#113 Architecture, Engineering & Ancestral Wisdom with Elke Sterling-Presser and Nicolas Sterling.
Elke Sterling-Presser and Nicolas Sterling are the founders of STERLING PRESSER ARCHITECTS + ENGINEERS in Berlin an interdisciplinary practice that brings architects and civil engineers together from the outset and where structural logic and spatial experience are conceived as one. We speak with Elke and Nicolas about their approach embodied in projects such as the Theater Park Bridge in Taiyuan, China, their impressions from Cityscape Global 2025 in Riyadh held under the theme “The Future of Urban Living”, their interest in the indigenous culture of the Kogi of Colombia and what contemporary architecture can learn from ideas of balance, long-term responsibility, and respect for the environment. A focussed discussion on connection - across disciplines and continents. Birgit Eller Krumm is host of episode 113 of KAP Podcast.
Links:
Instagram: sterlingpresser
Elke Sterling-Presser is director of STERLING PRESSER since 2018, co-founded in Berlin with engineer-architect Nicolas Sterling. She holds an advanced Master of Architecture degree from the SAC-Städelschule at the Staatliche Hochschule für Städelschule Bildene Künste, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. She is also a respected educator. Since 2019, she has been imparting her knowledge at the University of Arts (UdK) in Berlin. Previously, between 2013 and 2015, she contributed to the academic environment at the University of Greenwich in London. Her professional experience includes significant stints at various architecture offices, notably Zaha Hadid Architects in London from 2006 to 2015.
Nicolas Sterling is a structural engineer and architect. He is a graduate of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris and the Paris La Villette School of Architecture. He founded STERLING PRESSER in 2018, a studio in architecture and engineering, based in Berlin. Nicolas was previously Associate Director of AKTII Adams Kara Taylor, managing a group delivering buildings and special structure.
He joined ARUP AGU’s Advanced Geometry Unit in 2005, a team of specialists within ARUP led by Cecil Balmond, and was part of the ARUP Building Engineering Group in London until 2011.
Foto Credits: Chloé Desnoyers, Sterling Presser, Rex Zou, Lucas Buchholz