ABOUT

Crossboundaries is a multidisciplinary, design-centered practice with projects ranging from urban planning, architecture and interior design all the way to graphic design, programming, teaching and event creation. We practice by name, crossing the boundaries of the design domain, initiating activities and dialogues across different fields. Keeping us continually thinking and doing, we aim to engage, evolve and adapt. Passionately facilitating for human needs, Crossboundaries main interest is people. We are dedicated to solve challenges to deliver creative solutions. We innovate products that result from going beyond the requirements of a brief to include the sensitivities of human needs, in the process sharing our knowledge and philosophy.

Model goes on travel

In our kitchen

WE PRACTICE BY NAME, CROSSING THE BOUNDARIES OF THE DESIGN DOMAIN, INITIATING ACTIVITIES AND DIALOGUES ACROSS DIFFERENT FIELDS.

The work of Crossboundaries originates from a strong belief that design as a process results in successful, operational buildings, spaces and meaningful activities. This approach is based on two fundamental principles: research and collaboration. For our projects we create suitable multidisciplinary teams where all participants can assess the opportunities within the given conditions. We identify the essential questions, jointly create pragmatic solutions by data collection and analyze significant precedents.

WE REGULARLY DISCUSS POSSIBLE
PROGRAMMATIC SHIFTS WITH
OUR CLIENTS TO RAISE THEIR
BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT.

Crossboundaries was founded by Hao Dong and Binke Lenhardt in 2005 in Beijing. Today, we are a team of people originating from all over the world. We like to stay fresh and inspired, putting ourselves in other contexts and engaging with our wider community. From curating Beijing Kids Design Week to arranging tours around the city or creating installations for our office socials, we are always on the quest to expand our reach. In 2012 the office in Frankfurt am Main, Germany was founded jointly by Binke Lenhardt and Antje Voigt to expand both our clients reach as well as our scope of work, adding more consulting services in form of programming and moderation processes to our skillset.

TODAY, WE ARE A TEAM OF PEOPLE ORIGINATING FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.

Binke and Hao in party mode

In the courtyard of Chaoyang Future school

Over the years Crossboundaries has grown into an award-winning company known for its creative approach to educational projects as well as its ability to examine and expand the designated building programs generating added value for users and communities.

Crossboundaries’ work has been published across a range of leading industry magazines and is also frequently featured in online design media. Their theoretical research project China House Vision was exhibited at the 15th International Architecture La Biennale di Venezia and also at the 2018 China House Vision in Beijing. Crossboundaries is also invited to the next Venice Biennale scheduled for 2021 in the China Pavilion.

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The office has been honored with multiple international accolades, most recent of which is the 2022 Landezine International Landscape Award, 2022 Architizer A+Award and the 2022 Design Educates Award (Honorable Mention), and it received, among others, the Architecture Masterprize 2022-2018, the Iconic Award 2021 and 2020, the Loop Design Awards 2021, Honorable Mention, 2021 AIA Shanghai I Beijing, Honor Award, the 2018 and 2019 German Design Award, Architizer A+ Award 2018 and the ARCASIA Awards for Architecture 2015, Architectural Digest China’s 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021.

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PARTNERS

Founders and directors Binke Lenhardt and Hao Dong met each other during their architectural studies at Pratt Institute in New York. In 2002 they moved to Beijing and gained first market knowledge in BIAD, a large well-known design institute. With their first own commission they consequently decided to open an office, starting out with one employee in 2005. Having grown organically over the years, the Beijing office today counts around 15 staff members, with additional interns joining the team during the summer months. The Frankfurt office is set up as a partnership with director Antje Voigt, working independently, while the two locations benefit from professional transfer and exchange, applying the same overall vision that forms Crossboundaries body of work: a people- centered practice, based on a rich well of shared knowledge.

Partners Hao Dong, Binke Lenhardt and Antje Voigt in the Frankfurt office

BINKE LENHARDT

Co-founder and partner of Crossboundaries, established in 2005 in Beijing. She graduated from architecture in Germany and the United States and worked in both countries, before moving to China in 2002. She is a registered architect in Germany, appointed member of the BDA (Association of German Architects) and AIA International Associate member. Binke Lenhardt has been practicing for about two decades working on diverse projects in Germany, Holland, the US and China.

Her approach to projects of any given nature and scale is always driven by the curiosity to examine and expand the designated programs so that they reach their highest and most community beneficial potentials. Binke follows the projects of the office all the way to realization, always with a keen attention to details and readiness to learn and improve on available technical solutions. She engages actively in any stage of project development and welcomes the exchange and interaction with the client and user whenever possible.

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HAO DONG

Co-founder and partner of Crossboundaries, established in 2005 in Beijing. He graduated from architecture in China and the United States. After studying and working in New York for 5 years, he returned to China in 2002 and as of today has an overall practice experience of about 20 years. Hao Dong is a chartered member of RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects).

Besides his extensive global and local experience on architectural and interior design, Hao’s interests center around bridging architecture and education by extending the creative thinking outside the traditional realm of the design practice. Hao is an active public speaker aiming to open dialogues and sharing his creative visions with clients, collaborators, and students through design events, workshops and curation, both within and outside the profession. He is driven by the goal of finding better and more future oriented solutions as well as asking better questions that design should be able to respond to.

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ANTJE VOIGT

Co-founder and partner of the Frankfurt office of Crossboundaries, which was established together with Binke Lenhardt in 2012. She graduated from architecture in Germany and studied and practiced in the US, Spain and Switzerland. She is a registered architect in Germany and appointed member of the BDA (Association of German Architects).

In her previous research and teaching position at TU Brunswick she investigated industrial buildings and during the course of about 20 years of practicing, she developed a core strength in feasibility studies, programming, moderation processes and the generation of design and planning manuals, believing that a profound analysis of given limitations opens up great opportunities for future solutions. Antje is an advocate for a participatory approach to design and she works actively with many different disciplines and institutions to make sure the solutions given by design are a precise answer to users’ needs.

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STAFF

We don’t always wear black

FORMER STAFF

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ABOUT

WE PRACTICE BY NAME, CROSSING THE BOUNDARIES OF THE DESIGN DOMAIN, INITIATING ACTIVITIES AND DIALOGUES ACROSS DIFFERENT FIELDS.

WE REGULARLY DISCUSS POSSIBLE
PROGRAMMATIC SHIFTS WITH
OUR CLIENTS TO RAISE THEIR
BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT.

TODAY, WE ARE A TEAM OF PEOPLE ORIGINATING FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.

SEE MEDIA

SEE AWARDS