KCAP Zürich

Xavier Blaringhem was born in 1981 in Auchel, France. He graduated with honors from the National School of Architecture and Landscape in Lille in 2005, as architect DPLG. His graduation project treats the urban and architectural transformation and diversification of French suburbs.
After studying at Delft’s Faculty of Architecture, he joined KCAP in 2004. He has been appointed as associate in 2015 and been registred consequently by the chamber of commerce.

Since the early beginning, he strongly influenced KCAP’s expansion in France and west Switzerland, in both architectural and urbanism fields.

In Rotterdam and Zurich, he contributed to the design and realization of several projects and masterplans. He has been in charge of the university building “campus Agro”, the realized office buildings Etik in Boulogne-Billancourt and Newtime in Neuilly-sur-Seine, and was strongly involved in the design of the IAK building in Luxembourg and the P+R De Uithof in Utrecht.

Besides his architectural practice he took care of the GVA masterplan in Geneva, urban study “GrandeJoliette” in Strasbourg, Lille ville 3000 visionary masterplan, Le Faisceau masterplan in Paris’ La Defense and Bordeaux Saint-Jean Belcier as well.

Kees Christiaanse studied architecture and urban planning at the TU Delft. From 1980 until 1989 he worked for the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam, becoming a partner in 1983. In 1989 Kees Christiaanse founded ir. Kees Christiaanse Architects & Planners in Rotterdam, called KCAP Architects & Planners since 2002.

 

From 1996 until 2003 he taught architecture and urban planning at TU Berlin (DE). Since 2003 he is a professor at the ETH in Zurich (CH). In Future Cities Laboratory Singapore Kees holds a position as program leader and focuses his research on Urban Breeding Grounds and Airport Cities. He lectures widely, is very often involved as jury member in international design competitions and has co-authored a number of books and articles. Kees holds numerous positions in various architecture and educational committees and advisory boards.

 

In his work Kees has a strong focus on governance and guiding of urban processes. He is an expert in de development of university campuses and in the revitalization of former industrial, railway and harbor areas, which is illustrated by KCAP’s work in the docklands of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Hamburg and London.

Anouk Kuitenbrouwer (Geneva, 1974) is an architect and urban planner. She studied architecture at the Ecole d’Architecture Paris Belleville and at the St. Lukas Hogeschool in Brussels where she graduated in 1998 on a master plan for the reforesting of the east of Brussels. After graduating Anouk worked at West 8, Rotterdam and Xaveer De Geyter Architects, Brussels which allowed her to develop experience in a multidisciplinary context. Apart from architecture and urban planning, she has developed special expertise in the design and development of public spaces and urban infrastructures. References in this field are the projects Ilôt St. Maurice in Lille, consisting of an urban plan and public spaces for a urban area (XDGA office) and the development of the Science City master plan for the public spaces of the ETH Zurich.

Anouk joined KCAP in 2006 and became associate in 2013. Since then, she is responsible for large scale urban planning projects in Switzerland, France and Ireland Projects in various scales and context’s. Strategic large scale projects are the Naas Road Development Framework in Dublin, the urban study Le Faisceau at La Defence Paris and more recent studies like the Zurich Airport Region and the Limmattal Region both in Zürich Metropolitan Region. An example of inner city development is the masterplan for the Flon area in Lausanne and projects with a focus on infrastructure and public space in an urban context are the masterplans for the Cornavin Station area in Geneva, the station area of Lausanne, the South Station of Aarau and more recently the Dublin Airport Central Masterplan for the airport of Dublin.

Ute Schneider studied architecture and urban planning at Technical University of Stuttgart where, after a period of working with interior design and furniture making, she graduated in 1998. In 1998 she founded the office Zipherspaceworks in Stuttgart, in cooperation with her three partners Ippolito, Fleitz and Weismann. In 2003 Ute Schneider joined KCAP and since 2006 she set up and is managing the Swiss branch office KCAP Zurich. In 2009 she was appointed as director. Ute has teaching experience in various institutes and universities, lectures widely and has a teaching position at the University of Liechtenstein.

 

Within KCAP, Ute is responsible for the coordination of all projects of the KCAP Swiss office and works on various urban and architectural projects. Ute works as architect and urban planner, and her work ranges from design and manufacturing of furniture and individual buildings to large-scale planning.  Her work is focused in and around Switzerland including France and Germany.