Fei and Chris Precht
courtesy Precht Fei and Chris Precht

Firm name: Precht
Location: In the mountains of Austria near Pfarrwerfen
Year founded: 2016 (originally founded as Penda in 2014)
Firm leadership: Fei and Chris Precht
Firm size: 6, like a small band
Education: Chris: Master’s degree from the Technical University Vienna; Fei: Master’s degree from the University for Applied Arts Vienna

Bert, a modular housing system based on the design of a tree house, can be configured in various ways based on a client's needs. The design fosters a connection to nature with its leaf-like shingles and large circular windows.
courtesy Precht Bert, a modular housing system based on the design of a tree house, can be configured in various ways based on a client's needs. The design fosters a connection to nature with its leaf-like shingles and large circular windows.
Bert
Christian Flatscher Bert
Bert
Christian Flatscher Bert

Experience: The Beijing office of Graft

How founders met: The typical architectural love story. Meeting in an office, falling in love, founding our own office.

Firm mission: We are a young studio living and working in the mountains of Austria. Inspired by this surrounding, nature is a big part of our life and our work.

Personality of the practice: Nature and the impact of a building are always on the forefront of our design process. I think that was shaped by my [Chris’s] father. My dad was a free-solo climber and I basically grew up with him on the mountains. A love for our natural environment and a respectful dialogue with nature profoundly influenced me. The question of how we can create something artificial like a building but also respect nature at the same time is a key element in our work. We try to create buildings that connect people to nature—buildings that connect to all our senses with ecological materials we want to touch. With gardens and plants, you can eat and smell. Buildings you can hear because bees and birds are part of their ecosystem. We try to create sensible buildings that make you feel alive.

The Prechts, who grow most of their own food on an Austrian mountainside, designed the Farmhouse to create a similar reality in the city. The modular design uses cross-laminated timber and recycles wastewater that can irrigate crops in the building’s greenhouse, with the basement used as a composting station.
Courtesy Studio Precht The Prechts, who grow most of their own food on an Austrian mountainside, designed the Farmhouse to create a similar reality in the city. The modular design uses cross-laminated timber and recycles wastewater that can irrigate crops in the building’s greenhouse, with the basement used as a composting station.
The Farmhouse
Courtesy Studio Precht The Farmhouse
The Farmhouse
Courtesy Studio Precht The Farmhouse

Defining project: I would say Bert, the tree house. Three years ago, we started the journey of designing Bert without a client. After a round of publications, we found our first client, with whom we realized the first four Berts. This allowed for an open and transparent process, because we had fully developed the project beforehand, and when the client came on board, everything was in place to move forward. We knew the details, the project costs, the timelines. As it is a modular build, we can adapt it to a client’s wishes within hours. That flips the usual business model of an architect on its head.

Another important project: The Farmhouse, a modular building system that combines living and gardening, started in a similar way to Bert, with three years of self-funded development until a client came on board.

Now we are developing the first Farmhouse for Montreal. This project is very personal for us because it combines some of our stories within the design. Living in the mountains means that we are able to grow a bunch of our own food. For us, this is our form of luxury, but we also know that this is not possible for a lot of people. With increasing obesity and diabetes, a healthy diet is crucial and this starts by knowing where your food comes from and how it was grown. With the Farmhouse, we make this process visible in the city.

The Tel Aviv Arcades, an 18-story condo tower, features private and communal arched terraces that help shade the interiors and also open them up to the city outside.
courtesy Precht The Tel Aviv Arcades, an 18-story condo tower, features private and communal arched terraces that help shade the interiors and also open them up to the city outside.
The Tree Tower in Toronto, an 18-story modular design inspired by the Habitat 67 project in Montreal by Moshe Safdie, FAIA, favors wood over steel and concrete, relying on prefabricated CLT panels to help reduce carbon emissions.
courtesy Precht The Tree Tower in Toronto, an 18-story modular design inspired by the Habitat 67 project in Montreal by Moshe Safdie, FAIA, favors wood over steel and concrete, relying on prefabricated CLT panels to help reduce carbon emissions.

