"Not everything that is built is architecture. For me it's only about five per cent." A provocative statement by Alexander Pier, but one that is meant just as it is said. His standard is high, his dedication likewise. For him, architecture must go beyond the pure fulfilment of a function; it must open up new possibilities, whether on the outside or the inside, whether creatively or sociopolitically trend-setting. 'Think beyond what already exists' is his maxim.

Alexander Pier is neither a graduate, whose illusions have not yet come into contact with reality, nor is he one of the so-called star architects, whose commissions simply fly to them and whose ideal conceptions are implemented one-to-one without big discussions. Pier has led the 'pier 7' architectural consultancy in Düsseldorf for the last eleven years and now has eleven employees. He began alone. He initially built houses in the vicinity, but an important part of his work from the beginning was participation in competitions. Successfully. The consultancy meanwhile acquires around 80 percent of its commissions in this way.

For Alexander Pier architecture means "developing ideas and implementing them, realising concepts and changing the world"; that, for him, is the fascination of his occupation. Not standing still, but discovering and developing the new again and again. Building three schools in succession is not his goal; there is too great a danger of systematisation. It is much more exciting for him to continuously try to understand new tasks, to gain new insights, to learn something new or, as he puts it, "to dive into new worlds", as in the case of the recently built institute and research building for the German Aerospace Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen. "At the end of the day, work must be fun." This is also the reason for his continuous participation in competitions. This is probably the only way of continuously being commissioned with new building tasks. Besides that, Pier appreciates the 'confident start of the project' associated with commissions acquired via competition wins. The first price is the legitimation of the quality of the draught and of the architects; hence, fundamental design questions no longer arise thereafter.

Alexander Pier's career has been goalorientated. He grew up as the son of an architect and first studied at the TU Braunschweig, then at the TH Darmstadt. He worked during his studies with Max and Karl Dudler in their consultancy and following graduation with Prof. Joachim Schürmann, Prof. Andreas Scheuring, Prof. Rolf Schuster and Ingenhoven Overdiek. At the age of 36 he became self-employed and in the following year already had two teaching commissions – at the BU Wuppertal and the RWTH Aachen for draughting and building design. The quality of his work is now recognised in his field and among experts. He is a member of the BDA (Association of German Architects) and sits on the board of the BDA Düsseldorf in addition to being a member of the BWD (Bauen mit Werten Deutschland AG [Building with Value Germany PLC]), a nationwide amalgamation of selected architects, engineers, craftsmen and building firms specialised in the realisation of demanding building work of a high quality. It is a network that also functions as a quality seal. For Pier it is additionally a marketplace where leading product manufacturers from the construction industry can be contacted. "So much technical know-how is united there", he gushes, and uses it in his own way. Together with a company he is presently developing plaster façades with new surface textures.

The best-known building to date by Alexander Pier is the district centre in the university district of Lübeck, also a competition winner and in addition to that a complex task. For the new district, which was and is still being newly created on a greenfield site on the outskirts of the city, a building was to be developed that would offer space for seven central functions at once: a threestream primary school, a sports hall, a day nursery, a church, the police station, an event forum and apartments. Pier arranged all of this in a stringent threewing comb structure, with the foyer and the sports hall in the transverse wing, which as an extra offering can be connected together for large events. All facilities can be accessed from the central elongated inner courtyard, which thus becomes a versatile meeting place.

Despite its strict, clear form, the building does not seem rigid: differentiated façade executions, based on uniform formats and materials, create variance. Eternit panels, industrial glass and storey-high windows form the façade surfaces. The fair-faced concrete walls and ceilings are the connecting elements in the interior. The counterpart to that is formed by the wooden surfaces of the corridor walls. Panels (baffles) are suspended from the fair-faced concrete ceilings for the room acoustics. In addition, different floor coverings bring colour into the building. Pier says that the fair-faced concrete walls were the subject of some controversy among district residents during the shell construction phase, but that all are enthralled since the completion. The material mix is what does it, in addition to which the concrete walls age extremely well. Scratches and defects, particularly in the school and the day nursery, cannot do them any harm, unlike plastered and painted walls. What he doesn't say so openly, but what likewise contributes decisively to the acceptance, is the good planning and execution of the fair-faced concrete surfaces. The concrete elements with their mass are also integrated into the climatic concept. They function as heat buffers, which store heat during the day and, during the night, either cool down by means of ventilation or buffer the heat until the next day. The building has also long since proven its sustainability. Instead of only the day care children as originally planned, all building users now eat at lunchtime in the foyer. Besides that, the day nursery is moving out this summer, because the school requires extra space, at least for the next four to six years. The building can cope with the changes without structural amendments.

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