Architectural ThinkTank

Competence in Architecture and Innovation

KAP Forum for Architecture / Technology / Design

Historic cranes, a view of the Rhine: The KAP Forum at Cologne's Rheinauhafen is the first of its kind in the world. Here, nine firms form a collective platform. Not only do they present the newest innovations in architecture, technology and design. They also encourage mutual dialogue and exchange.

"We view the KAP community as an ideal forum for presenting ourselves and the services we offer at a high level," stresses Holger Jahnke, Managing Director of office furnishings specialist Wilkhahn. "The KAP community is a one-of-a-kind, contemporary answer to the demands of a knowledge-based society that focuses on information, cooperation and interconnection."

Manager and networker Andreas Grosz developed the KAP Forum three years ago for participating firms from Germany, Denmark and Austria as a networking and communications point for leading design and architecture-related companies: Alape / BASF / Carpet Concept / Dornbracht / GIRA / Kvadrat / Silent Gliss / Wilkhahn / Zumtobel Licht. An ambitious program of events organized by Grosz serves as a binding element for the KAP community. Focusing on current and sometimes controversial topics in the fields of architecture, design, technology and the future, the events program now plays a key role in urban planning discussions in Cologne.

Whether it's with our successful event series on the future of the European city, the red hot KAP Talk, the Architecture Biennale blockbuster "convertible city," which moved from the Canal Grande to the Rhine, or the further education courses offered by the KAP Academy – the collective forum formed by the companies Alape, BASF, Carpet Concept, Dornbracht, Gira, Kvadrat, Silent Gliss, Wilkhahn and Zumtobel Licht has already become one of the leading forums in Cologne – one that is also utilized by internationally active architects and firms.

As the person responsible for content and coordination, Andreas Grosz has guided the forum in a direction that is both up-to-date and international, eliciting positive feedback in neighbouring countries such as Belgium and Holland.