Focketyn Del Rio Studio

FOCKETYN DEL RIO STUDIO is a multidisciplinary practice specializing in design, architecture, and research. Based in Basel, Switzerland, and founded by Hans Focketyn and Miquel del Rio in 2013, this partnership from Belgium and Barcelona is at the forefront of a new generation of European architects shaping the future of cultural and communitydriven architectural design.

"In 2013, our founding year, we submitted entries to five competitions. All of them got a prize - it was an amazing series of designs. We had to stop celebrating, so we started toasting with Rivella. Then we won Kaserne, and switched back to beer."

The firm is currently working on a 9,000 square meters transformation of the Kaserne Cultural Centre, one of the most relevant Swiss cultural projects in a decade. Uniting two previously separate spaces on the Rhine River in central Basel, the refurbishment will provide the city with a contemporary, multifunctional cultural facility and a new public plaza. The construction of this flagship project is scheduled to start in Autumn 2018.

Several more projects are also under construction, including a restaurant adjacent to Kaserne, a new community meeting space, both to be completed in late 2018, and the transformation of a private home.

Among the firm’s completed work is Parterre One, a revolutionary concert hall completed in 2017. Its diversified events spaces act as a cultural multiplier in Basel’s already vibrant environment. "To be able to build a concert hall is a fantastic experience. The client wanted to have something special - we were more than happy to deliver that."

The grass-roots Guerrilla Projects are a series of smaller-scale commissions comprised of cultural spaces, gastronomy, and public interventions. This ongoing series includes several completed projects such as Kaschemme (2014), Jukebox (2015), Nebel Bar (2016) or Altes Kraftwerk (2017), rising out of the firm’s approach to a non-hierarchical collaboration and exchange between client, contractor, architect, and the public.

"An ecological future can only be achieved through means of collaboration. A communitydriven architecture through collaboration is a means of promoting public and cultural projects.”

Guerrilla Projects embody an architecture where authorship is shared in a cross-pollinating network, and public and cultural projects contribute back to the community.

FDR Studio combines forward-thinking solutions with a profound understanding of each project’s environment and context. It operates between the cooperative logic of the shared economy as well as within the more traditional approaches of large-scale architectural realization. Its work is built on the ideal that architecture is not only a civic service, or an artistic discipline, but also a cultural activator that will inspire current and future generations.

"We must intervene in fields that previous generations would not touch and do it from an ecological point of view. We need to understand the resources that have already been exhausted and the ones that we will be expending as a global community. We want to be part of the change. We want to propose meaningful political projects. We want to embed strong concepts in friendly words. We want to be soft radicals."

Working on a series of ecological transformations, FDR Studio understands architecture as the cyclical reuse of resources. The studio’s designs focus on subtly and carefully balancing innovation with the existing local environment in a meaningful and sustainable way.

Founded after a decade of collaboration at Herzog & de Meuron, FDR Studio significantly expanded its profile by winning the restoration of the Kaserne Cultural Centre in early 2014. This Foundation Award-winning practice actively engages in exhibitions, lectures, video pieces, musical work, and small-scale installations that shape its artistic and communal identity. With an idealism backed by real-world projects, almost ten projects in Switzerland have been completed, and multiple competition entries were awarded. With four active construction sites, this small office is working with the mindset of a large-scale company.

“Our office is in an exciting phase right now. We work on making the world around us better - by treating our resources carefully, by collaborating and supplying a set of tools to various parties, and by acknowledging the importance of realizing social and sustainable architecture.”

Hans Focketyn
1976 Born in Leuven, Belgium
1995-1999 Studies at the EPFL, Lausanne
1999 Internship at Diener & Diener Architekten, Basel
2000 Internship at OMA, Roterdam & Herzog & De Meuron, Basel
2000-2002 Studies at ETHZ, Zurich
2002 Master in Architecture in ETHZ at Prof. W. Schett
2002-2010 Architect at Herzog & De Meuron, Basel
2010-2012 Assistant of guest professor Buchner & Bründler, ETHZ
2012-2014 Assistant of guest professor Manuel Herz, ETHZ
2013 Partner at Focketyn Del Rio Studio

Miquel Del Río Sanín
1980 Born in Barcelona, Spain
1998 Studies at International Business School (ESCI-UPF)
1999-2009 Studies at ETSAB
2001-2012 Partner at RDR, Estudi d’Arquitectura
2005-2006 Internship at Herzog & De Meuron, Basel
2006-2008 Teaching assistant at Chair of Moisés Gallego, ETSAB
2007 Internship at Arriola & Fiol
2008-2009 Internship at Moisés Gallego SLP
2009 Master in Architecture in ETSAB, UPC
2009-2013 Architect at Herzog & De Meuron, Basel & Madrid
2013 Partner at Focketyn Del Rio Studio