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 multiple scales, analyzing its physical, social, and economic entanglements. We are interested in gathering protocols and collective approaches, exploring alternative living and city-making models, and developing new paradigms of spatial development. We strive to create inclusive and accessible spaces through a careful use of scale, material, and design language. Thus, we are committed to rethinking education through both academia and practice, placing design at the intersection of arts and sciences.
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.
For our work, we have been recognized by ArchDaily as Best Practices 2023 and received the Inspire Future Generations Award from the Thornton Education Trust in London. In 2024, we won 1st Prize in IBA’27 – New Housing for Korber Höhe, Stuttgart, where forty five degrees was invited to collaborate alongside fatkoehl architects and atelier le balto.
Our team takes on different forms when engaging with other experts, adapting to each project’s scope and breeding multidisciplinary teams. forty five degrees operates as a GbR, a partnership under the Civil Code.
team
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Alkistis Thomidou
+alkistis@forty-five-degrees.com
Alkistis is an architect, researcher and educator. She trusts in the temporal and speculative power of architecture to set directions and goals and navigate possible futures, and is always fascinated by the inventiveness of everyday life. Until recently, she was teaching and researching at the Institute for City and Space Development at Leibniz University, Hannover. Prior to that, she was a research and teaching associate at the Institute for Sustainable Urbanism at the TU Braunschweig. She is currently collaborating with KW e.V. Berlin on youth education and mediation programs. She has been design critic and lecturer at several institutions, and her work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions. Alkistis holds a Master’s in Advanced Studies in Urban Design in developing territories at the ETH in Zurich and a diploma in Architecture from Aristotle University, Thessaloniki. She has been a fellow in Architecture at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart under the mentorship of Rahul Mehrotra, and a grantee at the Institut for Space Experiments at the Berlin University of Arts directed by Olafur Eliasson.
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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.
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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.
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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.
