Architectural office GRAFT: extra class & future – company

.
New prestigious properties are currently being built, as described in the introduction, for example for E.ON and Volocopter. For E.ON GRAFT builds at the new, large E-car charging network and designs charging stations. Another project with a great future is Volocopter, one of the first air cabs that will soon conquer metropolises worldwide. In Germany, too, air cabs are soon to take up their first test flights. But, before we take a look at individual objects from GRAFT, here’s a brief look at the company:

History, founders and establishment in LA

The architecture firm GRAFT was founded by Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz and Thomas Willemeint in Los Angeles, back in 1998. Since then, many flagship projects have been built, especially in Berlin. These include, for example, the KU64 and the BRLO, here in Berlin.

Behind every great undertaking is a higher goal. For GRAFT Architekturbüro, it is said that it was founded as a label for architecture, urban planning, design, music and “the pursuit of happiness,” as it says on the architects’ website.

“the pursuit of happiness”

The founders Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz and Thomas Willemeint, have GRAFT now expanded to over 150 employees, 3 of them even in Beijing. Thus GRAFT is already in the future market: China. While airports in Germany have gladly times 10 years building time, one realizes airports here 3x so largely, in 10 months building time.

Tip: Read more about Investing in China (real estate).

Interior Architecture:

Building to the heights:

Architecture firm at a glance

GRAFT company at a glance:

• Founders: Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz, and Thomas Willemeint
• Founded: 1998
• Founding location: Los Angeles, California (USA)
• Headquarters: 3 continents
• Employees: 150 (as of 2021)
• Projects (new): E.ON charging stations, Volocopter

Graft about itself:

“We refuse the traditional, virtual and real boundaries in the world of work and are thus able to offer more opportunities and an ever-expanding range of solutions in our work.”

Source: graftlab.com

Awards and prizes

In 2015 alone, it rained awards, including the “Red Dot Design Award, Communication Design, Visualization for Objekt Carpet”, but also the “Iconic Award 2016, Interior Innovation, CAELA Lighting System”. The last year, with official list can currently be found from 2019. Here is a small excerpt, with other prizes and awards won by GRAFT architecture office.

Awards and prizes, excerpt 2019:

• Award German Housing, Paragon Apartments, 1st prize
• Iconic Awards 2019: Innovative Architecture, Natureisstadion Schierke, Winner
• German Design Award 2019, Natureisstadion Schierke, Special Mention

Graft in Berlin: Tour & Architecture

Let’s start a little city tour, through the districts of Berlin, or two locations with GRAFT villas.

Villa M in Grunewald: boulder, spaceship – unique

.
One of the GRAFT designer villas, you can take a drive through Berlin Grunewald, one of the most exclusive districts in Berlin, visit yourself. About this property was also already reported in many, renowned real estate magazines.

In fact, compared to the others, the property is very eye-catching, because very futuristic. The property itself was built with ceramic tiles that were specially made by a company in Potsdam, so each one is truly unique.

From a distance, it looks like a boulder thrown into the plot. The geometric shape, probably makes this villa particularly interesting for men. It reminds both of the erratic block, and of a spaceship. In fact, that’s what architecture is all about:

Not just living, being! Inspiring architecture

GRAFT Villa M is a real statement in Berlin Grunewald. The object fits into the typical Berlin image, straight surfaces, facades, white walls and paints. For anyone who wants to “stand out from the crowd here”, a real investment in unique architecture.

Villa M – frontal view of the object:

Villa M – View from the garden / plot:

Villa in Inselstrasse: Hollywood star as builder

Even more imposing than Villa M in Berlin-Grunewald, however, is a property on Inselstraße. One of the most exclusive spots in Berlin, no 40 properties, private island. Here lives so to speak (also) the Who-is-Who of the Berlin economy. We do not want to name names out of discretion.

More precisely on Schwanenwerder Island, this unusual luxury villa with guest house, boathouse and over 1,000 square meters of living space, plus 10,000 square meters of land. The property here is reminiscent of a runway, extremely imposing, large, long and extends to the lake. Like the villa in Berlin-Grunewald, it stands out completely from the rest of the villas and estates in Inselstraße. No other property is so modern.

The original builder of this imposing villa (Brad Pitt), but then did not move in himself.

