Carolina von Hammerstein + Vera Kellmann

Vera Kellmann and Carolina von Hammerstein both earned their Master's degrees in architecture from the Technical University Berlin. Their paths first crossed during their bachelor studies at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, where a shared curiosity for architecture beyond its formal boundaries brought them together. Over the years, their collaboration was shaped by diverse projects and working together in academic teaching. This exchange spans a wide range of topics and consistently interrogates the social relevance of architectural practice in relation the traditional architectural craft and its visual and spatial communication in order to enable the mediation, the accessibility and the interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge.
For their master thesis Forest & Phoenix they received the EU Mies Award Young Talent 2025. With this work, Carolina and Vera have created an interdisciplinary, design-driven, and materially reflective project that unites theoretical research and architectural practice. Their work demonstrates how architecture, when understood as an inclusive and collaborative discipline, can offer concrete responses to pressing global challenges—such as wildfires and ecological transformation.
This approach reflects their broader architectural understanding: a critical, research-based design practice that sees architecture as a tool for mediation.