Page 5 - AIT0623_FranzSue

SERIEN LEHRJAHRE BEI ... • WORKING AT ...
Rendering: ARGE Franz&Sue/Schenker Salvi Weber
Stadtreinigung Berlin, in Arbeitsgemeinschaft mit Schenker Salvi Weber, Wettbewerbsgewinn 2022 It was important to me that the office should concentrate on a sustainable, future-ori-
Rendering: Franz&Sue
In Konstanz-Petershausen entsteht ein Berufsschulzentrum für 1300 SchülerInnen, Wettbewerbsgewinn 2019 wendviertel near Vienna’s main railway station!
Blick ins „Studio“, den zweiten Franz&Sue-Standort im Sonnwendviertel, 150 Meter entfernt vom „Stadtelefant“ large workshop to update each other on projects, welcome newcomers, celebrate com-
Foto: Marc Goodwin/archmospheres
044 • AIT 6.2023
r Ms Hottenbacher, you graduated from TU Dresden in August 2021. You have been
working at Franz&Sue in Vienna since March 2022. Your first job after graduating!
How does it feel to start your professional life?
On the one hand, starting your professional life is a relief because you are finally doing
what you have been working towards for years. On the other hand, it is a little scary
because, for now, there is no longer a tangible goal, like graduating from high school
or finishing your studies. Starting a career as an architect is also interesting because in
your studies you are unfortunately very focused on performance phase 0 and other
areas are only touched on marginally. If you don’t work in the competition department
in the office, you get to know a completely different side of architecture. As concerns
the project of Oberwart education centre to which I am contributing, I started in the
know a lot of the technical details, and it is a constant learning process. But that also
preliminary-design phase. In the meantime, we have reached the submission planning
stage. This corresponds to the approval planning in Germany. I am only now getting to
makes it exciting.
r How did you choose your first office?
ented kind of building, while still keeping the focus on aesthetics. Franz&Sue describe
themselves with these goals and also show that they stand behind these values. Time
and again, we receive awards for our commitment to sustainability. In addition to this
crucial issue for me, a good working atmosphere with flat hierarchies, in which
everyone can contribute and in which a lot is done together in the office, was of course
also important to me. Despite the size of the office, we often manage to get together and
do things together, which has a positive effect on the entire dynamics within the team.
r 2017, the two Viennese offices Franz and Sue have merged. Who is behind this of-
fice name? You won’t find Mr or Mrs Franz or Mr or Mrs Sue among the partners ...
There is actually no one in the office with these pretty names. Franz is probably just a
classic Austrian name and Sue an exalted abbreviation for Strategie und Entwicklung.
The office name was chosen deliberately. After all, the idea was to live the two office
cultures together in the future. The founders Michael Anhammer, Christian Ambos and
Harald Höller (Sue) as well as Robert Diem and Erwin Stöttner (Franz) decided to
merge the offices in 2017. Since then, the team has been growing steadily. In the me-
antime, we are already close to 100 people. The headquarters, the so-called Stadtele-
fant, was built soon after. When I started, the fifth “wedding anniversary” was already
celebrated in the office.
r Describe to us the working atmosphere in the Franz&Sue office in the new Sonn-
We don’t all work in the Stadtelefant, some teams are also housed in the Studio a few
minutes’ walk away. There we all meet every Monday morning for our jour fixe in the
petition wins and, of course, to bring the whole team together. In my opinion, the wor-
king atmosphere is very good, each project team sits together at one or two big tables
and can thus exchange information or discuss anything. There is also plenty of exchange
among the teams or in the construction-technology and finance departments. If you
need advice, you only have to walk down a few desks.
r As a young architect at Franz&Sue, were you literally thrown in at the deep end
or, rather, gently introduced to your tasks? What project are you currently involved
in and what tasks are you authorized to assume?
In my case, there was a relaxed transition, as the team member I replaced was still in
the project with me for a while. So, I was gently introduced to my new tasks. I had time
to get used to the structures of the office – be it the programme itself, but also the ge-
neral way of working – so I wasn’t “thrown in at the deep end”. The project I am wor-
king on is a primary school in Oberwart. This is one of the more manageable projects
of three people, and we each have our own areas of responsibility – for example, who
in the office, which is enormously reassuring as an introduction to work. We are a team
communicates with which specialist planners. Other tasks are assigned spontaneously.
Due to the friendly atmosphere within the team, there are no psychological barriers to
ask questions. Internal meetings also facilitate the learning process and provide a plat-
form for questions and exchange.