The villa, below the wall is water (lake), by the way:

Image credits: Wikipedia / Fridolin freudenfett (Peter Kuley), CC BY-SA 3.0

Location in Berlin:

“Charly Living”: neighborhood at Checkpoint Charlie

There are imposing buildings in the residential sector, including mixed-use properties, for example, in the middle of Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie. This quarter is home to hundreds of residential units. Thus, it is not only an architectural highlight in Berlin-Mitte, but also a place of residence for a great many people. Thus, the architectural office shows that concepts implemented in villas can also be applied in residential construction.

Still, we’re still on the “smaller” projects that the architecture firm is doing.

Future architecture: E.ON, Volocopter & Co.

GRAFT Architect will continue to set absolute standards in the future. Two absolutely distinguishing projects are currently, for example, E.ON and Volocopter.

For E.ON, the architecture firm is currently developing a wide variety of charging stations in a wide variety of environments. In the middle of the Frankfurt skyline, between skyscrapers and banks, in the countryside, right next to the highway, virtually everywhere. A complete charging infrastructure for e-cars is to be created. This will give electric car mobility in Germany a boost and thus also open up a completely new area for GRAFT, in which they are once again pioneers.

Another very interesting project, are the ports GRAFT is currently developing for the air cab provider Volocopter. Volocopter will be the first air cab in Germany and is expected to start activity in a very short time, or rather test it for the time being. The architecture firm won the competition for this worldwide project and is now developing concepts that will enable future air cabs to land on various terraces. This will then include, for example, the typical skyscraper (in Frankfurt) that can be found in any major city. Likewise, ports are built that can be used in harbors (as in Hamburg), meaning they float on water.

That was a little insight, into the work of Graft. Founded in 1998, the architectural firm has over 20 years of experience combined together, with three founders and entrepreneurs. More about the company can be found here: GRAFT Lab.

Der Beitrag GRAFT Architects of the extra class: Villa, quarter & new building projects + future erschien zuerst auf ℄ Real Estates.

Temperatures in Essen

Current

Weather in Essen on 31. March 2026.

Forecast: Today / 3 days

Current in Germany

Forecast for Essen: 12 hours

Wind in Essen

Moisture or hail, on site at the construction site there are the various external influences to consider. Building materials are, in addition to the weather forecasts, just as much in focus as thermoplastics (plastics), composites or even artificial building blocks such as bricks, clinker, aerated concrete, expanded clay and clay bricks. Your own home construction will always be affected by the advent of unusual precipitation and temperaturesprecautionary planning is therefore much value. For construction companies, site planning involves an extremely large number of details that must be kept in mind at all times, these include real division, sick building syndrome, site noise and siliconing. Common questions abound, such as “Why is warm air more humid than cold air?” as well as “What does high humidity mean?” Because depending on the month in which construction is to take place, the weather situation offers advantages and disadvantages for you as the builder and the contracted construction company, with the weather forecast, the aspect of humidity must also be taken into account in the previous construction planning.

Current

Forecast: 12 hours

Forecast: Tomorrow

Wind in Germany: Current

Wind in Germany: Tomorrow

Wind gusts

Summation of all winds

Rain for food

Cloud formation: Today

Cloud formation: Tomorrow

Rainfall: Today

Rainfall: Tomorrow

Rainfall in Germany: Today

Rainfall in Germany: Tomorrow

Humidity: Today

Weather alerts

Thunderstorms: Today

Fine dust and CO2

CO content in Essen

CO content (fine dust) in Germany

Statistics & Average

Temperature (°C)

Mean maximum temperature (°C)

Mean minimum temperature (°C)

Comparison of mean maximum and minimum temperatures (°C)

Rain

Mean monthly precipitation (mm)

Sunshine

Mean daily sum sun (h)

Data basis: German Weather Service

Der Beitrag Weather in Essen: Construction site, sunshine hours, fog and temperature erschien zuerst auf ℄ Real Estates.

Promotions, discounts, special offers

Some companies have made it their business model to permanently state the RRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) and then cross it out again. Underneath is the own price, of course an absolute bargain compared to the RRP. In the assortment, there is then a small basic stock of high-quality brands for general upgrading, with a maximum share of 10 to 15%. They make sure that customers know that sometimes you can get great bargains. But of course, most of the merchandise consists of returns from big companies, in other words, remnants. Advertising with remnants would be counterproductive, however, because the customer is immediately no longer willing to pay high prices. Advertising with low-priced brand products is much better. Because the customer assumes in principle already from a higher price. Before it gets too complicated, we prefer to quickly write -20% in the shop window.

