Bettina Kraus

Professor Bettina Kraus is a prominent architect and academic currently serving as Professor of Design in the Department of Architecture at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, where she also chairs the Department of Architecture and serves as a Member of the Senate. Her academic career spans multiple prestigious institutions including TU Berlin, BTU Cottbus, and UdK Berlin, alongside an active architectural practice in Berlin.

Her research and teaching focus on the elasticity of existing structures and their potential to adapt to changing programmatic or climatic conditions. Kraus explores how the morphology of architectural types and objects is influenced by context, function, and construction. Her methodology involves transformation strategies based on associative thinking and constructive action, integrating existing and new structures while questioning traditional notions of beauty and perfection. This approach allows her to reinterpret existing structures for contemporary and future requirements while reflecting local cultural identity.

Kraus's architectural work demonstrates a consistent focus on transformation, adaptive reuse, and the integration of historical and contemporary elements. Her recent projects include residential buildings in Berlin (Lindenstraße 34-35, Brunnenstraße 19), cultural spaces, and urban interventions that have received numerous awards including the Berlin Architecture Prize (2023) and the Iconic Architecture Award (2019).

• Berlin Architecture Prize, Award 2023 (Lindenstraße 34.5)
• Berlin Architecture Prize, Prize 2023 (Malplaquetstraße 19)
• Iconic Architecture Award, Winner 2019 (Spreestudios)
• German Design Award 2014 (Medienhaus Schwäbischer Verlag)
• Architecture Prize Amsterdam, Prize 2010 (4 Towers Osdorp)

As an educator, Professor Kraus has mentored numerous award-winning students including Theresa Weigand (ABK Stuttgart), Tom Seeger, and Ralf Hinrichs. Her academic research centers on two key parameters: Program and Typology (examining the Nolli Plan as a typological archive), and Difference and Interface (exploring material properties and surface experiments). Her work has been published extensively in architectural journals and as book chapters, with her most recent publication 'False Friends' currently in progress.

Professor Kraus maintains an active architectural practice (Kraus Fischnaller Architects Partnership) in Berlin while contributing to the Board of the Berlin Architecture Prize since 2025.