Mission Statement

Architecture is a continuous search for the ideal and, at the same time, a trail, an inventory of reality. Our quest seeks a form that expresses these conditions and resolves the contradictions of ambition, program, and site. Desire and reality form an increasingly conflicted relationship. Thus, we pursue strategies that do not adhere to a single vision of cohesion but rather integrate discrepancies and extremes with organizational logic and clarity.

Piet Eckert and Wim Eckert

© Christian Aeberhard
© Christian Aeberhard

Piet Eckert and Wim Eckert are brothers. Both graduated from the ETH in Zurich in 1994 and 1995. Both worked from 1994 to 1997 at OMA in Rotterdam, Los Angeles, and Seoul. They have taught at several European schools and universities, such as the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio (appointed Guest Professor at the USI - Università dell Svizzera Italiana at Mendrisio). Since 2020, Piet Eckert and Wim Eckert have been appointed Full Professors at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering at TU Dortmund University (Germany).

They established E2A in 2001. Their work has been widely published, including the comprehensive monograph E2A in 2011 with Hatje Cantz. More recently, E2A's work has been presented in AV Monografías - E2A - Logic and Desire and a+u - E2A - Strategic Methodologies.

Their work has expanded geographically and typologically to a broader range in Europe with works in the public, cultural, corporate, commercial and housing domains. Their methodology of work confronts idealism with an inventory of realities. This confrontation witnesses a sense of irony, pleasure and a strategic contradiction to reassess an omnipresent burden of context and program. Desire and reality, narrative and analysis form an increasingly conflicted relationship. E2A's contributions don't necessarily have to adhere to a single vision of cohesion but rather integrate discrepancies and disruptions with implicit organizational logic. Constraints are converted into architectural forms.

Listen to E2A: 
a+u Lecture Series #01 E2A - with Piet Eckert, moderated by Seng Kuan 

 

Atelier Eckert, Accademia di architettura, USI Mendrisio, © Alberto Canepa
Atelier Eckert, Accademia di architettura, USI Mendrisio © Alberto Canepa

PROJECTS

The office continuously engages in themes of urban planning and questions of urbanity within the frame of national and international competitions. E2A has won more than 30 competitions to date and has been awarded numerous international prizes. Several realized housing, office and public projects as well as urban studies testify these credentials.
 

Teaching

E2A is continuously developing its know-how in the context of studies, research projects and pilot research cooperations (ETH Zurich, HCU HafenCity Universität Hamburg).

2009-2011 Guest Professorship for Architecture and Sustainable Development, HCU HafenCity Universität Hamburg; focus: implementation of a „think tank“ working on sustainability at the interface between architecture, city planning, huminities and engineering.

2010-2015 partner at the SUPat (Sustainable Urban Patterns) research project directed by the ETH Zurich; the results have influence upon the national research program “New Urban Quality” (NFP 65).

2014-2019 Guest Professorship at the USI - Università della Svizzera Italiana at Mendrisio.

Since 2020 Full Professors at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering at TU Dortmund University

© Christian Aeberhard
© Christian Aeberhard

Selected Exhibitions

E2A has reflected and presented its work in several exhibitions.

E2A. Strategic Methodologies Exhibition at KIT Kyoto Institute of Technology, USM Modular Furniture Showroom, Création Baumann Showroom, and Freitag Store Shibuya, Ginza Tokyo
curated and organized by the Japan Swiss Architectural Association, 2022

The House of Councillor Krespel (Group Exhibition)
curated by: Antonio Carbone
CAMPO, Rome, Italy, 2019

Dichtelust (Group Exhibition)
S AM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum Basel, 2018

In Land Aus Land. Swiss Architects Abroad (Group Exhibition)
S AM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum Basel, 2017

Widersprüchliches ordnen
Architekturgalerie München, 2013

Körper und Schichten
Aedes Architekturgalerie Berlin, 2012

Ideale Stadt, E2A in Hamburg
AIT Architektur Salon, Hamburg, 2012

E2A. Bauten und Projekte
Galerie Renate Kammer, Hamburg, 2011

E2A. Modelle
Architekturgalerie Luzern, 2010

E2A. Serien 2004-09
Architekturgalerie am Weissenhof, Stuttgart, 2009

Einführungen 2006-2009 (Group Exhibition)
Architektur Galerie Berlin, 2009

E2A. Der ideale Kontext
Architektur Galerie Berlin, 2008

 

E2A. Strategic Methodologies
Exhibition at USM Modular Furniture Showroom, 2022
curated and organized by the Japan Swiss Architectural Association, 2022, Photo: Japanese Swiss Architects Association
E2A. Strategic Methodologies
Exhibition at USM Modular Furniture Showroom, 2022
curated and organized by the Japan Swiss Architectural Association, 2022
Photo: Japanese Swiss Architects Association
Photo: Christian Aeberhard
Photo: Christian Aeberhard