Hansjörg Göritz

Hansjörg Göritz (English: Hansjoerg Goeritz; born 5 June 1959) is a German-American architect, professor, author and designer associated with pure and minimalist architecture that emphasizes place, space, light and material.

After Grand Tours d'Orients in the Mediterranean, to Cistercian monasteries, to picturesque gardens in England, and travels in Scandinavia he practices with his Studio in Hannover since 1986, and Berlin since 2007.

Among other notable recognitions he was a state nominee for the German Villa Massimo Rome Prize 1988, for the German international architects and architecture critics award, the Erich-Schelling-Award 1998, and was awarded the Deubau-Award for Young German Architects 1994, the BDA Award Lower Saxony 1994, and the German Brick Award 1994.

Göritz is married to Gisela Göritz.

The couple has two children, Cornelius, a filmmaker and specialist for vintage Porsche cars, and Camilla, an actress

By appointment he is affiliated to Bund Deutscher Architekten BDA (German Association of Architects) since 1993 and Deutscher Werkbund DWB (German Association of Fine Works) since 2000, and is an International Associate with the American Institute of Architects AIA since 2007.

He has taught architecture as a visiting professor at Hildesheim University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 1995 – 1997, as a tenured professor at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 1999 – 2001, and is a professor at the University of Tennessee, College of Architecture and Design in Knoxville, Tennessee, since 2007.

For his early works he was awarded one of the most prestigious architecture awards in Germany in 1996, the Development Award Baukunst to the Kunstpreis Berlin by the Academy of Arts, Berlin.

The project became an exhibit at the 6th Biennale di Architettura, Venice 1996.

His Expo 2000 train station design is materialized with custom made Florentine cobalt blue glass blocks and blue pigmented concrete to match the color of the German state railway corporate design on the Expo-line, connecting the airport to the Expo fairgrounds, in Hannover, Germany.

He designed Liechtenstein's state forum and parliament buildings, the first in its history, for which he was awarded the international Brick Award 2010 that was previously awarded to Pritzker laureate Peter Zumthor in 2008.

By invitation he joined The International Journal of The Arts in Society of Common Ground Publishers, Illinois, USA as an associate editor in 2010, the Wessex Institute of Technology, UK, in 2011 as an international scientific advisory committee member, and the board of Knoxville's James White's Fort Association in 2020.

In 2013 he was recognized as an Affiliated Fellow to the American Academy in Rome.

Goeritz was born in Hannover, West Germany and grew up in the vernacular context of Lower Saxony as the son of a mason.

After his Abitur he apprenticed to a mason with honors as Best of the Guild.

At the same time he enrolled for courses at an evening school for master masons, after which he apprenticed in architecture mainly as an autodidact, in conjunction with studies at Hildesheim University of Applied Arts and Sciences, and at the London Architectural Association School of Architecture.

In an international arena he lectures widely and was a visiting critic at prestigious institutions including the Accademia di Architettura Mendrisio and Yale, is a visiting adjunct faculty at Auburn University, and has taught at the 2018 UT Finland Architecture Summer Institute at Aalto University Helsinki.