"Citizens of the world" - Matthias Hollwich of Hollwich Kushner

Filmed at MIPIM 2017 as part of our 'WhatEmployers Want' series, Matthias Hollwich from Hollwich Kushner tells us thebest things about his practice and what the office culture is like. He alsoshares with us what they look for in a CV, how you can stand out during the jobapplication process, how they prefer to receive portfolios and also his advicefor anyone starting out in their architecture career.

Whatare the best things about your practice?

Our practice is really aboutfun, curiosity and inspiration. We look into the future and translate it intobuildings.

Howwould you describe your office culture?

Our culture is totallygeared to cooperative work. We’ve actually learned a lot from technology firms.Our sister firm is called Architizer and we have to compete with other verytalented companies like Google and Facebook. The culture that we learned fromArchitizer; we now also implant into our architecture firm, which makes it oneof its kind. I think it’s the most fun, collaborative place you can imagine.

Whatare you looking for in a CV?

When you send anapplication, I think you always have to take into consideration that you needto support 3 different readings. The first one is somebody who only has 10seconds time to get attracted to it; the second one is somebody who spends 15minutes on it; and the last one who’s going to stud it for an hour. So, youhave to work with that kind of principle to make sure that you reach yourmessage to the right person with the right purpose.

Whatmakes someone stand out to you?

You really stand out whenyou first are able to communicate your ideas. Architecture is all aboutcommunication, so you have to visualize and you have to create kind of anemotional story around it. And then, of course, I think you also have to provethat you have a craft to offer. That could be drawings, or it could bemodeling, or it could be anything that you’re really talented in. Last, it alsohelps when you have a very broad range of experiences, because I think it’simportant now to acknowledge that architecture is not a silo. We have to be citizensof the world to do the future in architecture.

Howdo you prefer to receive portfolios?

The last couple of years, Ithought that digital is much better, because you can just share it in theoffice and you can go through really quickly. But the hard copy actually comesto you and we are kind of confused, because it is not something you can storeaway. That also makes it more of an object that you may actually study a littlebit more in the company. In the end, I guess my recommendation is to do both: sendit digitally for convenience and the hard copy for beauty and longevity.

Whatadvice would you give to anyone starting out in architecture?

If you start a career inarchitecture today, I think you have to just know that architecture is a fieldthat’s expanding. It has incredible different influences now that you should beaware of. With that, to not be afraid. You may do two years of softwaredevelopment, or you may have another experience, maybe in a branding company.All of these kind of things can really add up to an incredible wealth ofknowledge that is really instrumental of architecture today. And just please,please, please don’t be afraid when you’re not good in math, that this is adeal breaker. It’s not the case. You can hire an engineer to figure it out foryou, because I hear from so many people that want to do architecture, butbecause they were not good in math didn’t do it…that’s the wrong reason.

You can watch the video of Matthias Hollwich here