Regular campaigns anchor brands in the memory

The buyer knows only one thing, here I can save!

Discounts and special promotions are not only possible at the price, of course, you can also offer more product for the money or a special addition, for example, the collection of loyalty points to get a special bonus as a customer. Here you can also tie in again in the area of “cooperations”. If you have a product and find a product for such a promotion that complements yours perfectly, both sides could easily profit from this promotion. For example, if you open a hairdresser’s shop in Llokal, you could join forces with the fashion boutique around the corner. In the fashion boutique are then a few flyers for your hairdressing salon, with you in the store, however, for the fashion boutique. Customers are thus lured from one shop to the other. There are no additional costs for any of the cooperation partners and no one takes customers away from the other. A pure win-win business.

Advantages in online trading

Of course, the same goes for online trade. If your online shop specializes in car tuning, you could connect with an online shop for sports, e.g. football. Both topics are close together in terms of interest. The sport Onlineshop puts discount flyer to each order. With a simple code you get e.g. 5 € discount on your order. In return you put in your order every time a flyer with 15% discount on every order in the Sport Onlineshop. This way you can both profit from each other.

Immediately the customer thinks, saved! Where you can save, you go. On almost every shop window in the city centre you can see large advertising signs, “SALE! Bargain offers up to -75%!” – an important basis, just like the saying:

“Light attracts people”

Definitely remember!

Exclusive offers: For new and regular customers

Exclusive offers are something special, therefore of course also particularly difficult to explain, because each offer is individual! In general, however, it can be said that exclusive offers can e.g. ensure that you can collect contact adresses. So an exclusive offer could already look like that, that you offer a quite classical 5 € discount coupon only for 24 hours. Shortage of time. One receives the coupon code then only if one registers itself e.g. for the new type character. As soon as you have the email address of the potential customer, you can use it for promotions, as long as he or she does not object.

Exclusive offers can also refer to expensive products, so that there is also a shortage. For example, an exclusive offer could be a special cover for a smartphone if it was developed in cooperation with a designer. Depending on the offer, digital or physical, different methods and possibilities can be found here.

An exclusive offer can also refer to the own community. For example, the offer is only available to followers who follow the company on Snapchat. Accordingly, everyone who wants to see the exclusive offer on Friday evening has to log in to Snapchat. It doesn’t always have to be digital either, exclusive offers can be there just for our customers. E.g. through a mailshot and the invitation to an exclusive test drive or the exclusive discount for the next flight. Of course, this offer is only available for existing customers.

Additional benefits, guarantees and service

Additional services make the purchase more attractive. Additional services should be calculated into the purchase price in advance. An additional 2-year warranty or an additional winter tyre change makes the purchase much more interesting for many people. Especially if you as a customer save effort, trouble or costs in the future. Additional services also promote a positive image of your brand, as well as in customer service. Accordingly, additional services can also be used as a marketing tool.

Through additional services you can also distinguish yourself from the competition. If everyone sells the same product and you are the only one who adds something special, then you have an individual product that is only available from you. You already have another unique selling proposition. Whether it is a service or an additional product, this method is especially profitable if it is offered for a long time, so that the service also gets around, keyword word of mouth.

The different methods can be but also nix. So you can mix e.g. the additional service with exclusive offers, e.g. the free winter tire change but only if you buy your car in July! In addition, there is of course still 1,000 € free, for the old!

Guidebook: Setting up your own business & business plan

You want to start your own business as a real estate agent or with another business idea? We support you with tips on your business plan and concept. Whether self-employed full-time or part-time self-employed: If you want to start your own business, you have to think about many things, in advance and in the operational business. From the right idea to health insurance – what do you have to consider when you want to become self-employed?

There is no education or training for entrepreneurs. One is or is not a managing director. What is always important is your own ambition, because that is the only way to improve every day.

