forty five degrees is a studio of architects and designers. In our practice, space-making is about resources, not only material or financial but the intangible resources of human and more-than-human knowledge.
At forty five degrees, our work investigates the built environment through research, design, and artistic experimentation across scales, examining its physical, social, and economic entanglements. Our work embraces collective approaches and alternative models of living and city-making, aiming to develop new spatial paradigms. Through a careful use of scale, material, and design language we strive to create inclusive and accessible spaces. As architects, researchers, and educators, we operate through an interdisciplinary lens and approach architecture as a multimedia, curatorial, and world-making practice grounded in immersive research, embodied rituals, and publishing as a critical tool.
We collaborate with cultural institutions and creative agencies in Germany and abroad. Our projects have been supported by international institutions such as the Allianz Foundation, Goethe-Institut Bucharest, PERSPEKTIVE – Fund for Contemporary Art and Architecture, and Akademie Schloss Solitude. Furthermore, we have worked with KW Institute for Contemporary Art, the S+T+ARTS EU Program, Floating University, and the European Project Erasmus+ Youth in Action.
In 2023, we were recognized among ArchDaily’s Best Practices and received the Inspire Future Generations Award from the Thornton Education Trust in London. In 2024, we won first prize in the IBA’27 competition for Neues Wohnen für Korber Höhe in Stuttgart, in collaboration with fatkoehl architects and atelier le balto.
Our team takes on different forms, adapting to each project’s scope, forming multidisciplinary collaborations with other experts. forty five degrees operates as a GbR, a partnership under the Civil Code.
team
-
Alkistis Thomidou
+alkistis@forty-five-degrees.com
Alkistis Thomidou is an architect, researcher, and educator working at the intersection of design, urban studies, and critical spatial practice. Shaped by early experiences in rapidly transforming cities of the Global South, her work explores hybrid spatial and organizational typologies, as well as spatial agency, as collective authorship, and knowledge production. She has gained experience in cooperative housing and sustainable urban development. She has taught at institutions including Leibniz University Hannover and TU Braunschweig, where she developed interdisciplinary teaching formats that emphasize experiential learning and critical discourse. She has been design critic and guest lecturer at multiple universities. Committed to reshaping education both within and beyond academia, she collaborated with KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin on youth education and mediation programs. She studied architecture at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and holds a Master of Advanced Studies in Urban Design from ETH Zurich. She has been a fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude and the Institute for Spatial Experiments at the Berlin University of the Arts, engaging in artistic research and speculative storytelling. Currently, she is research associate at HafenCity University Hamburg in the DFG-funded project Inconspicuous Transformations (2025–2027), examining precarious and often invisible housing markets across Europe amid ongoing social and economic crises.
She is a member of the Architects’ Chamber in Berlin.
-
Berta Gutiérrez Casaos
+Berta is an architect, curator, and researcher whose work operates at the intersection of spatial practice, the arts, and design cultures. Drawing from interdisciplinary methodologies, her work revolves around expanded architecture, investigating the political, social, and ecological dimensions of space. She has contributed to leading institutions in various capacities and advisory roles, including TBA21–Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, the Ministry of Education of Argentina, Matadero Madrid, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the European Commission’s S+T+ARTS program, among others. With a strong commitment to education, Berta has developed and led programs across institutions such as Polytechnic University of Madrid, Universität der Künste (Berlin), and Rosan Bosch Studio (Copenhagen), where she founded the research department. Her work consistently bridges disciplines to create responsive frameworks for spatial transformation, advocating for architecture as a world-making tool for systemic change.
-
Giulia Domeniconi
+Giulia is an architect and designer. Her practice that spans from spatial temporary models and pavilions, to furniture design, stage design, and sculpture. She is very engaged in contemporary art conception and production, an interest reflected in her 5-year collaboration with Julian Charrière in his Berlin studio. Giulia is interested in pushing the boundaries of her practice in search of ways to translate visions into compelling spaces and objects. Working across multiple scales, she aims to blur the boundary between architecture, design, art, and landscape.
-
Carolina Contreras Alvarez
+carolina@forty-five-degrees.com
Carolina is an architect and researcher. In 2021, she co-founded the architects’ collective SekundoS, with whom she has organized numerous workshops and podcast series. Carolina’s research seeks to understand the built environment and territorial planning through a political prism, questioning cultural and societal influences. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from EFPL and a Master’s from ETH Zürich. Her background includes working as a designer in institutions such as Luma Westbau, Studio Leuchner and Ilg Santer Architekten where she has gained experience in exhibition design, architecture competitions, and housing projects. Carolina’s experience in education includes assistance in ETH Zürich, under the chair led by Dr. Hollyamber Kennedy and Prof.Laurent Stalder. After years of developing her career in Switzerland, she is now based in Berlin.
