park Foundation.
As a key initiative of Vision 2030, the project stands as a benchmark for ecological urban regeneration in arid regions. Based on interdisciplinary research, it focuses on regenerating desert soils, creating sustainable water cycles, and establishing climate-resilient vegetation – a model for urban greening worldwide.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) selected nine projects in total that are shaping the future of architecture in the Middle East. The awards ceremony took place on November 7 in the Dubai Design District (d3).
Photo ©RIBA Gulf, from left to right (l–r): Mark Kyffin, Director of Architecture at The Department of Culture & Tourism Abu Dhabi, Prof. Eckhard Gerber, Thomas Lücking, Valerie Vaughan-Dick MBE, Chief Executive Officer at RIBA.
The winners of the RIBA Middle East Award were announced today at Dubai Design Week. King Salman Park is the sole winner in the “Future Projects” category. The transformation of the former airport site in Riyadh into a 16.7 km2 inner-city park landscape is one of the central projects of Vision 2030. It is a prime example of ecological urban regeneration based on biodiversity and climate regulation. It is based on interdisciplinary research that makes it possible to fertilise desert soils, establish a sustainable water supply and plant climate-resilient plants and trees. King Salman Park combines the diversity of urban life with a unique landscape and nature experience. It contributes significantly to increasing the proportion of green space in the Saudi capital and can serve as a blueprint for ecological greening projects in arid areas worldwide. The mega-project is being developed by a joint venture led by Gerber Architects, in cooperation with engineering partners Buro Happold and Setec.
Our thanks go to the King Salman Park Foundation, the international scientists and all the project partners involved, whose commitment and expertise have made this green living space possible.
Further information on King Salman Park can be found on the RIBA website:
https://www.riba.org/explore/awards/international-awards/middle-east-awards/king-salman-park/
One year after the foundation stone was laid, the topping-out ceremony for the extension of the Emschergenossenschaft and Lippeverband headquarters has taken place.
Gerber Architekten is realising a building ensemble here that extends the listed representative building from 1909 in timber hybrid construction. Board member Prof. Dr Uli Paetzel emphasised in particular the creation of new working environments with variable office constellations. The extension creates flexible structures that enable both individual workstations and group offices and thus respond to the requirements of modern working methods. The former car park has been transformed into a green inner courtyard in which the theme of water can be experienced as a central design element. Generous glass surfaces and a new foyer at the southern corner facing away from the road open up views of the inner courtyard and the surrounding parkland.
An architecturally and functionally significant step that combines history, innovation and environmental awareness in an impressive way.
Riyadh’s metro system, one of the largest metro projects in the world, commenced operations in 2025. The network of six metro lines connects key locations such as King Khalid International Airport and the King Abdullah Financial District. Among the four central Iconic Stations is the STC Station, designed by Gerber Architekten. With the metro now operational, Riyadh boasts a modern urban transit system that improves mobility and sustainably enhances the city’s quality of life.
The STC Station combines functionality with architectural distinction: generously sized light courts channel daylight up to 30 meters underground, creating bright, easily navigable spaces. The architectural design draws inspiration from the striking rock strata of the steep slopes surrounding Riyadh. The station appears as a floating rock slab lifted from the ground, making a bold statement within the dense urban fabric. Since the building occupies only part of the site, a spacious public plaza with new green space has been created—a key area for gathering, relaxation, and social interaction in the heart of the city. Riyadh’s metro system is designed to transport over 3.6 million passengers daily in the future and forms a central component of Vision 2030, which links sustainable urban development, mobility, and quality of life.
Yesterday, the new teaching building of the Air Force Officers’ School was officially inaugurated in Roth. The new building is at the heart of the urban masterplan, which our firm developed and implemented for the school’s new location.
With the relocation from Fürstenfeldbruck to Roth, a campus for around 2,000 soldiers and instructors has been created, including accommodation for 800 officer candidates. The teaching building forms both the spatial and symbolic center – it stands at the highest point of the site and is intersected by a “runway” that connects the entire campus.
Architecturally, the building draws on aviation themes: technology, atmosphere, and structure. The facade, made of movable metal louvers, evokes wings and air brakes, while the interior captures the dynamics of flying through light, transparency, and spatial sequencing. A striking cascade staircase – the “Stairway to Heaven” – leads into the large atrium, where aircraft models and the military history teaching collection are displayed.
Among the guests at the opening were Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann and Minister President Markus Söder, who, in his speech, highlighted the scale of the new campus and its state-of-the-art training facilities. During the ceremony, Mr. Gerber presented the plaque marking the building’s inauguration.
The auditorium, with its dome adorned like a “starry sky,” the camouflage-style greenery of the courtyard, and the “Art in Architecture” projects create an atmosphere that unites knowledge, history, and identity.
Photo: © HGEsch
The CALEDO research building – Center for Advanced Liquid-Phase Engineering – was officially inaugurated on the campus of the Technical University of Dortmund with a ceremonial event. In this new facility, liquid phases for environmentally friendly and innovative processes in chemistry, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical research will be studied and developed.
Designed by Gerber Architekten, the building blends harmoniously into the campus architecture with its brick façade. A central courtyard with a terraced green area creates open sightlines and encourages interaction between research groups. The clear building layout provides both orientation and aesthetic expression – functional, open, and sculptural. With approximately 3,600 square meters of laboratory and office space, CALEDO offers optimal conditions for more than 100 researchers to conduct interdisciplinary cutting-edge research in environmentally friendly processes in chemistry, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical sciences.
The opening ceremony was attended by Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, Prof. Manfred Bayer, Rector of TU Dortmund, Prof. Gabriele Sadowski, spokesperson for CALEDO, and Gabriele Willems, Managing Director of BLB NRW. During the event, Prof. Gerber presented a plaque to Prof. Sadowski, marking the start and completion of the building, along with an artwork by the artist Horst Linn titled Strong 2.
CALEDO thus represents the interplay of architecture, research, and innovation – a place where knowledge is given space.
Group photo, from left to right: Manfred Bayer (Rector of TU Dortmund), Gabriele Willems (Managing Director of BLB NRW), Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of NRW, Prof. Gabriele Sadowski (Spokesperson of CALEDO), Prof. Eckhard Gerber
©Gerber Architekten