The Berlin-based LXSY Architects Studio is setting new standards in circular construction by designing radically sustainable and multifunctional spaces using recycled materials. In close collaboration with their clients, the three architects are working on innovative new projects and driving forward the transformation of construction.
by Florian Heilmeyer
LXSY is a Berlin-based architecture studio dedicated to circular building. It was founded in 2015 by Kim Le Roux and Margit Sichrovsky. The somewhat cryptic name is derived from the first and last letters of their surnames. They met in 2008 at the beginning of their architecture studies at the Technical University of Berlin. A joint project led to several others, and as their collaboration flourished, they decided to work together for their diploma. Although they initially gained experience in large firms, with Sichrovsky staying in Berlin and Le Roux working on a government project in Ethiopia, they soon realised that they preferred to follow their convictions. Despite having no concrete initial project or business plan, they founded LXSY in January 2015.
Focus on Circular Construction
Their search for a workspace led them to the Impact Hub Berlin, a combination of a co-working space and a business incubator, where you don’t just rent a space, but have to apply and demonstrate that your business idea is in line with the Impact Hub’s philosophy. This philosophy aims to create a global economy where every entrepreneur is aware of their social and environmental responsibilities. With their focus on circularity, LXSY secured a workspace and soon after their first commission, as the Impact Hub Berlin was about to move to a larger location and had just issued an open call for suitable architects. So their landlord became their client.
Multifunctionality as a Hallmark
Despite a tight budget, the architectural result doesn’t betray its cost-effectiveness. They created a diverse working landscape with zones for different needs – loud or quiet, bright or dark, lively or focused. Some areas can be quickly restructured with sliding walls to respond flexibly to changing work situations. Everything is multifunctional: wooden shelves double as seating. The wooden benches have drawers. A large wooden installation serves as a kitchen, video call box, shelf and meeting table – all crowned by a small roof terrace. The multifunctionality of elements has become a hallmark of LXSY, as has the intensive collaboration with the users of the spaces, whose needs are explored in many discussions. The ideas for the hybrid zones and the multi-purpose objects and installations are born out of this dialogue.
From Line to Circle
A third characteristic of LXSY is radical sustainability. Ideally, what LXSY builds is made entirely from reused materials or components, and can be dismantled and reused without residue. Achieving a truly circular process is the goal, even if it’s almost impossible to achieve 100%. This may sound simple, but it represents nothing less than a reinvention of the entire construction industry, which for more than a century has been organised along a linear consumption line – extracting raw materials, producing building materials and products, transporting them to the construction site, using them in the construction and disposing of them as construction waste when they are demolished. This process is at the heart of why the property industry is responsible for approximately 40% of all man-made CO2 emissions each year. LXSY aims to turn this line into a circle. They are not alone in this ambition, but they are pushing forward with great energy. A “conventional” project is not something you will see from them, they say.
Critical Assessment and Response
“For us, it just feels right to design and build in a circular way,” says Le Roux. “We need a new way of thinking and a new way of working together. As a studio, we want to be consistently behind this”. As pioneers, LXSY relies on excellent communication for each project. It’s about discovering potential in collaboration with clients, companies and craftsmen that can change the usual processes in the grey areas of standards and regulations. Circular design means critically evaluating, negotiating and responding flexibly. Design work also changes. You have to work with the materials and components that are available: Form follows availability.
LXSY tested this in two projects in Berlin: the transformation of the Alte Post in Kreuzberg into a co-working space and the interior design for their second Impact Hub Berlin, this time in an old barrel warehouse in Neukölln. In the beginning, they only defined the basic zones with the users and decided on some materials and a colour concept. Everything else evolved over the course of the project. The high art of circular design ensures that the spaces don’t end up looking too provisional or ephemeral. LXSY succeeded in both projects. The spaces are cohesive and create a pleasant, warm and focused working atmosphere, with their sturdy, robust materials showing clear signs of wear and tear. At the Impact Hub in Berlin-Neukölln, 70 per cent of all the materials and elements used are recycled or made from sustainable materials.
New Projects, New Challenges
This pleasantly lively yet high-quality aesthetic has brought LXSY considerable attention. Now the firm is growing with its challenges: in Merseburg, it is transforming a 25-hectare factory site into a vibrant urban district. In Stuttgart, they have been invited to participate in the transformation of a former industrial site as part of the International Building Exhibition 2027. Together with asp Architects, LXSY is planning the construction of a new block with 76 residential and 6 commercial units, as well as the further development of two existing buildings, including an extension in timber construction. And in Berlin, LXSY – again in collaboration with asp – will build a circular pavilion for the Heinrich Böll Foundation next to the Kino International, as part of the original, never realised concept for Stalinallee. But that is not all: LXSY also wants to initiate its own projects and become active in research. In October, Sichrovsky will take up a professorship at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences – for climate-friendly and resource-efficient architecture. “As a company, we are particularly interested in establishing international standards for the reuse of building components,” says Le Roux. Practical research can contribute to this.
A Vision of Holistic Architecture
All in all, this sounds like strong centrifugal forces that could tear a company apart. To avoid a crash landing, LXSY brought a third partner on board in April: Wiebke Ahues, who previously held senior positions at Henning Larsen, Max Dudler and David Chipperfield. “Wiebke brings experience of large-scale projects, including urban planning,” says Le Roux. Ahues has also been active for some time in a working group on sustainable and circular construction at the Berlin Chamber of Architects and is well versed in the laws and standards in this area. She will help to manage the leap in scale. “We founded the practice with the idea of thinking about architecture holistically. We don’t want to limit ourselves to certain phases of performance, but take on everything from design to planning to implementation – and then everything else that seems important to us around it”. With the expanded team, the architects aim to prove that radical sustainability does not have to mean compromising on design quality, even for projects on a district scale. “We need the visibility of excellent design within planetary boundaries to change the industry.”
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About the Author
Florian Heilmeyer, born 1974, lives and works on the move, but mainly in Berlin. He studied architecture in Berlin and Rotterdam and published his first texts during his studies. Since then he has worked as a critic, journalist, editor, consultant and curator in the fields of architecture, society and the city. He writes for the specialist and daily press worldwide, is the editor and co-editor of numerous specialist books and has been involved in numerous exhibitions, including twice in the German contribution to the Architecture Biennale in Venice. He is currently accompanying Gerkan Marg and Partners’ ‘Umbau’ exhibition on its world tour.