Mentors: A big mentor of mine [Chris] is Gregor Hoheisel. He was leading the Beijing branch of Graft, which was the only office I ever worked for before stepping out on our own. Gregor is not just a great architect but also a good boss. He taught me how to lead a team with passion and empathy—something that is rare in our industry. A good office climate is very important and hard to achieve. That starts with the leaders of a company. A good boss is not the one who wins a lot of awards but the one who creates a good atmosphere for everyone to thrive and be creative. You don’t learn that in university, but I had the chance to learn that from Gregor.

Biggest design challenge the firm has overcome: Operating a studio in the mountains can be challenging, but also has positive aspects. We enjoy the calm and quiet surroundings. That's good for creativity. But as beautiful as architecture can be, it can also be a toxic industry and drain your motivation. It's an ongoing process, but I think we managed during the last few years to create a healthy work-life balance for us and our team. The mountains are a source of regeneration and I believe that’s especially important for the tasks of an architect. As architects, we mostly live in a fictional world. Architecture is the art of thinking about a future that doesn’t exist yet. For most of the time, buildings live as visions in our head. Going to the mountains gets us back to reality: fully connected to the moment, to our feelings and senses. Connecting both of those worlds—the fictional and the real—are important for a healthy, creative mind.

The Hongkun Art Auditorium in China, located next to the neighboring Hongkun Museum of Fine Arts, also designed by Precht, is centered around an “art box” that includes an auditorium adorned by arches and mirrors.
courtesy Precht The Hongkun Art Auditorium in China, located next to the neighboring Hongkun Museum of Fine Arts, also designed by Precht, is centered around an “art box” that includes an auditorium adorned by arches and mirrors.
Hongkun Museum of Fine Arts
courtesy Precht Hongkun Museum of Fine Arts
Hongkun Museum of Fine Arts
courtesy Precht Hongkun Museum of Fine Arts

Ambitions for the firm in the coming five years: We started under a different name in Beijing and moved our studio to the mountains a few years ago. I have learned in the countryside that success is a matter of definition. In Beijing, success meant for me to grow my team, the size of projects, and our fame. But a constant growth brings a growing responsibility and that made me feel like a hamster in a running wheel. The last three years, I’ve defined success differently. I don’t need to be a rich architect, nor do I need to be a famous architect or the one with the biggest projects. My goal is to be a happy architect instead. For us, that means to work with a couple of great people on a couple of good projects and focus on a healthy work-life balance.

Special something in your studio space: I’d say our one-year-old boy. During the pandemic, everyone was working from their home office, and our studio turned into a kid's playground. I love the playful and curious atmosphere and once everyone is back, I want to continue that our office is guided by a playful and curious mindset.

Yin and Yang house features a green roof and channels rainwater into storage basins to help irrigate the plants.
courtesy Precht Yin and Yang house features a green roof and channels rainwater into storage basins to help irrigate the plants.
The Snow Apartment, a ski retreat outside of Beijing, was modeled on an igloo.
courtesy Precht The Snow Apartment, a ski retreat outside of Beijing, was modeled on an igloo.
One with the Birds, an easily assembled modular system made from bamboo, can be used to build hotels or housing, or temporary structures such as event architecture or emergency shelters.
courtesy Precht One with the Birds, an easily assembled modular system made from bamboo, can be used to build hotels or housing, or temporary structures such as event architecture or emergency shelters.

Biggest challenge facing architects today: To stay relevant. Architecture has a tendency sometimes to live in its own bubble. We spend too much time talking to ourselves. Unlike previous generations, however, our work is no longer shaped by styles, -isms, or academic theories.

But I also think the challenges for our generation are bigger than that. Climate change, rapid urbanization, population growth, thinking in circular loops, and A.I. are now part of our design task. The challenges that are ahead are enormous, but so are the possibilities for architects. We have a unique skill set to tackle those challenges. We combine business with creativity. We combine history with a vision of the future. We combine craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology. We are strategic dreamers. This might be more important than ever before. If we, as an industry, are able to demonstrate these things, architecture can be a important pillar moving us into a more ecological future.