In 1999 Barbara Holzer returned to Zurich where she founded her own firm, d-case, which from the very beginning combined the fields of architecture and scenography.For the Swiss National Exhibition Expo.02 she designed and curated the exhibition Heimatfabrik, which featured installation works by different Swiss artists, including Jörg Lenzlinger and Gerda Steiner.Berlin has remained an important creative center for her,and she has carried out various cultural and architectural projects there.
Together with Tristan Kobler Barbara Holzer founded the international architectural office Holzer Kobler Architekturen in 2004.Here she utilizes her extensive international relations and combines diverse disciplines in the creation of a dynamic oeuvre.
Barbara Holzer is also a very active lecturer, serves on numerous competition juries and teaches at several international universities.In winter semester 2009–2010 she held a guest professorship at ETH Zurich, currently she is a professor at the Peter Behrens School of Architecture in Düsseldorf (PBSA).
Born in Lucerne in 1960, Tristan Kobler graduated from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) in 1987 with a degree in architecture.Following his studies, he worked alongside Martin Heller, Alois Martin Müller and Claude Lichtenstein as a scenographer and curator at the Museum of Design Zurich until 1996. In this time he helped organize some sixty exhibitions in the areas of graphic art, media, photography and art history.
After working for three years as an independent architect and scenographer in Zurich and Berlin, he initiated the KLINIK art and culture project in 1999 in cooperation with Dorothea Wimmer and Teresa Chen. Following this he founded his own architectural office, Morphing Systems, which also placed special emphasis on scenography.
Together with “extasia”, a collaboration consisting of several international architectural offices, Morphing Systems developed and constructed the “Arteplage” in Yverdon-les-Bains for the Expo.02, Swiss National Exhibition.
In 2004 Tristan Kobler and Barbara Holzer founded Holzer Kobler Architekturen in Zurich, an architectural office that over the course of the years has extended its range to include many international projects.
In 1988 and 1997 Tristan Kobler was an instructor at ETH Zurich’s Faculty of Architecture under professors Vincent Mangeat, Marc Angélil and Daniel Libeskind.Since 1994 he has taught at international universities in Switzerland, France and Germany.From 2009 to 2010 he and Barbara Holzer held a guest professorship at the Faculty of Architecture at ETH Zurich.Since 2009 he has been a professor at ECAL, University of art and design Lausanne.
In 2008 Barbara Holzer and Tristan Kobler were awarded the Grand Prix Design of the Swiss Confederation for their international engagement in the field of scenography.