The topics at a glance:

1. Business Plan
2. Founder and founding team
3. Product / Service: USP
4. Increase customer satisfaction
5. Market Overview: Customers & Competition
6. Reference customers: Positive image transfer
7. Market analysis / validation: business idea
8. Site selection
9. Marketing concept: Sales
10. Advertising: Google Ads, SEO, Newspaper, Radio?
11. Marketing: Media advertising, costs and CPM
12. Marketing: trade fairs, training courses and trade advertising
13. Marketing: sales talk, telephone call and psychology
14. Marketing: promotions, discounts and special offers
15. Marketing: Social Media and Online Advertising
16. E-business: electronic commerce in the enterprise
17. Cooperations: Cooperative Principle
18. Financial planning: capital and financing

Here you come back to the overview:

• Form a company
• Legal forms: OHG, KG, GmbH, AG & Co.

Der Beitrag Marketing: Promotions, Discounts and Special Offers – Self-Employed Part 14 erschien zuerst auf ℄ Real Estates.

Founder and founding team

On the whole, it is about these three central questions that you answer for the reader:

1. Do you bring the necessary personal requirements with you?
2. Do you bring the necessary technical requirements with you?
3. Do you bring the necessary entrepreneurial prerequisites with you?

In particular, it is about professional qualifications, sector knowledge and the whole analysis of opportunities and risks arising from the qualifications brought along or lacking.

1. What qualifications/professional experience and possibly approvals do you have?
2. What industry knowledge do you have?

The unfair advantage – making strategic success plannable

On the question “What industry knowledge do you have?”, a tip from an interview with Frank Thelen, one of the experts on the subject of startups and investments. Frank Thelen once spoke of the so-called “unfair advantage”, which he considers to be an extremely positive aspect in start-ups. The “unfair advantages” means, for example, that you already have 15 years of experience in sales. However, the “unfair advantage” can also mean that you have a lot of knowledge in development, so you can independently create a software without further experts. The “unfair advantage” can also mean that you come from an advertising agency and therefore have a lot of knowledge and a very good network for public relations and marketing. What do you call an “unfair advantage”?

1. What commercial knowledge do you have?
2. What are the special strengths?
3. What deficits are there? How are they balanced?
4. Which product/what service do you want to manufacture or sell?

1. Founder team (caution: long-term commitment!)

Risk Analysis and Risk Assessment

Risk analysis and risk assessment always plays along, as you have already seen. Here, too, potential investors and bankers are faced with volatile business models.

Whoever presents a founding team must accordingly show that no differences can arise in the cooperation. What unites you are synergies. Startups often fail because of the founding team. In most cases even before the product is even on the market – nobody hears about it, they are also not statistically recorded, before the company is founded.

A common idea is quickly found, the daily cooperation is something else. As soon as there are the first financial differences, even small amounts can lead to a dispute.

Differences in effectiveness and labor

Even more serious is the intensity of the work. When founder A describes how 80 hours a week works on the project and founder B usually only 15 hours, there are differences. If founder A, founder B, responds to the deficit, there is a justification, for example, that work cannot necessarily be measured in time: “It depends on the results. If I (Founder B) can do so many important things in such a short time, that’s perfectly okay!” It also happens very often that founder A notices that founder B does not have the expertise that one would have expected. Suddenly the much talking “sales genius” is not the prodigy and sells far too little. Even though founder A has designed an absolutely great product, sales do not increase as desired. Fighting is inevitable.

Disadvantages and questions to your co-founders

1. Long-term binding
2. Test possible cooperation partners for long time > binding for long time.
3. Ahead: Letter of Intent or Joint Venture
4. Is your partner investing the same time?
5. What productivity / quality does it deliver / them?
6. When money flows, desires come

Guideline: Setting up your own business & business plan

You want to start your own business as a real estate agent or with another business idea? Our guide helps: estate agent guide. We support you with tips on your business plan and concept. Whether self-employed full-time or part-time self-employed: If you want to set up your own company, you have to think about a lot, in advance and in the operative business. From the right idea to health insurance – what needs to be considered if you want to become self-employed?

There is no training or further education for entrepreneurs. Managing director is you or not. Your own ambition is always important, because this is the only way to improve, every day.

The topics at a glance:

Der Beitrag Founder and founding team: The unfair advantage in business – becoming self-employed Part 2 erschien zuerst auf ℄ Real Estates.

Influencer & Social Media Marketing Agency

[ Graphic: ami.responsivedesign.is ]

More about social media marketing agency:

• Social Media Marketing Agency / Homepage

Der Beitrag Social Media Marketing Agency – SEO, Online Marketing and Design erschien zuerst auf ℄ Real Estates.