My design philosophy is simple: an architect must look at everything before he builds a building.

I believe design should progress naturally from a variety of contributing factors: the clients needs, of course, but also the building’s response to site, to light, and to climate, its response to both its cultural and historical context, and the materials and technology available to realize it.

Only after examination of all these elements does the design begin to congeal. I aim for a high integrity building - a building which provides high levels of comfort for its occupants, high efficiency in the use of technology, and high performance of the client’s needs.

Wolfgang Wagener Architects has had offices in Los Angeles and Berlin since 1996. Prior to this Wolfgang Wagener has worked as Project Director for Richard Rogers Partnership in London and Berlin. Among others, one of his resposibilities was the Potsdamer Platz Project in Berlin. Prior to this he worked with Murphy/Jahn in Chicago and Bruno Schindler in Cologne, Germany. He has been a consultant for Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design for the European Community in Brussels for several years. Currently, he teaches at the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Wolfgang Wagener has also taught as Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

His work has been displayed at many exhibitions in Europe and the U.S.A, including the Summer Academy in Karlsruhe, the German Architecture Museum in Frankfurt, the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin, the Architecture Gallery at UCLA, and the Lindhurst Gallery at USC. His work has been published in numerous books and magazines including Architectural Record, Architecture and Urbanismus, ARCH+, Telepolis, Potsdamer Platz Berlin: An Integrated Approach for Three European Demonstration Buildings, Berlinmodel of Industrial Culture, and From Good Design to Immaterial Goods: From Bauhaus to Intelligent Buildings. He has lectured widely in Europe and the U.S.A..

16 February 1998

volume5